So you're not an orthopaedics resident are you

One of my former residents is now a staff orthopaedic surgeon at my hospital. He invited me to assist with an ankle repair. It was going to be very cool - a posterior approach so we'd see a lot of the anatomy. How could I say no?

While he was dissecting out the nerves and muscles he reviewed anatomy with me.

"and what's this?"
Me: "That's the tendon of the halus longus"
Him: "Right, but how can you tell?"
Me: "Because it's the prettiest structure in the ankle."
Scrub nurse: furrows her brow and says "You're not an orthopaedic resident are you?"

The halus longus is pretty, but tensor fascia latta is much prettier.

I ended up spending my ED shift in the OR. I got traded to the general surgeon to assist on his case after the ankle repairs. It made for a fun day. What a change from being the 3 or 4th learner at the table. So cool.

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