General Surgery

Leaving old people far behind, I have now moved onto my general surgery attachment. Which is actually a bit of a misnomer. General surgery is sort of dying out a bit - people are specialising more and more. Gone are the days when you were a general surgeon and dealt with anything that came through the door. Now you are a general surgeon with an interest in Upper gastrointestinal tract disease, or colo-rectal disease or vascular disease.

I am currently attached to a colorectal surgeon. Why one would wan't to revolve ones career around other people's bottoms is a bit beyond me, but everyone seems pretty excited and enthused about their chosen career. Colorectal disease incorporates many important conditions, with perhaps colon cancer springing to mind first. I've seen a lot of patients this week with colon cancer, some of whom will probably be ok, and some of whom really only have a few months to live. I've come across cancer a few times over the past year, but i've never really been around when the bad news about a diagnosis of cancer is given to a patient. This week i've seen it 3 times. It's a horrible feeling to go into a room knowing you have to tell someone they have cancer - even when you're just watching someone else do it!

Aside from academic things, my group out on attachment have decided we need to bond a bit more, so next week we're going to go out into the local town near where we are dressed as chavs. But i'm not really sure how a chav dresses, so it's going to take a bit of researching.

This week i've also been trying to decide what I want to do for my special study module in may. There are loads of choices, and the module is 5 weeks, so if you choose something good you can have a really awesome month. The choices ranged from projects on the history of anatomy to working in a heart transplant unit. Something for everything, but there are about 80 possibles and I have to choose 5! argh!