New Blog

http://drfujii.wordpress.com/

Yosemite

Two-day Yosemite trip in pictures!

Mariposa Sequoia Grove

Fallen Sequoia tree!

Some deer walked right up to me

Creepy branchy tree

Grizzly Giant

Camp Curry – where we stayed the night

King of the hill! Almost the same as climbing half dome

On the way to Vernal Falls

Vernal Falls hike

Me with the rainbow at Vernal Falls

At the foot of Vernal Falls

View from the top of Vernal Falls

Where the waterfall starts

Little mermaid pose. I know – don’t judge.

We got Amy to go to half dome…kind of

Mirror Lake  - what happened to all the water?

On the way back from Mirror Lake. At least we got to see something, right?

Mariposa Grove, Vernal Falls, and Mirror Lake all in 2 days and 8 miles of hiking. Not bad.

Owl City

Love the background beats. Stress-free music you can close your eyes and daydream to.

Great for bad days and finals time.

Doctoring

There are many aspects to our medical education. Besides hours of lecture, labs, and clinical skills, we have a class called “doctoring”. Basically it’s a longitudinal course dedicated to teaching us the finer aspects of what it means to be a doctor – communicating with the patient, building a relationship, being open-minded, and caring for the patient. It’s about all the things having to do with being a doctor that involves flowers and rose petals. Admittedly, it’s not really one of my favorite classes.

Every week they bring in professional actors (damn good ones, I’d say) to play patients coming in to see us. It’s then that we get to take turns practicing our interviewing and communication skills.

This week, I was up to bat. A small, middle-aged lady came in looking pretty disheveled and solemn. Although her main concern was chronic fatigue, I soon found out that she was homeless with two children, living out of her car. She described her life to me; about how she would take her kids to the beach or the mall so they could have some enjoyment in life and about how hard it was to sleep at night in a freezing cold car. At one point, she even began to tear. The depth of the situation really drew me in and halfway into the interview, I forgot I was interviewing in front of nine other people. It felt like it was just me and patient.

After the 20-minute session, I escorted her out and went back to my seat. I didn’t really have a feel for what had happened or how it went. Two other med students then interviewed her for a second and third follow-up visit.

When the interviews were over, she came back in and offered her feedback. She mentioned things like awkward smiles that made her feel uncomfortable or feeling like the doctor wasn’t listening because she had to repeat herself. When she came to me, to my surprise, she didn’t have anything negative to say. She mentioned subtleties such as my unwavering eye contact, the way I listened as if we were the only ones in the room, and my tone and body language that showed I understood her pain. When the instructor asked the key question, “Did you feel cared for?”, she said, “Yes, in the first interview.”

If you know me, I’m not a touchy-feeling guy. I want to be a surgeon that cuts people up, has minimal contact with conscious patients, and saves lives through action rather than “talking it out”. Four years ago, I would never imagine myself as a someone’s confidant or a person that was sensitive to things like feelings and emotions. Today, I felt like I was able to build a relationship with a stranger and provide something more than just a differential diagnosis. What’s changed? It’s hard to say. But maybe there’s more to being a doctor than blood, guts, and glory.

Trauma call and scrubbing in

Wednesday night I shadowed on the trauma surgery service at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. For those who aren’t in touch with the life of a doctor, being on call is basically when you stay at the hospital for an exorbitant period of time and treat patients during hours when no sane person would consider working. It’s an integral part of a surgeon’s development and its main purpose is to suck the life out of doctors in return for a sense of pride and accomplishment.

From 6 pm to 1 am, I saw a gall bladder removal, a weird case of bowel obstruction, a bullet removal, a naked drunk guy trying to escape from the CT scanner, and a trauma patient whose heart completely stopped and then came back in perfect working order.

By the end of the night I was mentally and physically exhausted. The residents, however, who arrived at 6 am that day, continued on till morning…

---

Today, as part of my surgery selective, I learned the art of “scrubbing in”. Surgeons go a long way to ensure that no germs go anywhere near their patients. As a result, everybody that goes near the patient has to have a 10-minute, 900-stroke session of hand washing and put on completely sterile gown and gloves. If your hands go below your waist, you have to start all over. If your gown, glove, or hands touch anything that hasn’t been sterilized, you have to start over. If you unwrap your gown the wrong way or even tie it the wrong way, you have to start over. If you even turn your back to the patient or sneeze the wrong way, they have to start over. Now I understand why med students are always standing around with their hands up looking like these guys.

Also today was a talk by a Cardiothoracic surgeon who specializes in…ROBOTIC SURGERY!!

Also known as the ultimate chick magnet. I think this beast (called the DaVinci Robot) is mostly used for prostate surgery, though. Prostate surgery is, unfortunately, the opposite of chick magnetism.

Blood, surgery, and the specialty battle

Venipuncture

I feel like a large part of med school is getting over your fear of things. Before I was “almost a doctor”, I was afraid of all kinds of medically-related stuff such as blood, shots, and surgery. Most importantly, though, I was terrified of needles. I hated the idea of having a needle in my arm and I couldn’t even imagine putting a sharp object in someone else’s arm. I think it has to do with bad experiences as a child.

Well this past week, I did it. Mostly because I had to. I was really nervous and I prepped for the moment for many weeks. One month before, I mustered up the courage to watch myself get pierced for the first time when I donated blood. A few weeks before, I forced myself to watch other people get their blood drawn. On the day of, I just steadied my hand, closed my eyes (well, only mentally), and went for it. To my surprise, the blood just came flowing out right away like it was supposed to. It felt pretty good getting it on the first try. Now I can say I know how to do it while secretly hoping I wont have to do it again.

Intro to Surgery

“Only those who cannot envision doing anything else with their lives should choose surgery. If you can find happiness in any other career, then do not choose surgery.”

That’s what I learned on the first day of the introduction to surgery selective. Pretty much, surgery is hard work, it’s competitive, and its not worth bothering with unless you’re in love with it. Yes, surgeons are paid more than other doctors, but they also work longer hours, endure more physical and emotional stress, and train for more years. If a bag of gold is what you’re expecting at the end of the rainbow, then its not too late to do investment banking.

Specialties

The Surgery selective got me thinking a lot about the million dollar question: which specialty?

The system works like this: you’re thrown into med school and you have no idea what you want to do because you have little or no experience in all of the specialties. If you want a competitive specialty that has good pay and reasonable hours, you have to choose early, stick with it, and spend all of med school honing your CV. So you choose some “good” specialties, shadow a few doctors, and stick with the first thing you find any interest in. It’s like throwing darts at a board. Good thing you’re only deciding WHAT YOU’LL DO FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.

I had an epiphany the other day while driving back from the dentist. Nothing has really clicked with me yet. I like aspects of many specialties but I’m still waiting for something to pop out, grab me by the collar, and tell me I should do it. Then I realized maybe I want something where I can integrate my love of art and medicine. Plastic surgery, anyone? Too bad it’s the most competitive specialty known to man.

Medical School

I feel the need to blog. I think it has to do with having nobody to tell my stories to.

First week of Med School (August 3 – 7)

Chill! Everyday was filled with orientation about different aspects of the school and the curriculum. Nothing that important and all very relaxed (except that we had to dress business casual all week).

The second year students set up a nice schedule of social activities for us such as bowling, going out to bars, and a trip to Santa Monica on an old-school school bus!

Limo to the bar/club

Tried my best to be social and meet people. It reminded me of the first day of elementary/middle/high school all over again. You don’t know anyone and you’re so lost but you know you have to go out there and meet people before everyone breaks into cliques.

Ended orientation with the White Coat Ceremony on Friday.

Stolen from Bob Knight photo

Now we looked like doctors but probably couldn’t do more than give you CPR and fix your nose bleed.

Spent Saturday at Santa Monica with Amy.

Orientation week was awesome. Maybe med school isn’t as hard as I thought it’d be.

Second week of Med School (August 10-14)

MED SCHOOL IS HARD. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

It feels like I’m learning a million different things at once. We have lectures, problem-based learning, flash slides, instructional videos, labs, and pretty much every other type of learning you can think of.

I’m trying to get a feel for the schedule and when different weekly assignments are due. Took a few random walks through campus to get a feel for UCLA. It’s pretty and nice, but I’m still partial toward Berkeley. The traffic and hectic nature of LA makes it feel a little unwelcoming.

Third – Fifth week of Med School (August 17 – September 2)

I’m getting the rhythm of things.

Had my first shadowing experience the third week. I got to watch a VATS lobectomy (removing a lobe of the lung using minimally invasive techniques) done by the guy who invented the procedure! Good to know I don’t pass out at the sight of blood and guts.

First day of anatomy was scary because I didn’t know what to expect. The embalmed cadavers are so cut up and decomposed that they don’t even look human anymore. I much prefer the fresh cadavers. They still look and feel human, which helps me remember that I’m working with a real person’s body.

We applied for selectives this week (an elective…that you can select). The Introduction to Surgery selective is supposed to be really good but I heard it’s also one of the most popular ones (only twenty people chosen at random get to do it!). I signed up for Intro to Surgery as my first choice, Diagnostic Cardiology as my second, and East-West Medicine as my third (acupuncture and therapeutic massages!!). To my surprise, I got Intro to Surgery.

In the meantime, Sam came up to visit two weeks ago! Me, Sam, Mark, and Michelle went to the Getty.

I’m definitely going back there. It was so beautiful and relaxing. Plus, I want to draw this guy in their drawing studio.

Board retreat this past weekend! Brought back good memories and reminded me how much I miss Circle K. Life after graduation just isn’t the same.

Reppin’ CKI on campus in front of Dwinelle!

And that’s the short and quick summary of the past few weeks.

For now, I have to get back to studying. I promise I’ll update when I’m not so busy!