I'm nearly done with the World's Most Disjointed Attachment.  As you know, I spent the first week in plastic surgery.  The following week I spent in ophthalmology, which I have to admit I found far more interesting than I expected to.  There's something about looking the wrong way through people's eyes that is amazing, and getting the visual information about various disease processes, both opthalmic and systemic, is fascinating.  Though I dabbled briefly with the idea of going into ophthalmology (it encompasses some surgery too, which is amazing) ultimately I think it is too focused a specialty for this bouncy attention span of mine.  Not to mention I don't like the idea of spending 5 years in medical school only to focus all of my further training on those 2 little globes in your face.  Last week was spent in Dermatology.  Quite dull.  I know, it's important for a number of reasons, but still dull.  Luckily we only had half days there, so I got to go to the gym and do lots of yummy cooking and baking as well.

We had a long weekend this week (some sort of bank holiday as they're called here.)  It was also the Guinnes Jazz festival and the beer festival, so there was plenty going on in Cork this weekend.  Had some Belgian beer (Pater, it was called) and chatted with a fellow named Barry who is heavily involved with the beer world in Ireland.  He told me about a liquor store that carries beer with hops in it.  How exciting!  It was a great opportunity to have some beer that wasn't a stout or bland European lager.

On to two days of anaesthetics this week, where we'll learn about pre and post-op assesments, and probably some intensive care medicine as well.  Then there are these academic half days at the end of the week, but I don't know what those will entail.  They haven't bothered to tell us yet.

It's been appropriately cool and rainy here.  Today there was a lone rain cloud (isn't there a chapter in winnie ther pooh that relates to this?) that rained on me for much of my walk to the grocery store, and then even gave a little hail once I got inside.  Luckily it had cleared up for the walk home.  Though there are some trees turning colors, particularly on campus, they don't compare to what I imagine I missed at home.  Sigh.  Soon I'll get to smell and hear the leaves crunching under my feet once again.

I'm feeling like this wasn't a particularly interesting post.  Sorry.  If I come up with anything more thrilling I'll let you know.

Ciao 

It's been a full week.  I spent the last 5 days with a plastic surgery team.  At the very least, it was good to see what non-cosmetic works they do in plastics.  Lots of nerve and tendon damage in the hand and wrist.  Breast reductions and reconstructions.  Lacerations of various sorts, repairing fingers that have been crushed by hammers or gates.  Removing skin cancer, cleaning wounds, making skin grafts for burns.  Seeing such a wide variety was great.  The team was fantastic -- friendly, and happy to teach. 

One particular surgeon has left an impression.  He is an Iraqi man, in Ireland now for a little less than a year.  He has been a surgeon for over twenty years, but at some point recently a group of militants started killing cosmetic surgeons.  So he's in Ireland, where he has to work for 2 years as someone much less qualified than he is, at which point he will be fully registered.  Fortunately his previous experience will allow him to have a private practice.  Otherwise, due to the politics and economics of the irish medical system, he wouldn't be able to advance very far in the hospital setting.

Next week I'll be doing ophthalmology.  It used to be 2 weeks, and the doctors try to cram all of the same stuff in to less time.  It sounds like the tutorials are interesting, but the ouutpatient clinics are fairly dull, as it's mostly watching doctors look at patients eyes.  I'll actually have to study this week!  They give us a written and a clinical exam.

Friday night an old friend of mine from Timberlake was in town with his brother, on a tour to support some work they do.  You can check them out at www.foundmagazine.com.   It was great to see him again, and get to show him around Cork.  It was a helpful reminder that I do have a life, and personality, and experience that goes beyond my time in medical school, or even my time in Boston.  It was a reminder I need more frequently than I'm getting.  Since I'm having trouble finding extracurrculars here, it is easy to forget about all of the other things I enjoy doing in life.  One of the good things about having this difficulty is that it is making me much more aware of the fact that I have to make some conscious decisions about my future in order to get some of my other interests back into my life again.

Good night, and good luck.