Plastic Surgery Recap

Pros:
- There are few careers out there as cool as plastic surgery.  I mean, who doesn't want to be Sean McNamara or Christian Troy?
- Most of the procedures take only 2-3 hours, which means you can do several different surgeries in one day.
- Few patients require ICU care following their operation, and most get to go home within the week, their lives drastically improved.  This is about as close to instant gratification as you can get in medicine.

Cons:
- The life of a resident is extremely difficult.  They often work 15 hours/day, not including taking call at night.  This can be both mentally and physically exhausting, to say the least.
- My scores are nowhere near good enough to get me into an integrated program, so if I were to choose this specialty, I would have to spend five years in general surgery residency followed by three years in plastic surgery residency followed by two years in some sort of fellowship.  I'm not really sure I want to squander the rest of my 20s on building my career.
- Both of the above add up to mean that there is little chance of having a life outside of your career.  And boy, do I love living.

I start Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery tomorrow, and I don't have to show up until 6:45am.  As sad as it sounds, I actually feel like I'm getting to sleep in.  Sweet.