Abdomivision

I'm so happy that I'm doing these long surgery shifts during these glorious long near-solstice days. It is already getting light at 5:30 a.m., and here I am in the twilight at almost 9 p.m. My sanity definitely benefits from the rays bookending my days. The birds are very active early morning, too, though my weird bustopmate tells me they will migrate away soon.

Today I was wowed by laparoscopy. This woman had abdominal pain that no one could diagnose, so we stuck a camera in there to take a direct look -- a crazy yet brilliant idea, general anesthesia aside. I saw the appendix for the first time, an innocuous little pinky of bowel. Gall bladder was just chillin', too. So then we turn our scope towards the land of gyn, and what do we see but an inflamed Fallopian tube. Scopes out, sew her up, give her antibiotics, voila.

I've now seen the underside of the diaphragm a few times, and you can clearly watch the heart beating against it from above, which is that typical surgical combination of amazing and spooky. The heart moves around more than I realized, displaces more space.

I am grateful for my Dansko clogs; my back would hurt a lot more without them. But dang, standing for so long is surprisingly hard. I feel like we should have some extra bones from the bottom of our ribcage to the top of our pelvis for structural support. The spine shouldn't have to do it alone.

Sending well wishes to my two surgical patients of the day. May you rest and heal.