Sutures and Shoes

The first day of my OB-Gyn rotation was precious, not because I delivered my first baby, not because I found myself in a position where I was the most qualified medical personnel to perform an emergency C-section, but because I taught Anu how to tie his shoelaces.

We formed our teacher-student bond during the "suture workshop" portion of our OB-Gyn orientation day. I was first showing Anu how to tie the one-handed and two-handed surgical knot.

"Yeah if they want me to tie in the OR," Anu said to me, "I'll just do it like I was gonna tie my shoelaces." I laughed.

He then demonstrated on the practice suture model, making two loops with the two sides of the string, and tying them together. And that's when I realized... Anu ties his shoelaces like a FOB.

"What do you expect? My parents taught me how to tie my shoelaces," Anu said, when I told him that he was a FOB, "and I never learned the whole 'round the tree trunk' thing."

I told him that I would teach him. First, we needed some shoelaces! I looked at Anu's shiny black Kenneth Coles, and I reached down to untie his shoelaces.

"It's quite simple Anu," I began, "You make a loop with one side of the string, bring the other strand around, and pull it through the little loop, and tighten."

"Like this?" Anu.

"No, no... like this..."

He got it after two tries. I guess the first day of orientation of OB-Gyn is useful after all:)