I ran into a classmate over lunch. He took a year off to do research, and is getting ready to match in Neurosurgery.
Now, I have to say, I loved my 2 weeks on Neurosurgery, but I would never go into it. I saw some really cool stuff, and I felt like they "got" me in that department, but the lifestyle is just.... N.O.
But I've wondered since, if the general consensus seems to be that neurosurgeons are assholes, and I liked that rotation.... maybe that means I'm one too? I am definitely type A -- I know this. While I was on that rotation, I would come home and order Luca around like people in Neurosurg order each other around in the hospital. Fortunately this behavior vanished as soon as the rotation was over, however.
Anyway, my friend is a really lovely person. Not a mean bitch like me. Smart, kind, most definitively NOT an asshole. Not mean. Not a "typical" surgeon. It was weird to see him after almost a year. I guess he's been around doing his own research, but as with all things science, one tends to get cloistered in ones own ivory tower doing one's own thing.
So I said what any normal person would have said, "So, are you looking forward to destroying the next seven years of your life?"
Gah! What was I thinking? Fortunately, he has a sense of humor. I told him he was too nice to be a neurosurgeon. He said, "Well, maybe they'll make me mean."
Maybe indeed.
I doubt it.
It was weird seeing him. There were a couple of other people from my class there, and I suddenly felt a little nostalgic for my med school days when I saw them on a regular basis. I know! Who would ever have thought *I* of all people, the most curmudgeonly person on the planet, would feel that way.
Anyway, my friend is going to be a wonderful neurosurgeon. I guess on the plus side, he'll probably be one of my few classmates who will be done with residency at about the same time that I finish! Haha.
And so another cohort of my classmates moves on and graduates. Leaving me behind to slave away at my dissertation.
At least I've been liking what I do lately. There's that anyway. It's GOT to be better than being a resident.
8 Pearls of Wisdom:
BF is currently considering neurosurgery. Who knows if he'll get the step 1 score to go for it- and the residency is just so long. I'm sort of hoping that if he rotates on it next year it'll deter him haha. one of the TAs for our neuro module is also matching into neurosurg and he's soooo nice- not at all arrogant like the neurosurgeons who've come to lecture us have been.
I mostly like being a resident, which is surprising b/c I'm doing a Medicine Prelim year and my main IM rotation made me want to poke my eyes out with dull spoons.
Maybe some elective time this year &/or the promise of residency in July has led me to forget the worst parts of internship.
When did he take a year off? Was it after finishing med school?
Between 3rd and 4th year.
Is that the best time to take a year off for research? When is the best time?
Anon -- It probably depends on what you want to do. Between 3rd and 4th year is the most common time for students at my school.
Occasionally you'll find a nice neurosurg resident/staff, but by and large, my experience has been assholes. Nothing but assholes.
Hopefully, as you said, your friend becomes the exception and not the rule.
It's not the people. It's the process. Seven years of 80-hour weeks, shitty sleep, seniors and attendings crapping on you. It changes people. Some of them change back after residency, but some of them are stuck in the groove they wore for themselves in residency.
I hope your friend does great. It's a hard road.
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