Because Nothing's Ever Easy

This pic's from my surgical obervation the other day, where I got to join a couple of surgeons as they performed a pretty darn difficult procedure on a woman with cancer in her pelvic region. A pelvic exoneration, they called it, and it includes taking out the lower colon, rectum, or bladder (depending on where the cancer has spread) along with the vulva, uterus, vagina, and cervix. The result in the woman was, after about 7 hours, a gaping hole about 20 times 20 centimeters across, and so deep the surgeon could pour about a liter of water in there to rinse it out and not flood it. Fascinating, truly. And absolutely a worthwhile experience. The thing about this surgery is, though, that only 10% of the people with last stage cancer is found eligible, and it has about a 25% five year survival rate... Cancer is devislish stuff, and that is probably why I can't see myself working with that as a doctor.

Next, I've decided this blog is a little too public. Life is never easy, and when my life becomes diffucult, the difficulties become personal. I can talk about generalities, even some pretty personal stuff, but I make it a rule to never talk about specific people on here. And specific people, more like a handful, really get to me sometimes, for better and worse, and that is something I feel I need to get out too. So, for my therapeutic reckoning, and probably your relief, I will conduct the most personal ramblings elsewhere.

Labels: Episode Accounts, Medical, Pictures

posted by CK @ 03:56