Tell Him your plans! At least that was what my former minister said (Rev Dennis Lennon, who sadly died recently). I sometimes feel that God’s been able to laugh at me a lot. It’s now over three months since I returned to Scotland from Uganda, and I’m still finding it difficult to settle, workwise. Surgery at the Royal Infirmary Of Edinburgh is a very different work environment from surgery at Kiwoko Hospital in Uganda, but I think it’s more the type of surgery that I’m doing that is causing me difficulties.
I still have two and a half years of specialist surgical training to complete before I become a consultant. My plans had always been to specialise within General Surgery and become a Vascular Surgeon (arteries and veins outside of the heart) – the fine, technical nature of the operations was stimulating; the patients were generally in hospital for slightly longer than a lot of surgical patients, allowing for a better doctor-patient relationship; and the out of hours work is usually limited to exciting emergencies!
However, over the last two months I’ve come to realise that this doesn’t stimulate or interest me any longer. I crave the variety of operations the Generalist Surgeon is able to perform; I enjoy keyhole surgery which isn’t a feature of vascular surgery; I’m already bored of varicose veins; and there is much less of a sense of admitting a patient, diagnosing them, operating on them, getting them better, and discharging them – all too often our vascular patients have multiple medical problems that are difficult if not impossible to sort out, and frequently there is no treatment option other than amputation of a limb, often resulting in a patient who never recovers to get out of hospital.
Fortunately my director of training is very understanding, and has agreed without any problems to enable me to change the direction of my training. I’ll stay where I am for a total of six months, as there’s lots to learn here that will be useful for any type of surgery, but then I’ll continue training in a more General, Gastrointestinal Surgery. The choice then will become where to work as a consultant, and I’ve been finding out a bit about Remote and Rural Surgery in Scotland, which sounds very similar to what I was doing last year in Uganda.
I guess I’m waiting for God to make it clear to me that I’m to go back to Africa, something I’d love to do – but that will have to come from Him, as I’m sure I couldn’t cope if I didn’t have His complete help and support! Still, last year wasn’t my idea at all, and yet I’m sure it’s what He had in mind for me. As Proverbs 3v5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.”
Steve
