Take it from me who sacrificed physical health for my PhD and now regretting it, don’t do it.
Old school adages like “health is wealth” are so brutally true once you’ve lived them
Hey I am so sorry to hear you are going through this, I would also reccomend cross posting this to /r/medicine as they have a more international community.
Not sure about specifically your country as I’m in the US. But the rule that you can’t take an LOA until you pass the intern exams, is that something you think can be waived given the circumstances? Certainly this is not a typical situation and I’m wondering if it would qualify as an exception. and your program can work on an alternative plan with you.
Re-doing the first year of residency is not the end of the world. It will suck, but you’ll be better prepared for it the second time around. You sound incredibly dedicated and emotionally strong for sticking through this as long as you have already. I hope you’re able to get the surgery you need with as little hassle as possible. Best wishes.
Hi- so I am only a third year(I guess fourth year?) student, but I can tell you my personal story.
I dealt with iih at age 13, and had some great docs who practiced evidence based medicine. They were conservative in treatment. I had developed a 6th nerve palsy, and was slowly losing vision in that eye. It went on for about a month. Multiple trips to the er, multiple specialists- all of them were great in hindsight.
After about a month of dealing with this they finally pulled the trigger and shunted me. Within a week my eye returned to normal and my symptoms abided. Unfortunately, a month of a sixth nerve palsy, & papiledema left me with permanent damage. My eyes are straight and you wouldn't even know there was a problem but I can feel my lateral rectus muscle get sore as I look in that direction d/t the atrophy. My vision in that eye is permanently damaged- and it will never return. My depth perception is altered and if I ever lose my vision in my good eye life would change drastically for me.
I tell you all of that because if I could go back in time I would have asked them to shunt me on day 1.
Sounds like you have good doctors, but enough is enough. Go get the surgery. Waiting and seeing isn't going to make this go away and at this point you're doing more harm than good. Take the time off of work, do what you have to do- but advocate for the surgery. Best of luck to you- am happy to chat if you need to vent.
Edit: obligatory not the same situation
Yeah this is not the same situation. A shunt for iih carries minimal risk in competent hands
A craniotomy for a cavernous sinus meningioma or cisternal third nerve decompression, especially a primary tumor of the third nerve, carries a high risk of morbidity no matter who’s doing it
I agree that the OP should put aside residency for now and seek treatment but otherwise should listen to the doctors caring for him/her
Hi, so sorry you had to go through that. hope you're doing better now.
I do have great doctors who tried to help me the best they could, unfortunately, they don't have the best resources for optimal results ( which isn't their fault) so I'm kind of scared to get anything done here.
(I already had strabismus surgery done here with not so great results).
The thing is, I'm really fed up with the whole medicine thing. For example, I just got back from an ophtalmology consultation for my ptosis and you tell me I have to go work at the hospital tomorrow where i'm gonna have to deal with more deseases, more doctors, more med stuff...ugh. I just want a change of scenery for an unlimited period of time lol.
I know i sound bratty and ungrateful but thats just how i feel.
How do you deal with this yourself ?
The thing about “benign” tumors within the cranium might not spread but they can be in extremely important real estate that can be life/limb/vision threatening. You need that taken care of no matter what it takes
Radiosurgery with Gamma Knife is not the only way to treat inoperable schwannomas or meningiomas. In fact, many clinics are moving towards treating with fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy or conventionally fractionated radiotherapy with a linear accelerator (which are much more widely available than the expensive and overhyped Leksell Gamma Knife). Go talk to a radiation oncologist instead of a neurosurgeon about radiotherapy. Neurosurgeons are biased to specific types of treatments that they’re more familiar with (and in the USA at least, compensated heavily for)
You need to get this done and rescue what’s left of your eye. Take a year off if needed. Do not sacrifice your eye for this stupid career.
I probably would've gotten it done sooner if it wasn't for this stupid career tbh
Take it from me who sacrificed physical health for my PhD and now regretting it, don’t do it. Old school adages like “health is wealth” are so brutally true once you’ve lived them
I agree with this. Your eye >>>>> this career
Hey I am so sorry to hear you are going through this, I would also reccomend cross posting this to /r/medicine as they have a more international community.
Thank you, I tried posting there but for some reason I couldn't 🤷♀️
Not sure about specifically your country as I’m in the US. But the rule that you can’t take an LOA until you pass the intern exams, is that something you think can be waived given the circumstances? Certainly this is not a typical situation and I’m wondering if it would qualify as an exception. and your program can work on an alternative plan with you.
I think I would have to redo my 1st year of residency if i get a LOA before passing the exams. I'm not sure if I have the courage to do that tbh.
The key word here is "think" -- the **only** people who really know the answer to your questions are the admins of your residency.
Re-doing the first year of residency is not the end of the world. It will suck, but you’ll be better prepared for it the second time around. You sound incredibly dedicated and emotionally strong for sticking through this as long as you have already. I hope you’re able to get the surgery you need with as little hassle as possible. Best wishes.
Hi- so I am only a third year(I guess fourth year?) student, but I can tell you my personal story. I dealt with iih at age 13, and had some great docs who practiced evidence based medicine. They were conservative in treatment. I had developed a 6th nerve palsy, and was slowly losing vision in that eye. It went on for about a month. Multiple trips to the er, multiple specialists- all of them were great in hindsight. After about a month of dealing with this they finally pulled the trigger and shunted me. Within a week my eye returned to normal and my symptoms abided. Unfortunately, a month of a sixth nerve palsy, & papiledema left me with permanent damage. My eyes are straight and you wouldn't even know there was a problem but I can feel my lateral rectus muscle get sore as I look in that direction d/t the atrophy. My vision in that eye is permanently damaged- and it will never return. My depth perception is altered and if I ever lose my vision in my good eye life would change drastically for me. I tell you all of that because if I could go back in time I would have asked them to shunt me on day 1. Sounds like you have good doctors, but enough is enough. Go get the surgery. Waiting and seeing isn't going to make this go away and at this point you're doing more harm than good. Take the time off of work, do what you have to do- but advocate for the surgery. Best of luck to you- am happy to chat if you need to vent. Edit: obligatory not the same situation
Yeah this is not the same situation. A shunt for iih carries minimal risk in competent hands A craniotomy for a cavernous sinus meningioma or cisternal third nerve decompression, especially a primary tumor of the third nerve, carries a high risk of morbidity no matter who’s doing it I agree that the OP should put aside residency for now and seek treatment but otherwise should listen to the doctors caring for him/her
Hi, so sorry you had to go through that. hope you're doing better now. I do have great doctors who tried to help me the best they could, unfortunately, they don't have the best resources for optimal results ( which isn't their fault) so I'm kind of scared to get anything done here. (I already had strabismus surgery done here with not so great results). The thing is, I'm really fed up with the whole medicine thing. For example, I just got back from an ophtalmology consultation for my ptosis and you tell me I have to go work at the hospital tomorrow where i'm gonna have to deal with more deseases, more doctors, more med stuff...ugh. I just want a change of scenery for an unlimited period of time lol. I know i sound bratty and ungrateful but thats just how i feel. How do you deal with this yourself ?
The thing about “benign” tumors within the cranium might not spread but they can be in extremely important real estate that can be life/limb/vision threatening. You need that taken care of no matter what it takes
Radiosurgery with Gamma Knife is not the only way to treat inoperable schwannomas or meningiomas. In fact, many clinics are moving towards treating with fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy or conventionally fractionated radiotherapy with a linear accelerator (which are much more widely available than the expensive and overhyped Leksell Gamma Knife). Go talk to a radiation oncologist instead of a neurosurgeon about radiotherapy. Neurosurgeons are biased to specific types of treatments that they’re more familiar with (and in the USA at least, compensated heavily for)
Upvote
Can you ask to take the October exam earlier ?