Urology!!

Greetings, earthlings!

I'm blogging on my lunch break because I am super pumped about what I discovered this morning....I love urology!!

Jen, Shivani, Sarah, Caitlyn and I all got up pretty early today (before 7 = early for me..) and waited FOREVER for breakfast because it was very busy today in the restaurant. We ended up getting a free continental breakfast even though we were a meal ticket short because they lost track of our tickets....woo to free food! All 5 of us then squeezed into a small rickshaw and made our way to work. I will always remember these morning rides...if you weren't fully awake before boarding the rickshaw, you are definitely awake by the end of the ride. SO much traffic and commotion and honking and just noise in general!

Jen and I were speaking to a doctor yesterday (John) who told us to come back this morning to watch a kidney transplant. We watched the urologist laparoscopically remove the donor kidney, which was coming from the wife of the recipient patient (none of his siblings would consent to donating a kidney :(, so they had to go to another loved one, even though she is only a 3/6 match with her husband). IT WAS SO COOL! Technology is ridiculously cool. The urologist was quizzing Jen and I the entire time about blood vessels, organs, and other structures....I am embarrassed to admit we didn't know all of the answers, but I suppose that's why we are only M2s (!) and not MDs.

We then walked to the adjacent OR to watch a trans-urethral resection of the prostate, which our doctor friend, John, was overseeing. He was an awesome teacher and did a great job explaining everything that was going on to us. Basically, as men age, their prostates hypertrophy due to an increase in growth factors and a decrease in apoptosis. Therefore, the prostatic urethra's lumen is narrowed and urinating becomes painful among other things.

Today was my favorite morning yet - the doctors were so great about teaching us and we got to see some really cool procedures. I feel bad saying this because I did love my OB/GYN rotation, but I really liked urological surgeries! Who knows, maybe I'll join the ranks of the minority of females who become urologists. I surprised myself by enjoying surgery so much! Not general surgery as much, but I enjoyed the focus on the kidney and other urological structures.

Starting to get really excited about Goa...can't believe our time in Vellore is almost over!

Alexis