September 27, 2009

• Women (Interested) in Surgery

  (Better do this before I forget)
  Yesterday I attended a barbeque for women interested in surgery.  It was an enlightening and inspirational experience.  I am a long ways from entering med school (maybe not temporally, but as far as tasks ahead), and an even longer way from needing to decide what I want to do with myself potentially as a doctor.

  Before I arrived I was in a slightly panic mode because I realized the attire was business casual but all I had brought to school was lax clothing and flip flops/sneakers for lab/exercise.  I ended up wearing a slightly too casual black dress and borrowed some shoes (which were too big, but since I didn't have any napkins, I had to stuff them with receipts, lol.  Yay, resourceful?).  I'll have to remember to bring some tidier clothes from home =.

  Then since I decided to carpool with some friends, I was slightly anxious because I noticed we were probably going to be late (which is okay, but I was slightly intimidated/confused by the whole event since it was hosted at a doctor's house, but they offered valet parking...what the heck?).  I offered to drive since one of my friends is a crazy crazy driver (seriously, last time I rode with her all my friends and I thought we might die; she gets distracted by everything and often forgets to brake...meanwhile a lot of stomping is heard since everyone else is stomping on imaginary brakes for her), and the other one had already driven pretty far to get to school to meet us.

  After arriving at the doctor's house castle, we were all really relieved to have arrived as a group, and we mingled for a while with two third year med students and listened to advice and adventures of med school.  All so exhilarating !  And we got folders filled with brochures about medical equipment (i.e. robotic surgery/da Vinci!! Which I talked about at my med school interviews), studies on why women are deterred from surgery, issues and the like.  It was funny how all of us felt like the folders were our equivalents to goody bags--I can't wait to read through this stuff, once I clear my plate (aka physiology lab report).

  After mingling, taking a group photo, and eating, we sat in a large mass and listened to a panel of women in surgery, most younger/just starting, but some seasoned.  This portion of the event was rather inspirational, but I was surprised by how many of the doctors ended up where they were; (many of them said their first motivation for getting in/practicing medicine was that someone had told them that they could not do it [surgery, etc.] as women).  In fact many of them said they weren't even interested in medicine most of their time in undergrad.

  So they tried to quell our fears of not being able to have family life, but also left us with a few points of caution.
  -- 2 med students told us about how after delivering a baby they decided they probably wouldn't want kids.  Or would have to be really doped up.  @_@
  -- Dr. Ross (the doctor hosting the event) said that if we wanted our own kids we would have to have it extremely well planned out--we would have to plan to not appear pregnant before things like interviews (because many places apparently would avoid pregnant women/mothers because they don't want to spend resources training someone who may be out a lot on maternity leave, or who will decide not to continue on as a doctor so they could just spend time being a mother), and then plan to be pregnant hopefully before starting our own practices.  She actually said a good time is when we're still in the learning process rather than the practice.  (Mentally I looked like O_O, but I think I looked calm; I'm trying to imagine having to study with a baby in arms?  And since babies/aliens are adorable it'd be treacherous to ignore them).  She says there is a lot of compromise involved, as far as family life is concerned.  
  --  Finding a good husband might be hard.  It would require for me to find someone who is really understanding, patient, and can make everything work with me.  Some of the doctors spoke about ex-s that held them back and wouldn't support them in their choice to be a surgeon.  And how it was hard enough having friends and family discourage it, but a spouse/SO...Dr. Ross said before she married her husband she made sure it was clear to him that she wouldn't have time/didn't cook, clean, & stuff like that.  (Not that I have cooking skills anyways -_-).  And then apparently some guys can't stand to have someone they aren't taking care of/winning bread for, since surgeons are pretty independent on those lines.

  One of the coolest surgeons there was single, and mentioned that a lot of the other women she also worked with were too.  And they talked about how important our career choice was, since generally our careers span 40 years of our lives.  Don't do what we don't want to do; don't let people stop you from doing what you want to do.
  --Some of the old-fashioned men are still discriminate women; but more and more of those are retiring, and more and more women are seeking jobs as surgeons, etc.  Similarly, get we might have to get used to raunchy jokes, since often times surgeon teams are filled with men who forget that a woman is around. >_>
  --I probably couldn't be a pediatrician.  I would like for my patients to like me , and I don't want to have to bribe them with candy.

  I love working with my hands, so I think it might be awesome to be a surgeon.  Like they said, it isn't about ego, it is about helping people, and the feeling of touching a life.  I also think surgery is very practical.  I wish to go abroad someday and help people (which idealistic as it might sound, I really hope to do it).  If I had a rather lax profession, it might not be as useful/vital in, say, a developing country.  I'd like to make changes that I can see, whether immediate or gradual.

  But I have time!  And I need to shadow.  And I need to do all sorts of things, like study, so I can get there!

  I'm still concerned about when would be a good time to have kids, if I were to want/have my own.  I actually am more interested in adopting, but I guess this is all moot until I find a good solid relationship, or stability as my own entity.  And sometimes I think I'm too young to be thinking about this stuff.    I shouldn't take things too too seriously, or too lightly I suppose, but taking things too lightly has never been a problem for me.  I'm generally pretty good with sensing when and when not to laugh.  And now I'm rambling again.

  Why so serious?  (I haven't even seen Dark Knight, so it is silly quoting; but seriously..).

  • 9:50 am
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