On Finding My Breast

My first clinical examination when we were first exposed to clinical teaching was to do a respiratory system examination on a young female Indonesian. So we saw boobs. My first time in real life, really.

But coming to one year in clinical school, we see more and more. Especially when I'm in surgical posting now.

I rembered when I first started my surgical postings, we've got quite some amazing cases. Liver abscess. Tyroid cancer. Upper gastrointestinal bleed. And there was this case of breast cancer. Well, thanks to my laziness really, I never really get to know that patient with breast cancer of mine. I looked up and down for her but when I finally asked the housemen in charge whereabout she was, I was told she was transfered to the internal medicine ward.

And I told my colleagues, my breast gone dy...

The girls were shocked.

* * * *

5 weeks into surgery, I have yet to palpate any breasts. As in female breasts. (I know I know!!! I was just too lazy to put my hands on breasts...) We were taught in the ward how to, but again, thanks to my laziness really, I never really took the initiative to go and examine breasts before. Until the day the notorious surgeon came to take us.

I finally followed the girls to the female ward and see this teenage girl who came in with fibroid adenoma.

"Breast appears to be normal bilaterally, no ulcers and skin tethering or color changes were noted, no scars were seen. The nipples lie on the same plane and no discharge was seen. On palpation, the left breast is normal, no masses were felt, and it was non-tender. Milking did not produces any discharge. On palpation of the right breast, there is an oval mass measuring 6cm x 10cm located superior to the areola. It is non-tender, firm in nature, mobile horizontally and vertically, has smooth surface and regular margin. There was no discharge."

"What else did I miss?"

And the girls started telling me it's actually multinodular and telling me that this is not right and what not...

So I said. Okay... Maybe I need to palpate more.

Get me more breasts. I want more breasts...

They were stunned. Literally.

Sek to fooo... LMAO