finally!!!!!

Today it was raining... so no worries about fires around here! So far we are save in Sydney!
This morning we had a teaching conference. They really do a great job teaching!!!! Yesterday we had a lesson on brain tumors, today Michelle and I had to describe MRIs and CT scans to the group as if we were talking to an attending over the phone and in the early evening we had pathology conference about histopathology of brain tumors. All of that is really great and even though it sometimes seems way too much to remember I really hope that a lot of that stuff sticks. And the fact that we are asked to participate and do things is really, really helpful! I really enjoy that and fortunately I am getting used to the time as well and am not quite as tired anymore.
The days are still pretty long though, but with the rain outside today it wasn't all that bad to be in the hospital for 10hours. And we got to do a lot all day long, so it definetely did not feel like that much at all. As I already said we started out with our teaching session. I still had some trouble usind the right words and describing things in the right way, but they told me that I basically did mention everything and that I just need to work on how to word it correctly... After that we went to the OR. the first case was a craniotomy for a recurrent brain tumor. At the end of the case I finally got to scrub in for the first time!!! That was really great. I got to help the registrar close up the scalp wound! It was the first time that I got to suture the galea (the layer between skin and bone). I only got to do a little bit, because I still need to learn how to be quicker, but the registrar is an incredebly patient man and always stays calm and explains things very well.... With someone else I may have gotten nervous, because at first I did have trouble with the instruments again and how to hold them right when making the knot, but not with him.... Later I also got to do part of the skin closure! The second and third case of the day were implants of a vagal nerve stimulator. I had never seen that before and I once again was really excited when I got to scrub in, because it just makes following the surgery so much easier! I got to look at things closely without having to worry about making something nonsteril. At the end of the third case Michelle and I got to do another suture, this time it was an subcuticular one. Once again we did take a lot longer than an experienced surgeon, but it is really great the we are allowed to take the time and become more experienced with all kinds of sutures! Today was just like what I want it to be - having the chance to get close to the operating field to really see what's going on and seeing the anatomy of things and to once in a while get to do something myself....
Shortly after 6 I finally left the hospital, even though I could have gone to another conference, but I was starting to get tired and I could not have handeled another 3hour meeting, even though it was one of my favorites (morbidity and mortality conference....) But since I will be here another 7 weeks I am hoping that there will be more of those. In America the conference was at 6.30 am and here it is from 6 to 9pm.... Why can't they just do that at a time when people are actually awake enough to follow....
Anyway they days in the hospital aren't quite as short as promised, but that is ok as long as I get to learn, see and do things.... I believe I have picked a pretty good hospital - lots of nice people and lots of teaching going on!
The only thing I really don't like is the fact that google and wikipedia are blocked on all computers.... I am so used to looking things up during the day (because I hardly ever have the right kind of book with me) and now I can't just go online to find a definition for something or look up some anatomical structures before surgery anymore.... And it makes it a little harder for me, because seeing a word in writing sometimes helps me understand things better than just hearing it... How did generations before us (without those sites) survive in their internships....;)