GYNECOLOGY - Roswell Park

GYNECOLOGY - Roswell Park

Wednesday night - exhausted from the long travel- I finally arrived at the apartment, where Klara and Sara waited for me. The very first thing I noticed was a wonderful smell: Sara has baked a banana cake. (She bakes so well, so we are lucky she is here 😊) The apartment was a surprise to all of us: much larger than we thought from the pictures, and the 7th floor has a wonderful view of the city.

The next day, Klara and I went to the obligatory briefing at Roswell Park. The hospital is approximately a 35-minute walk, and it was nice that we could figure out together where to go. The hospital is incredibly modern, and the waiting room is like the lobby of a luxury hotel. The attached pictures show Roswell Park Hospital from outside, the view from 7^th floor and the beautiful park. The experience of live music when you enter the ground floor enhances that experience. I have heard of the famous bell in the hospital waiting room before, but it was an incredible feeling to hear in person: for someone to ring it means they are healed. People then start clapping loudly, whistle and go hugging and congratulating him. That is a very nice tradition and it shows how open and uninhibited Americans are.

Our first weekend was in a familiar atmosphere. On Saturday, Dr. M. took us out to buy some food by car, so fortunately, we did not need to carry heavy bags and he has invited us for lunch. We had roast beef, French fries and very-very sweet milk shakes. Later that afternoon he even took us to the Hungarian American Social Club where Hungarians living in Buffalo meet regularly. For dinner they offered us karfiolleves, székelykáposzta, petrezselymes krumpli with chicken and last but (not least) we even had Dobos Torta (!). After that we saw together the film „Itt élned, halnod kell”. It almost felt like being at home.

My first rotation was in Gynecology. Here, for the most part, I was with Zs.E., a doctor who left Hungary more than 10 years ago. I was lucky to learn a lot from her, not only professionally but also humanly. I highly recommend the gynecological practice to everyone: usually it was approximately 8 hours a day, so not overwhelming at all, and depending on your interest, you could choose to be in the operating room or the clinic. Even if I am not that fond of surgeries, I wanted to see surgeries because for a lot of them they use the DaVinci robot, and through the monitors I was able to follow in 3D. It is also interesting to experience on my own skin what it is like to work in a truly "international" team, as more than half of the doctors here are non-American; most came from India, Africa and South America.

What I highly recommend to students for the following summer rotations is the unique Buffalo outdoor theater in Delaware Park where students from SUNY Buffalo work alongside professional actors and you can enjoy their Shakespeare play for free! You may even bring lawn chairs and/or blankets, food, soda, water, wine, beer, etc. 

To be continued in 4 weeks, bye for now 😊

Réka Lumbach

July, 2019.