A lost stethoscope saves the day!

Not that today was bad, it was pretty enjoyable actually, but there were no surgeries scheduled and I spent most of the day seeing post-op patients with one of the other surgeons and hanging out with people... not a lot going on. I was about to head out early for the day when I realized I had left my stethoscope in the locker room the day before. I went to the OR locker room, and it was nowhere to be seen.

Now losing a stethoscope shouldn't be that big a deal, except that mine was given to me the summer before med school by my cousin who is a pediatrician and taught me during my 3rd year. It has sentimental value. And it's a nice stethoscope.

So I inquired to multiple people including surgeons, cleaners and nurses and finally they told me to talk to the chief of surgery. Within a minute or two, he had one of the cleaners bring it from the lost and found, a huge relief. I thanked the surgeon who referred me to the chief and as we were talking, he asked if I was busy. Well, not really, no. I was about to go home actually. He invited me into watch a pediatric surgery and I hastily accepted.

It was a 13 year old girl with fluid in her chest from tuberculosis. I ended up as the first assistant rather than a spectator and actually got to help quite a bit. They even let me help close. I tried pretty hard to skin the skin closure done well as this girl will have a pretty sizable scar on her back/side for the rest of her life. It was pretty sad to see someone so young so sick, but the nice thing about kids is they get better pretty fast.

On another note, I was praying about residency last night, wanting to make the best choice and was asking for wisdom. The idea to read Jeremiah 27, which I don't really know much about, popped into my head and so I did. It discusses the Israelites being sent away from their home, the places they loved and the land they were connected to, to live in Babylon. For them, it was a strange foreign city and they had set their hope on an imminent return. However, Jeremiah told them to invest in that city and work for its good, that their fates were tied to the city they were sent to and that they could prosper there, even away from home, if they chose.

I thought it a pretty awesome answer to prayer. Not that I'm 100% sure of where I'll end up (I think I know), but that God is working to bless wherever I go for residency and I can choose to be a part of that.