awareness
Crying Over Spilled Milk
Special Edition for National Breastfeeding Awareness Month Marjorie Liggett, MD When my newborn wasn’t gaining weight in the first week of life, I became obsessed with my milk supply. I couldn’t stop the racing thought: Am I failing as a mother because I can’t feed my own child? I’ll admit, that was a little dramatic. Blame the hormones and the sleep deprivation, if you must, but I’m sure someone else reading this knows exactly what I’m talking about. Throughout my maternity leave, I diligently pumped and breastfed every 2-3 hours, day and night. Eventually, after a lot of hard work, I felt confident in my milk supply and my goal to breastfeed for 6 months or more. The baby was gaining weight, the anxieties I had around feeding my child began to subside, and I even had generated a moderate freezer stash for a rainy day. As I prepared to...
Cultivating Self-Compassion
By Laura Roe StevensBrought to you by our partners at Canyon Ranch Ever wonder how some people seem to sail through tough times, while others struggle for years? Experts say one key to a person’s strength and resilience is something rarely spoken of: a dose of self-compassion. “Self-compassion is a way of relating to ourselves in times of suffering that enables increased kindness and decreased self-judgment,” says Jaimie Mudd, MDiv, MC, PCC, spiritual wellness provider at Canyon Ranch. “When we’re able to be kind to ourselves and lighten up on self-criticism, it allows each of us to be honest without being harsh. We can have our unique experience, while also connecting to the larger human experience of loss, failure, pain, and healing,” she says. Jaimie’s advice is not solely based on her training and education. It’s deeply rooted in experience and recent losses. “This year I have experienced profound loss...
Fragile – Ah not any more!
By: Dr Swathy Elangovan It is really appreciable to realize how far we have come as women in this competitive world. Balancing professional and personal life for a woman surgeon is indeed challenging. There is a famous quote which says ‘“the profession chooses us.” Nothing matches the feeling of being in the OR performing surgeries. Despite the long work hours and time away from family, the adrenaline rush coupled with the sense of satisfaction of saving someone's life is something only a surgeon can experience. Challenging aspects faced by women surgeons in their field include: opportunities for scrubbing in leadership roles, cumbersome learning curves etc. Unless you have a good teacher who identifies your full potential and trains you to the best of your ability, it's difficult for you to come up. I would like to share one of my personal experience with a patient. It was a sunny day....
Feeling Behind in Medical School and in Life
By Jenna Dvorsky Medical school is a long, challenging path with delayed gratification. For the majority of those that choose to take this route, the four years of medical school occur during the prime years of early adulthood. This is true for myself, as a 26-year-old who has just completed my third year. When I first started medical school at 23, I knew I had a demanding road ahead. Despite knowing the grueling nature of medical school, I expected that I would go through my four years seamlessly with my head down, focused on becoming a doctor. I had goals to do well in my pre-clinical years, excel on my board exams, and honor every rotation. While I have had great successes the last few years that I am extremely proud of, medical school has proven to be a trying time with bumps in the road. I’ve had multiple personal...
We Are Sorry, But You Did Not Match Any Position. What’s Next? A Perspective From An IMG.
By Gabriela Alvarez Pérez, MD The words " We are sorry, but you did not match any position " were not what I anticipated reading in March. I had envisioned relocating and embarking on my residency journey in the United States. However, life has a way of redirecting our paths. Faced with the unexpected, I had to reassess my next steps. Thankfully, I have a network of supportive physicians who have consistently championed my professional growth. Sharing the disappointing news was difficult, but their unwavering encouragement provided solace during those challenging days. After taking time to reflect on my experience and set new goals, I resolved to start afresh. This time, I am better prepared and more determined than ever. Self-compassion has been essential throughout this process. I've learned to combat self-loathing and lean on the support of loved ones. I actively sought guidance from my mentors, seeking advice on...
Applying to Residency as a Caribbean IMG
By: Miranda Montion Medical school, regardless of where someone attends, will come with obstacles. Regardless of who you know, your previous experiences, or what school you go to, students will share similar experiences during didactics and clinical rotations and in a way it’s comforting. Each day we are surrounded by peers that understand what we are going through more than most. I have had some experiences as a Caribbean student that I wished I had been aware of sooner. As I have progressed through rotations and various experiences, I found some things helpful along my journey, which I have listed below. I hope these will give you some encouragement and guidance during this wonderful, hectic, exciting, and stressful time of your life. Be proactive about your goals With my experience, most of my guidance and support has been from my colleagues and recent alumni. Reach out to these people when...
Surgical Rotations as a International Medical Student
By: Sarah Bueno Motter As an international medical student, doing elective rotations in the US brings us many challenges, but this experience also can open unexpected doors. I would like to talk about the good people we meet on this path. Seeing how people can help without knowing you well is very inspirational; they give us their best, taking our word as proof of commitment. The beauty is recognizing those people in your path and allowing them to help you. First, you must put yourself in their view and try connecting. Set up meetings, ask for conversations, ask questions, share your goals, and ask advice from the people you work with. We often focus on meetings with the PDs, for example, but we must remember the ones we are with daily. Ask your residents for feedback, and connect with them and other medical students. The medical staff, nurses, and surgical...
Breaking the Taboos Around Colo-Anal Diseases: A Female Surgeon’s Perspective
By: Dr. Zeel Sheth The healthcare industries of developing countries like India have seen an enormous gain in the past few decades. Developing countries have taken up multi-track strategies, including preventative measures propagated by educational campaigns, to further this medical advancements. But that blessing can sometimes act as a vice when there is a vast, unfiltered sea of information available on the internet with unrestricted access by the patients searching their symptoms and not being able to resist the non-regulated self treatments. Surgery has been my ultimate passion. From how to use my scalpel to when to not use it, to the glory of the theatre and its humility, my surgical residency taught me everything. While it did teach me how to help those who need it, what it failed to educate me on was how to be of assistance to those who would hesitate to ask for your help....
A Journey to Self-Acceptance and Surgical Residency
Alexis L. Woods, MD Being comfortable with my queerness is not something that always came easy to me. I grew up in a Southern household where homophobic comments were common. As a result, I had a lot of internalized homophobia as a teenager and I struggled to come to terms with being gay - leading down a winding road out of the South and to medicine. I was in denial for a few years, lacking positive queer role models. It was the 90s, and there were only a few queer women openly out and I didn’t identify with them. Emancipated at 16-years-old, I left my parents’ home, began working, and finished high school through a community college completion program. During this time, I could no longer deny I was queer, but I was closeted and spent a lot of time wishing I wasn’t gay. In my early 20s, I found...
4 Part Blog Series: Considerations as Junior Faculty: What Should I Be Doing? – Part 1: You Are Done with Training, Now What?
By: Christine Castater, MD, MBA Congratulations! You've completed surgical training and are now a junior faculty member. This is the culmination of years of research and training, and this transition changes your career and lifestyle. When I finished training, I felt like I had been running a marathon and suddenly ran face first into a wall. The sudden cessation of everything that had been my reality left me feeling stunned and confused. I seriously wondered about my identity since for 15 years, my identity was “trainee.” It took me a year to breathe and acclimate into my new job. At that point, I was able to look around and figure out my next steps. Setting Goals and Expectations: The first thing I did was to set realistic goals for my next five years. These goals partially depended on the dynamics of my new setting. Goals in academia can look quite...
