The Lure of Surgery Can Be Fleeting

Ali Tabatabaey -- Wow! What an experience. If you feel that you’re unwillingly being seduced into mastering the art of “the Blade” instead of the science of medicine, there is nothing like a back breaking seven-hour session at the operating room to change your mind back!

During this surgical marathon an extern fainted and the other intern preferred to take a seat, while the aid nurse handed her responsibility over to me during the second part of the operation. It was supposed to be a simple tumor resection but after taking a look at what was inside, it ultimately turned out to be a single-team APR.

The patient was an Iraqi resident who had undergone total colectomy a few years ago, but the rectum had undergone malignant changes and he now had a huge abdominal mass. This father of four was in his early forties and had been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis 20 years ago. Since all the worthwhile doctors have left Iraq due to the security situation, he chose to come all the way here to undergo the resection.

The mass had invaded much of the adjacent tissue and there were a lot of adhesions left over from the first operation. So the first few hours were spent trying to reveal the original anatomy of the abdomen and then getting rid of the invasive mass.

Just before the operation there was a ruthless race between the interns to determine who, if anyone, could scrub in. I never knew I could stand for this long. In the last hour I thought I was about to join the casualties too, but I managed to fallow through. It was a great experience, yet not one I would fight for the next time around. As the wise surgeon reminded me during the operation:

“People fall in love with surgery all the time, but turning it into a lasting relationship is not something all can do!”