self-care
#AWSfood4thought : Here’s to the Dads
By Heather Logghe This Father’s Day I would like to give special thanks to the dads who lovingly support their women surgeon partners. My husband, Chris, has been one of them. I embarked on my intern year when my daughter, Sierra, was only three months old. The journey never would have been possible without Chris, who left his “dream job” to fulfill the role of lead parent. Notably, three of my fellow female residents also had children cared for by stay-at-home dads. Just as their husbands had done for them, Chris’s love and support made the emotional and logistical challenges of residency surmountable. During orientation week when I was still nursing, requiring me to“pump” away from home for the first time, I found I had forgotten an essential part for the process; Chris brought it in without hesitation. He also delivered homemade meals when I was on call, while picking...
DRIVING
By Marie Crandall “I’ll just answer this one text…”, “One sec, let me look for my hands-free…” “Damn this train, I’ve got a sick patient waiting in the ER…” It seems like I should be preaching to the choir, that surgeons would know better than to text and drive, or tweet and drive, or any kind of distracted driving. But we don’t. Every year we lose surgeons to distracted driving or other distracted drivers. So, for Distracted Driving Awareness Month, I thought I would make a plea for safety, so that none of us becomes one of the over 3000 people killed or 400,000 people injured each year due to distracted driving. It is part of who we are, our vocation, to be immediately available to our patients, our residents. I remember before cell phones when you’d have to find a pay phone to return calls if you were away...
The Other Nine Percent
By Miriam D. Weisberg The United States Preventative Services Task Force and American Cancer Society advocate the importance of Papanicolaou tests (Pap test) as effective screening for cervical cancer prevention. Since the introduction of Pap tests, there has been a decline in cervical cancer deaths by 50%. These statistics are a proud reflection of the impact early detection has had over the past 30 years. USPTF guideline revisions now recommend Pap tests once every 3 years for women over 21, and only once every 5 years after the age of 30. Despite the success of early detection, the new guidelines are decreasing the frequency of examination. Is the leniency of these guidelines a risk factor for the next generation of young women? The guideline revisions are based on the correlation between HPV and development of cervical cancer, which accounts for 91% of cervical cancers every year.. Unlike self-breast exams for...
On being a mom, surgeon, and wife – or surgeon, mom, and wife – or…
By Chris Hardesty The worst moment in 2015 was the morning my 2 year old started crying when he realized I was leaving for work. I’d heard this would happen and expected it, but the pit in my stomach was worse than I anticipated, the temptation to stay home tugged like a wave pulling me under the water, and I matched his tears when I got into my Jeep. It sucked. I rationalized I was going to an important job helping other kids, that Jack would be over it quickly, and that millions of other moms/kids had been through this. But it still sucked. “Work-life balance” is that overly used term for the elusive perfect schedule. It has been touted as something we should all work for, but I have yet to meet anyone – male or female – who has achieved it. My first goal in writing this is...
When Breath Becomes Air: Lessons Learned
By Jane Zhao Join us for a tweetchat tonight, Sunday evening, March 13, at 8 PM Eastern Time and follow @WomenSurgeons, @jzhao3, @ShreeAgrawal21, @minervies and the #AWSFood4Thought! It is only when confronted with our own mortality that some start to embrace life. In part two of his memoir, Dr. Paul Kalanithi takes us on a journey from the time of his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer to his last few days and shows us just how alive he is throughout the time he is actively dying. Rather than summing up his narrative, I have highlighted certain passages from Part Two in chronological order to give an accurate depiction of his transformation from doctor to patient back to doctor, all the while juggling various roles as husband, son, and finally as a new father. Warning: There are spoilers ahead! ~~~Excerpts from “Part Two: Cease Not till Death”~~~ “’I’m never coming back...
Colorectal Cancer Awareness
By Linda Farkas October is the “pink” month. Pink is everywhere for breast cancer. Major cities light up pink fountains, pink skyscrapers, and even “real men” (football players) wear pink for breast cancer (BC). Kudos to breast cancer awareness for hitting a home run through their campaigns, which can be measured in action. This success can be seen with increased mammography screening up to 70.2%, depending on a woman’s insurance. (ACS, Surveillance Research 2016). Other than the “Get your Butt in Gear”, or the Traveling Colossal Colon, colorectal cancer (CRC) awareness is silent. Why? Is it sexier to talk about breasts, than colons, rectums, colostomies and stool? CRC screening compliance does not fare as well. By any modality- guaiac cards, sigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy, and barium enemas it still hovers around 50%. (2009 NCQA data-reflecting 2003-2008 data) So every March (let’s face it –every day) I use CRC Awareness to my advantage...
When Breath Becomes Air: Understanding Mortality
Tweet chat (follow @WomenSurgeons) and additional blog post to come on March 13th 8 PM EST! By Shree Agrawal Dr. Paul Kalanithi’s memoir, When Breath Becomes Air, as Dr. Abraham Varghese promised in his foreword, confronted me with the truth of mortality. The kind that lies beyond textbooks, evidence-based medicine, and clinical research. Prior to reading his work, I perceived statistics about patient populations experiencing difficult diagnoses to exist in a world detached from my reality. I likened data surrounding diseases to Dr. Kalanithi’s perspective of “country facts”, his term for theoretical old wives’ tales about dangers in his hometown. The probabilities of human vulnerabilities, especially those that could apply to my loved ones and me, are ones I avoided and discreetly hoped to be untrue. When I read about his evolution from pre-medical years to those as a neurosurgery resident, there is a surprisingly relatable quality. I am with...
My Wake-Up Call
By Sharon Stein Cardiovascular disease...Not me- I am too young for that. I was shocked when I got the text from my husband. A friend and colleague had just had a stroke. She was in the Neuro ICU with dysarthria and left sided paralysis. Her systolic blood pressure was greater than 200. This wasn’t some white haired mentor of his – this was our friend, someone we go out to dinner with, our contemporary. She is a go-getter, an excellent physician, on the top of her game. Sure she worked too hard, didn’t have enough time for exercise, didn’t eat as well as she could have, but she is not different from me. She couldn’t have had a stroke, she is too healthy, she is too young, she could be me…. February is American Heart Association Health Month and the truth is that despite our medical training, we tend to...
Integrating Surgery and Family Life
By Lillian Erdahl As part of the discussion on work and life, I want to introduce a term I heard recently. A speaker at a conference I attended mentioned the concept of work-life integration rather than balance. Life, meaning the roles I have outside of my work. Many roles i I play sometimes conflict with each other, including: breast and general surgeon, teacher of residents and medical students, mother to two children, wife, daughter, granddaughter, aunt, sister, and friend. For now, I will focus on how I manage being a mother and being a surgeon. The struggle of working mothers and working parents is not unique to surgeons. However, the nature of my profession poses certain unique challenges. I cannot interrupt what I am doing in the operating room to talk to my child’s teacher or pick her up immediately from daycare if she has a fever. Some days the...
Maintenance of Self
By Jean Miner As many before me have asked, is there such a thing as balance when it comes to our careers and life outside the hospital? Maybe not, but we can realistically reach an equilibrium when we prioritize and allot time for all our responsibilities. Every time we step into the operating room we multitask, lead, and organize. Utilizing these same skills we have honed over time will aid us in our endeavor to reach stability between our career, family, friends, health, and most importantly our "self". ENLIST others to join you in your journey for equilibrium. As health care providers, we often neglect our own healthy sleep, diet, fitness, and preventive measures. Regarding your path to getting healthy - find a family member, friend, or colleague who has similar or even higher goals than you to help you design a plan or challenge. Set a realistic goal that...
