Week 3

This week, I continued with much of the same activities as last week: attending breast sign-out in the mornings and following residents into the gross room to watch them prepare frozen sections or gross samples. Even though some of the terminology has become more familiar and I am more easily able to follow along in discussions concerning diagnosis, there is so much patient-to-patient variability in the tissue samples that each case continues to be interesting and engaging. Apart from this all, I also shadowed a resident performing autopsies for the week. The very first autopsy I observed was a fetal autopsy, and I worried beforehand about how it would affect me. In the end, I had no trouble watching the procedure; I just felt sad about the circumstances. I was able to follow along as the resident meticulously performed each step, more easily as I was given a sheet detailing the protocol, and take notes for her as she removed and examined each organ. She explained everything that she did to make sure I was able to follow, discussing her findings and whether or not they were typical, and provided more information on the organ systems I was less familiar with. I was also able to provide some assistance, holding the body steady for some of the trickier parts as well as assisting in measuring and weighing the organs. I was also able to watch another resident dissect a brain and prepare the sections for proper analysis later on, a vastly different procedure as the brain was present without its body.

Aside from clinical work, I attended the AACR conference on Engineering and Physical Sciences in Oncology in Boston this weekend and presented a poster along with Adam and Matt. I enjoyed my time at the conference and believe it went well, though I would have liked to spend more time in the city, as it's been a while since I've been back.  Next week I hope to explore my options outside of surgical pathology; hopefully, I'll get the chance to enter the OR and attend surgeries. I also plan to explore my research project in more detail and advance in my work.