Friday, March 2, 2007

Orthopaedics

Orthopaedics posting's almost over. What I've learnt so far:
1. When a person has an accident he
a) gets a fracture
b) gets a dislocation
c) gets a sprain
d) nothing happens.
2.The X-rays are the next thing to illegible. Gimme a good ol' CXR anyday. At least I've never missed an 'air under the diaphragm'.
3. It's not worth the trouble

I like it much better than gynaec (as if anything could be worse than seeing someone shoving a couple of fingers up a woman's you-know-where), but it can't enthrall me the way medicine did. The mystery, the elusive diagnosis (why does she have vertigo when her CNS, GIT and vestibular system are apparently normal?) and the thrill of doing heroic stuff and saving a patient's life (instant gratification: the patient is breathing on his own after that round of CPR)... Where is that?

Where is the thrill, the satisfaction of knowing you've done it right (the patient is still alive, thanks to you), the confidence you feel when you finally palpate a spleen? Hey, I'm not half bad,
I heard a murmur. VSD? Instead, we have "That's a fracture?????" after a futile attempt at trying to make sense of the X-ray.

I miss Medicine.