One more day

Long day today, but a fairly decent one.  It helps when you're doing something that makes a difference, you know?  Even if your part in that is very small (as mine most assuredly is at this point), it remains a day well-spent.  And in this point is the fundamental irony of Magee (and of too many other hospitals around the country): that at an institution ostensibly dedicated to healing and saving lives, the business of death is the primary focus.  It's an unwelcome shock to look at the board where all the surgeries are listed and realize that a full third are abortions of one kind or another.  So while in one room we're doing a radical hysterectomy and lymph node dissection in an attempt to stage and begin treatment of endometrial cancer, the team next door is likely to be performing a suction dilation and curettage (which seems to be the favored form of abortion here).  And that spectre is always lurking in the background, particularly since it's just part of life at Magee -- virtually no one who works here has any problem with it (or even thinks anything of it).  So I guess my sense of satisfaction at being able to play a role in saving a life at least for a time is to a large extent annulled by a growing awareness of what's going on around me.

Regardless, however, I only have one more day to go.  One more day of getting up at 3:30 to pre-round at 4:30, round at 5:30, and present at 6:30.  One more day of trying to save lives surrounded by a culture of death.  One more day on a rotation I've dreaded since the first thoughts of applying to medical school entered my mind.  One more day.  I'll catalog that last day tomorrow, and then on Friday I'll share some closing thoughts about the rotation.  After that, it's on to pediatric emergency medicine, which I've been looking forward to since signing up for it back in March.  It's my payoff for surviving Ob-Gyn, and hopefully it'll bring good stories and ruminations much less discouraging than those from this rotation.  First, though, I need to get through my last day at Magee and survive the test, so prayers would be tremendously appreciated.  Hope you're all doing well...peace and God bless!