Why do people get these cancers? Nearly 100% of the time these are caused by smoking and or drinking. The combo is a deadly duo. I wish I could video tape my interactions with these patients and show the misery that is cancer and death. Today we had to do a tracheotomy in a 34 year old male with tongue cancer so that we could hook up to a breathing device and prepare him for surgery next week where we will remove a large section of his mandible and tongue. I am sure when this guy took his first smoke at the age of 15 he did not see this in his future. It is interesting to see the staff interact and they say things like "he should not have smoked" and then seem to feel better about it. However the guy is still going to die and it is still unfortunate and regardless of the perceived reasons for the disease someone is still going to lose their dad, brother, best friend etc. I do not find any comfort in thinking the patient brought this upon them self. It still sucks. We all do unhealthy things.
One thing I have noticed is that it is human nature to want an explanation for a disease or terrible circumstance. It helps us sleep better to know the patient is going to die because of x, y or z. In some way it distance us from the disease and makes us think it won't happen to us because we do not do x, y or z.
I like ENT, I like surgery which puts me in a predicament because the surgery lifestyle is definitely a time consuming, busy lifestyle which tends to not leave a lot of time for other things. I will continue to learn and search and see if there is a way to be a surgeon and still have a life. There is nothing like walking into the OR scrubbed in and sterile and ready to operate. The rush, the feeling and the adrenalin do not seem to get old. Even the older surgeons still have that look and feel as they come in to operate and I think that is what keeps them coming back.
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