Good Morning everybody,
Today when I woke up it was 9 degrees here in beautiful Central Oregon, and the sunrise on the mountains was spectacular! My mom calls it "strawberry ice cream" on the mts. We are truly blessed here in the Northwest to have such a beautiful place to live and play.
I've been doing quite a few endometriosis surgeries lately and I'm getting faster and more confident. Dr. Redwine is an excellent teacher, and is patient with me as I take a while to dissect the dense scar tissue underneath the endometriosis lesions which lies directly over all the important structures of the pelvic sidewall (the ureter, big blood vessels going to the legs, nerves, the federal reserve bank). Surgery for endometriosis can be tedious, as the surgeon has to be careful to remove all the scarring (fibrosis) from the endometriosis, but leave the ureters, intestines, and blood vessels intact. Most gynecologic surgeons never operate in these areas, and don't know the anatomy of these spaces very well. We've been into the retroperitoneum on every case, and into the spaces behind the vagina, lateral to the rectum, (basically everywhere most surgeons aren't) routinely since I've been here. I finally feel like the rust is coming off after not operating for a while during my move, and I'm back into the swing of things. The cases I used to do well are now incredibly simple, and the cases I used to struggle with I can do now with a little style. If surgery can be compared to baseball, when I was in Hawaii I was a good player in the minor leagues, as are most doctors. Very few play in the major leagues, and David is like Roger Clemons, the star pitcher of the World Series champs. Now I'm getting used to stiffer competition, and am playing (operating) better because of it.
It is always gratifying to see patients happier, in less pain, and more functional after surgery, and I will never tire of being able to help them with their endometriosis pain or their urinary leakage. Life is too short to be miserable, and as doctors we have an ethical mandate not to throw up our hands when difficult problems come at us. We went through years of training so we would be strong, tough, and smart, and to banish the phrase "I'm not comfortable with that...". Here in Bend we see more patients than I care to think about being treated with useless medications and told "there's nothing anyone can do about your pain". We will not quit on anyone, either in the OR or in the office, we will go the last mile to figure out what needs to be done to improve someone's quality of life, to cure their endometriosis, to ease their pain. OK, I sound like I'm on a soap box, but it gets frustrating seeing patients who've been blown off by the people they trusted to help them. I'm incredibly glad I'm here, learning from the best endometriosis surgeon in the world, a guy that doesn't know the meaning of the word "quit".
Have a great week.