By Jocelyn Wace, M.D.
There are many reasons why the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Michigan appears to be awash with Limeys. (For as many point out, the almost inevitable consequence of a randomly propelled syringe in the recovery room, is an impaled Brit!) It might be the weather! Not if your are poikilothermic it's not. It might be the burgers, but no it's not the burgers. It's the burghers. The friendly burghers of Michigan. For example: taking no chances with the weather I had arrived sporting a down ski jacket. Within minutes (at the immigration desk to be precise) a friendly Michiganian had pointed out that despite it being two days short of November it was 70¡ F outside, and I could probably brave it with just the two sweat shirts and the thermal survival vest. Everyone I have met since has continued this pattern of neighborly assistance.
One always has to be slightly circumspect when joining a group of anesthesiologists whose University motto is Go Blue, but as soon as one learns that this is a guideline and not a dictate, the pressure eases off. The joke is that I am here as a teacher, when quite clearly I will go away knowing a shed full of stuff that had previously made the all too easy passage between my aural appendages without so much as encountering random interference.
The array of equipment available is perplexing at first, but once it was explained which end you look through and which end you stick in the patient's mouth, those awkward Oh my gosh, what is he doing? pauses in the O.R. conversation became less frequent.
But the U-M is fun, nearby we have the Ford and the G.M. proving grounds and in Ann Arbor we have the anthropomorphic equivalent. The never say never school of surgery, gives birth to the --ooh er mother school of Anesthesia. With technical support that would make the European Space Agency jealous, and staff with a level of specialized knowledge that I have seen nowhere else, you could learn to safely anesthetize a hippopotamus in a neck brace. The residents do just that, and they continue to make me feel small by learning as much as they do in just three years. I will encourage both my friends to rotate.
Originally published September, 1994.