I just finished my 6 week rotation doing General Surgery in Ashland, southern Oregon just 10-15 miles from the border to California. Ashland is about 10-15 south of Medford, located in the Rogue Valley which you can see pictured above. Ashland is set in a beautiful area and population is about 20,000. I loved being in a small town again. On one side of the freeway was rolling hills of farm country and on the other, mountains covered in pine trees. There was a good mix of sun, snow, and rain to keep me enjoying the weather. Ashland is known for its Shakespeare Festival and has a cute downtown area with shops and delicious restaurants lining main street.
I ended up living with the best friends of one of my friend's parents, if you follow that. They are in their 60's and also members of the church. They had a nice house on the edge of town with the basement all to myself. They would cook dinner and I would do the dishes. I was really a nice setup, not to mention we got along fabulously.
Apart from San Diego, Ashland has been my favorite place to be thus far. I went on quite a few hikes while I was in the area too.
As for my rotation, I worked with a fabulous surgeon. Surgeons in general have a bad rap as being jerks, but I learned wonderful things from my preceptor. He had great relationships with his patients and really had no concept of time (he was pretty much late for everything). We would spend as much time as need be with each patient and he would even stay after work for upwards of an hour to teach me something. I learned a great deal from him and definitely feel I will be a better clinician because of him.
Going in to school, surgery was my second interest after emergency medicine. I sound realized, however, that I don't think I'm cut out for it. To begin with, I didn't realize how many clinic hours it was. I only did 5 surgeries in the first 3 weeks I was there (I definitely made up for it in the next 3 weeks though). I dislike being on my feet all day every day. And can I say swollen ankles? Who knew standing would make your feet swell so much? Also, surgery days were brutal. You have to squeeze in bathroom breaks and a snack here and there. It's one surgery right after another. 5 in one day? Forget food altogether!
Unfortunately I had to bow out on a few surgeries due to getting light-headed. They say it happens to every one, but those lights get so darn hot! I also blame my mask - hard to get used to breathing through that sucker for 2 hours straight. Fortunately that only happened a few times, but too many for my liking! Embarrassing to say the least, although the whole surgical team was really great about it and told me not to worry. Funny because it wasn't the blood that got to me, like some people. It was those dang lights!
I got to do and see a ton! I first assisted in all the surgeries I did with my preceptor which includes things like making the initial incision, retracting the incision, holding structures out of the way, assisting his suturing, suctioning, and suturing/stapling the wound back up. I loved it! If it weren't for the brutal schedule, I could do surgery all day every day. Some of the surgeries I was in on included hernia repair, gallbladder removal, colectomy, anal fistula, rectopexy, appendectomy, toxic megacolon, intussusception, c-section, skin graft, rotator cuff repair, knee scope, and a few others. Good stuff! We ended up working in 3 different locations: the clinic, surgery center, and local hospital. I had a great time with surgery, but I can honestly say I'm glad it's over. That schedule is too brutal for me.
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