"...but the tips are huge"

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says there are "potential medical benefits of newborn male circumcision; however, these data are not sufficient to recommend routine neonatal circumcision." Basically, in the US, it is the parents decision whether or not to circumcise their boys, and if they choose to do so, it is purely a cosmetic procedure. While doing my pediatrics rotation, I heard this often and was on the fence about whether or not I thought circumcision was a good idea. The one real advantage is circumcision does decrease the spread of HIV, but I would hope my (fictional) children would not be putting themselves at risk anyway. Some say circumcision decreases sensitivity and thus sexual satisfaction, but there is no real evidence of this. The procedure itself is not terrible (the worst part seemed to be that the babies hate being strapped down and unable to move), but if it is unnecessary, should we really subject the boys to this just cause dad's looks that way?
Then I did a urology rotation. I've seen 2 men in their 70s who've received circumcisions because their foreskins had thickened and tightened, one to the point that he couldn't urinate well. And trust me, the procedure in a newborn is nothing compared to the brutality inflicted on an adult. The newborn has no stitches and heals in a couple of days, the adult has stitches all around the penis and takes about 2 weeks to heal - and painfully i'm assuming. I saw another man who had penile cancer and had to have more than half his penis removed. Its almost guaranteed that you won't get penile cancer if you don't have a foreskin. I also saw a man with balanitis xerotica obliterans (BXO), which is a progressive hardening of the tissue on the foreskin and head of the penis. This can cause numerous problems and again is almost exclusively seen in uncircumcised males. These conditions are not very common (penile cancer is actually pretty rare) - and likely why the AAP doesn't recommend "routine" circumcision - but with circumcision you all but decrease the chance to zero. Pediatricians don't really see the problems that a foreskin can cause - they refer them to a urologist to deal with. And after what I've seen with the urologist, I recommend circumcision to all - that foreskin will only cause trouble.

Inception

I'm a big fan of Christopher Nolan, so I was very excited to see his newest movie Inception. A lot of times when i'm excited to see a movie, I build it up in my head and then when I see it I'm greatly disappointed. This was not the case for Inception, because it totally blew me away. The basic plot of the movie (and trust me, I couldn't explain more than the basics if I wanted to), is that there are a team of individuals that can be hired to go into someone's subconscious via their dreams and extract information. Essentially they are dream thieves. A corporation wants them to do something a little different though, and hires them to enter the dreams of a man in order implant an idea instead of stealing it. The problem with this is that the idea must be implanted in such a way that the man believes it is his own idea and not planted by someone else. I'm not a fan of movies and TV shows that invest your time in something that turns out not to be the reality you thought you were watching (i.e. Identity, the flash-sideways in the final season of Lost), but that is not the case with Inception. You pretty much know when they are in a dream and when they are in reality. The story is very complex and felt way over my head, though I began to get a grasp on pieces of it as the movie developed, but that doesn't make the movie any less enthralling. About halfway into the movie, my heart started pounding and didn't let up until about 30 minutes after it ended. The acting is fantastic - I was particularly impressed with the English actor Tom Hardy who plays Eames and the French actress Marion Cotillard who plays Mal. The visual effects are stunning as worlds bend in on themselves and gravity loses its effect. Its an insanely brilliant movie that I highly recommend.

Bring on the Wieners!!

Well my 6 weeks of all things vagina has come and gone. I saw a lot of crazy things, including one lady who came to the clinic bleeding profusely (picture an open vagina pooling with blood and snot-like blobs of blood clots - better yet, don't picture it, it really was one of the most disgusting things i've ever seen). I smelled a lot of crazy smells (enough said). I violated unconcious women as they prepared for surgery (at least that's what it felt like when I did a pelvic exam on anesthetized women - actually the best time to do an exam because they are completely relaxed). I did a lot of pap smears. I even caught a couple of babies as they came shooting out (right before the first one the doctor leaned down to me and whispered "your job is to hold on to this baby. do not drop this baby" - don't worry, I held on). Overall it was a really good experience, though. And after my week long vacation (more on my Florida trip later) I will be starting a Urology rotation. I figure I need to give equal time to penises as I have given to vaginas (though I'm sure I'll still be dealing with those too).