During my first day at the OB-GYN office, I saw a lot. I started rounds at 10 am with Dr. Greenbaum and they were pretty routine. He’d walk in, created small talk with the patient, and typed a bunch of medical information on the computer. I saw about 6 patients today. Four of the patients came in wanting full hysterectomy surgeries scheduled; however, I don’t think a lot of them knew what a hysterectomy entailed because many of them left without one scheduled. In fact, I didn’t even know what a hysterectomy entailed until today. I now know that it is a very invasive procedure that essentially removes the entire uterus from the body. The procedure causes women to spend roughly 2 days in the hospital and four to eight weeks after leaving the hospital for a complete recovery. The most common reason the women I observed today wanted this procedure was to stop severe period pain and/or to prevent any additional pregnancies. While one woman was cleared for the procedure, the others were restricted due to the risk factors such as age, weight, and medical history.
In addition, I also got to observed two biopsies. The first biopsy was for a 69-year-old woman who had concerns about abnormal cells in her vaginal wall. Dr. Greenbaum used a speculum to widen the vagina and then used vinegar and dye to stain the wall. If the dye holds it’s color when put on the walls, the cells are normal; however, if it doesn’t hold it’s color, the cells are abnormal. He concluded that the cells looked normal but decided to cut a piece out of the wall to get tested just in case. The procedure didn’t look that painful but definitely uncomfortable. The second biopsy was for a 32-year-old woman. This biopsy was a little more complicated and I’m not 100% sure what Dr. Greenbaum was looking for. When we went in, the woman was very nervous and extremely scared for it. She was crying and it took a little bit to calm her down. Dr. G then proceeded to put a ureteroscope inside and take pictures of the walls. This process was painful for her due to having fibroids. Fibroids are often benign (non-cancerous); however, they are described as tumors in the female reproductive system. According to Dr. G, today was a very uneventful day in the life of an OB-GYN. To me, it was crazy, but I guess when you're a doctor you become immune to the routine checkups and biopsy procedures. I’m not sure what I will be doing tomorrow but I’m hoping to see a birth or procedure sometime this week.
0 Comments
|