Week 4

On Monday, I got to see my first total thyroidectomy. It was an impressive surgery. The patient had medically-refractory Graves' disease and her thyroid was huge, almost the size of iodine-deficiency goiters you see in third world countries. Through a tiny 5 inch incision in the neck, the surgeons were able to dissect out the enlarged organ. It requires a lot of precision since the thyroid has such a large blood supply, especially when hypertrophic. We also had to identify and isolate nearby critical structures like the recurrent laryngeal nerve and the parathyroid glands. It was quite involved.

I also got a hefty dose of routine general surgery including two breast lumpectomies for masses. On Wednesday, I scrubbed into three laparoscopic cholecystectomies (gallbladder surgeries) and when I was on call, we did a lap chole for a perforated and necrotic gallbladder. It was fascinating seeing the difference between scheduled elective cholecystectomies and an emergent one.