Life Skills

While I rant, rave and moan about it, my surgical rotation is giving me useful life skills that I have employed this weekend. Before this rotation, I was soft. Weak even; I ate regular meals, got regular sleep, rarely experienced physical pain and spent so much time doing things I enjoyed that I became spoiled; I didn't appreciate what I had.

No longer. My time out of the hospital feels like a release from prison. Everything I do is tinged with a sensation of rose-tinted wonder; "O my god. I'm not unhappy right now!" And while I'm sure it gives me an air of thinly veiled desperation (Must.Have.Fun.) it is also paying off in pleasure.

Examples:

1. Hot Date Friday met me at a rooftop bar in Melbourne, which was packed. We stood and talked, sipping beer in the sun. Later, as we sat at a tiny table in a filthy Chinatown dumpling house, he exhaled; "It's good to sit down; we were standing for 2 hours!" I hadn't noticed.

Surgical skill: standing motionless for hours, ignoring physical pain.

2. Harry Potter movie, Saturday. We'd been out for lunch at Glen Waverly's premiere Japanese restaurant where I had consumed litres of diuretic liquids to accompany perfectly seared beef tataki & thinly sliced tuna. Harry Potter is a long (amazing!) movie; almost 3 hours with the previews. I didn't leave the movie once.

Surgical skill: See above. You can't leave theatre to pee, so ignore the pain.

3. Back from HP; due to meet friends at Spanish Fest in 20 minutes. The weather is hot, we're going to be dancing. I change from comfy summer dress to sultry Latin swishiness in ten minutes, out the door and arrive on time.

Surgical skill: Quick change. "Sam, we need you in theatre to close the chest! Stat!"

Other things come up daily; not taking criticism personally, learning to compartmentalise (she died, we need to focus on him), diplomacy, selective hearing (Sam, you're eating again? Aren't you worried about getting fat?) and physical and mental endurance.

Mostly, I feel this INTENSE appreciation for everything I do that is not surgery (And I seem to pack a lot more into every weekend). It makes life seem just a little bit sweeter, so maybe this job is good for something.