Women in Surgery.

Last night I went to a talk hosted by the Surgical Society of our college. The title of the talk was "WOMEN IN SURGERY"

外科医になるのは「Ｉｔｓ　ａ　ｍａｎ’ｓ　ｗｏｒｌｄ」ってよく言われるけれど、昨夜会った女医さん達はみんな「もし本当に外科医になりたいのなら、得る物、失うもの、職のために犠牲にしないといけないもの性別を問わず、みんな同じだ」って…

アイルランド、アメリカ、ヨーロッパではそうかもしれないけれど、日本ではどうなんだろう？

それとも女医としてのコンプレックスなのかな？

The conclusion of the talk was "If you have just as much motivation, just as much adrenaline, and just as much passion to be a surgeon as the next man/woman/person next to you, then you will do well, you will not be discriminated against, and you will find it hard, but you will love it."

All the women I met ranged from being pregnant at their consultant interview 30 years ago, to wearing jimmy choos and doing their hair before going into the OT.

They have never once felt discriminated against, commented against on their gender, and have loved their jobs.

Some took 15 years to be a consultant, others took less.

But what they did, was succeed in their goal.

I get shivers and an adrenaline rush thinking about it.

産婦人科、Obstetrics and Gynaecology-Is a surgical speciality.

That is my #1 choice of a career option. I love the happiness, I love the warmth it gives families. I love the hope involved in the birth process. Although there is death, and although when things go wrong, it is devastating beyond belief...but my month in SGH this summer was something that really made me realize what my calling was.

In my years at RCSI, I have had these moments that has given me the shivers.

1) When Mr. Osbourne passed me the Thyroid gland, straight out of a total thryoidectomy.

2) When a woman at SGH came in with a uterine cyst....and on the table we found that it was 30X30.

3) The minute a head popped out post C-Section.

4) As I held a woman's hand as she screamed through the birth of her first son. And her husband was there on the other side, tears streaming down his face....and wouldn't take his eyes off of his wife, even after she had given birth...the love he had for his wife...the hope that was in their faces for their family.

5) Doing a resp exam on a CF child in the ward in waterford...

* I gotta take a breath...thinking about these moments really make me so overwhelmed with emotions...*

And I realize, that all my happy moments are 1) in Surgery 2) in Ob/Gyn 3) Paeds

What does that say to me?

It says....I love Ob/Gyn...but I also love Paeds...

= I still don't know what I want to do as of yet; it's not set in stone, I like to keep my options open, but the choices are starting to narrow down. And I'm loving it.

XXXRieXXX