Today started bright and early, just like every other. Thankfully I’ve adjusted to the time shift though. The morning was quite the success. With multiple patients cleared in 1-2 layers and even more with lesions so superficial that no reconstruction was needed, I was done by 10:30. I had a 2 hour lunch break, so I went home to see my mom on her day off and talked with her for a bit before lounging on the couch to enjoy a single 42 minute Netflix episode before returning to work.
In the afternoon I met two patients who were great grandparents! One thing I love about all of the patients being around 70 or older is that they have so many interesting stories to tell!! Today I learned about the largest embezzlement scheme in Illinois, the Missouri University mascot is a tiger, standing desks are all the rage in corporate offices now, cow manure is worth quite a lot of money as fertilizer, and that people used to rub baby oil and iodine on their skin when they were my age and younger to try and get tan. It amazes me just how much I can learn from not only the brilliant doctors and nurses I follow around, but also these sweet and outgoing patients!
I also got to help out today a bit more and I was in charge of running the layers up to the lab to be frozen, sliced, and dyed for later inspection by the doctor. It wasn’t much, but I was glad to help out in any way I could!
One thing doctors need to think about even though they aren’t in an operating room is being sterile when doing a procedure such as a reconstruction. When doctors take layers and nurses assist them, they both use gloves from a box on the wall. These gloves are clean, but not sterile. When the doctors and nurses are doing reconstructions however, they take individually prepackaged gloves in their preferred size to put on for the procedure. 
