The other day a friend told me she heard one of the oral surgery instructors talking to another who had recently come back to his job after a long abscence. They were pointing out people in our class from our picture panel who want to do oral surgery. I was told the instructor came back to what my friend figured was my picture (I am the only woman interested in the program and she knew the backstory) as a bit of an after thought and said something like, "Oh yeah, she wants to, but she fainted in the O.R."
I was mortified when I heard this! I didn't faint in the O.R. Yes, I had to sit down and eventually went home. Turns out I had one of the strains of influenza that hit Iowa hard. I was sicker than a dog for about 5 days and actually missed about 3 days of school and spent a whole weekend in bed. I was very disappointed I had to go home because I was scrubbed in to a very interesting surgery where we were harvesting a bone graft from the hip to use to repair a bilateral cleft palate.
I decided not to worry about it. I can only hope that I don't have a reputation among the residents and staff that is unfavorable. Since this person was not there, obviously something was said about me. I hope it was said in passing, not as a negative comment about my abilities.
Luckily, my friend informed me that the other instructor was quick to stand up for me saying that it was okay for people to get faint in the O.R. and that it wouldn't affect my abilities as a surgeon.
Let's hope that is the common mentality.
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