The Tale of Two Women

This is the end of week two of our clinical rotations at LAC-USC. I have to tell you that I am tired. Maybe this weekend I will have more imagination or wit to be readable but for now what is left is what you get. The progress that all of the students have made this past two weeks has been really wonderful. My feeling is that all of the preparation and study is paying off. The physicians and staff that we have worked with in this short time here at the County Hospital have really been wonderful and ingratiating. Personally, I feel very grateful to be afforded this opportunity and to be exposed to this group of people.

Today I had the opportunity to go to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital and was assigned to the GYN OR. The two cases that were in the room today were both hopeful and tragic. The first case was a young woman that wanted to have her tubaligation reversed so that she may have a chance at having children with her new husband. The second OR case was another young woman that is going back for her second laparoscopic surgery for ovarian cancer. Two women with two terribly different situations.

I came home today thinking about how we can touch another life. What is it that becomes important to others in our interactions? The important point of what I did today was in the facility of the anesthetic induction and skill during anesthesia. What I agonized most over was how these women were feeling and the outcomes of their surgeries. I found myself talking to both of them while they were sedated coaching them and telling them that they were going to be fine. Hoping more than knowing, praying more than comprehending the enormity of the outcomes of these operations over which I had no control. What I did have control of I managed with the utmost of passion. These women were safe during surgery and came through their anesthetic extremly well. I have had great teachers.

Now, if God would only listen to me for a little while.