MY MEDICAL SCHOOL JOURNEY

400l - 3rd Year Medical (01/09/2023)

It's long overdue to talk about my neurosurgery posting.
I finished 4 weeks ago and also just finished my medicine posting in pulmonology and infectious diseases.
This chapter is for neurosurgery.

Our 400l starts with surgery rotation - it's called the S0. The rotation was for 4 weeks.
The class was divided into 6 surgery units - Neurosurgery, Urology, paediatric surgery, plastic surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, and general surgery,

I'd never been interested in neurosurgery like most medical students who were inspired by Ben Carson do. I was neutral about it. Oncology was the only speciality that drew me in.

That first day of clinicals was a beautiful one. It was time to actually be in hospital and to be a doctor. Everyone was seemingly happy. Our guys were in neat and formal outfits. We had an hour-long lecture and headed to the hospital.

There was an academic presentation by one of  the residents on my first day of posting. The presentation was on craniotomy. The presentation was so nice to me, even though it was vernacular to me.
In the eyes of the residents and HOD of the neurosurgery, it was… um … not nice. The guy was roasted and I pitied him.

The following weeks were going to be amazing.
A lot of our patients are either traumatic or have congenital defects. I was amazed the first time I saw someone with hydrocephalus and spina bifida. It turned out I'd see lots of those.
The doctors were really kind and friendly.
Though it was tiring, I enjoyed every moment of it. I'd wake up aching, but I wouldn't worry because I was sure to learn something at the clinic.

Each day has its own schedule. Thursday was my favourite because that's the day for the outpatient clinic.

The medical students would be divided to be with the doctors.
I always stayed with Dr Yahaya who's a consultant.I learnt a lot from him.

Mondays are for minor surgery, while Fridays are for major surgery.
The first time in OR was a beautiful experience. I wore my scrubs for the first time. Also, I got to know that anesthesiology is a very cool specialty.

I had some limitations due to the language barrier. I can't speak the local language. Unfortunately, most of the patients couldn't speak English.
I was always lost when the doctor was clerking the patients. Also, I couldn't build rapport with patients, so I communicated with my body.

The first time I had to clerk a patient, I used an interpreter. Also, I was checking my Norma Browse textbook as guidance while taking history from the patient. It was funny! The patient was so compliant though.

There were lots of outstanding days for me at the unit. The first time I was in ICU, the consultant (Dr Koko) asked me and 2 other colleagues to check the GCS of a patient. One said 2 which cracked me up. The consultant asked me to do it.
I rubbed the sternum as I'd read and got no responses. I answered that it was 3/15. The consultant asked the intern that was with us to check it and he got 6/15.😅
It turned out that I didn't rub the sternum like I was supposed to and only palpated. The consultant called us jokers. Lol.

I could go on and on about the unit.

I go on a voluntary evening call with a colleague - Habeeb. We learnt different procedures during the call. I learnt to use my sphygmomanometer efficiently during the call. We named ourselves free radicals. We can go anytime and leave anytime whatsoever. It's fun and fulfilling.

I have to mention Dr Okpanachi. He's such a nice person to us. He was always eager to teach us something.

There's also Dr Abdulhakeem that only I among my colleagues like. He always stayed in his way and didn't interact with us. Still, I really like him. I can't explain why, but I feel he's a good person.

Fast forward to our last day at the unit. We had a call till about 9pm with Dr Koko. Dr Koko had always been a stern person.
However, I was astonished on our last day by his actions. He told us stories about when he was an undergraduate and postgraduate. This was the man that didn't talk to us unless it's necessary.
I wish I saw that side of him earlier. It was nice though!
I got to tell people that he's actually an amazing person.

Also, my unit members are the absolute best.