Dr. Jacobs, Please Report To Section-C

So I was on my merry way to pick myself up some dinner at the local Subway, when all of the sudden--with images of baja BBQ pulled pork sandwiches dancing in my head--I got a call from the friendly neighborhood OB/Gyn inviting me to come scrub in on a C-section. "Uhh, ch-yeah...I'll be there". Fast forward 15 minutes, some frantic sandwich ordering, a quick jaunt to the hospital, and one scarfed sandwich later, I find myself scrubbing in on my very first C section.

I'm not going to give too many details for confidentiality reasons, but suffice it to say I was given ample opportunity to get my feet (read: gloved hands) wet. In fact, I came out of the surgery looking quite a bit like my man Ashton after his similarly thrilling lunch at McDonald's. 

Ashton demonstrates how my
hands looked after the surgery

All jokes aside, the procedure absolutely blew me away. I had seen a birth only once before, and had seen never a C-section, let alone participate in one. It was hands-down one of the coolest things I have ever done. And the doctor was fantastic, letting me participate a lot more than I expected. Withholding specifics, I got to help cut, suture, remove and replace, retract, draw, push, staunch and close. And what came of our efforts? A wonderful, healthy baby was brought forth into the arms of one of the sweetest women I've ever met. Pretty freakin' neato.

...Oh yeah, and to top it all off...my pulled pork sandwich wasn't half bad, either.

With such a long and exciting Thursday evening (I actually observed another procedure after the C-section, leaving me thrilled yet exhausted when I finally headed home around 11pm), I figured I had probably seen my fill of excitement for one week. But Friday refused to let me down, and instead delivered some additional fun to finish off an already wonderful week. I got to participate in several laparoscopic procedures, perform a minor surgery essentially from start to finish (with help from the doc here and there), and, to my extreme pleasure, I had the rather rare opportunity to actually cardiovert ("CLEAR!") a guy in afib. 

And last but not least, perhaps the highest point (of my already mountainous) week, I had my absolute favorite patient interaction to date, which I will now leave you with for your enjoyment:

Me: Hi, my name's Zac Jacobs, I'm a medical student

Patient: "Hi, my name's John Smith, I'm vomiting in a bag"

The Rural Journeyer

I'm writing you to from the BEAUTIFUL Gold Beach, OR, where I am currently kicking off my 3rd year clinical clerkships with my rural rotation. So far it has been really great. The first few days were a bit slow, but things really picked up today. I started off today scrubbing in on a surgery with Dr. Ward; I was right up in the front-lines, trying my best to be useful by answering the doctors' beckoning for various tools and supplies. I spent the rest of the day in the ER, and helped out with some super interesting, complicated, and rather sad cases.

Entrance to the friendly, quaint hospital in which I spend my days 

My living situation is rather interesting. I was originally assigned an apartment to live in, but was relocated at the last minute to an assisted living community. As silly as this sounds (and it is, in fact, rather silly), this has actually worked out quite well. My room is really nice, and everyone here is very friendly, both residents and staff. I keep offering the staff to help out (eg hanging out dinner trays, cleaning up after meals, etc), but so far they keep declining my offers. I think they probably think that I'm just trying to be courteous, when in fact I would really enjoy helping out with things every now and then. The only downfall with this setup is that my room, although equipped with a small kitchenette, is not sufficient for cooking my own meals. I haven't asked yet if they would let me use their kitchen--I'm not sure how they would feel about that. They do, however, always welcome me to eat the meals they prepare for the residents, but unfortunately I usually end up getting home too late, or am not yet hungry when the meals are being served. So far I've just been having some leftovers that Mom sent along with me, but I'm now to the point where all I have left of those is dishes that require a kitchen to prepare (eg spaghetti, stroganoff, etc), sot I'll need to figure out something soon.

My palette of dreaming (aka bed)

Spacious, eh?

Like I mentioned above, the town and surrounding areas are absolutely gorgeous, and the weather has been perfect. I really couldn't have asked for a more beautiful location to spend my summer. There isn't too much going on in terms of local attractions, but I will definitely be spending some time trolling the coast (I've already seen several viewpoints where boast some incredible views). Two activities that have caught my eye, however, are 1) the chartered ocean fishing, and 2) the famed local river-boat tours, both of which I'm looking forward to trying my hand at. Chris, Ariston and I are currently arranging a weekend getaway bachelor party for Mr. Michael Ryan, for which they will hopefully all  be joining me down here. I figure some fishing and boating trips may be in all of our futures. We'll see. I'll be sure to keep updating with pictures.