liposuction and orthopedic surgery

so i began my new rotation last week...and my hours are back to insanity. i'm in the hospital ready to go at 5:30am...we round, then go into surgery from basically 7:30am til end around 6-7pm. exhausting. i get home, eat, shower, and bed by 9-10pm. surgeries are really cool but LONG and SLOW. i'm in ortho trauma, which means we fix all broken bones of motor vehicle/motorcycle accidents. it's soo sad seeing young 20 year old men with arm amputated, or all four limbs broken and requring rods/pins/plates/screws to hold it all together. they are in soo much pain too, 'cuz we drill and pound at the bone. ugh. now i'm extra cautious about crossing the street (we have a pedestrian that got hit, he's in critical condition), and for all you drivers/bicyclists out there, be VERY VERY careful! my attending tells all his schedule dpatients, "i can't guarantee any set operating dates--it's peak motorcycle season, you never know what may come!" and don't sit too close to the dashboard when driving--lotsa broken hips as the femur bashes against the dashboard and rams into the pelvis, shattering it. and broken kneecaps, but not as serious. believe me, takes 5-6h to fix a cracked pelvis, and it's not fun to not be able to move below waist for several months!

enuf about the rotation--it's long hours but interesting. i have a 4th year medical student from Columbia (the S. American country) rotating with me, and she revealed that she had liposuction a year ago! she's about 125 lbs now, 5'3...she said at one point she was 160. she looks much better (obviously), but said she would NEVER do it again 'cuz of the pain she had to go through. she has very tiny scars, just large enuf to get the instrument into parts of her body (buttock, thighs, arms, abd, back). she said spot reducing really made a difference in appearance, but she had to maintain a diet/exercise regiment as part of the process. for the first few weeks, she had to wear a full bodysuit and have daily massages to get rid of the fluids. she cried through all the painful massages. anyhow, i was surprised that someone so young would opt for lipo, but i guess anyone could! only cost her $2000 in columbia! we got upon this topic when the OR (operating room) next to the one i was in had a breast reconstruction case that was to last 8+ hours! i've always thought it'd be nice to throw some buttock fat into the chest, but after seeing how ardous and painfully long it takes, i'll reconsider! they basically stripped off a HUGE chunk of abdm skin/fat to bring it to her chest (she had masectomy from breast cancer), and prob will pull down abd skin and tighten it. not sure...she'll have massive scars it seems. ugh! wish i chose a plastic surgery rotation, would have been interesting!