Week 10:
Goodbye to Mayo Clinic

August 13, 2022

The day this summer has been leading up to is finally here… It’s the end of my internship at Mayo Clinic. Week 10 was by far the hardest yet most rewarding week of my experience. I truly found myself wishing I had more time to spend in the lab with the friends I made. While this week was short, it was one of the best.

Carter and I were the last two at Mayo Clinic this week. Surprisingly, we were able to accomplish a lot of work! However, just as I had thought, it did feel different in the lab without Dalin and Nolan. I realized just how much we were doing with four people that only having two was a big adjustment! Luckily, Carter and I worked very well together and had a lot of fun figuring out how to navigate the remaining pieces to our summer projects. We both worked on the Charles Bonnet Syndrome manuscript and scored files for a project that had been untouched for a handful of years. This project was from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The partnership had started when departments at both Mayo Clinic and UCSF were learning how to unarchive files for HypnoLab. It became a side-project very quickly and soon became untouched by either facility. Fortunately, Carter and I had some time on our hands to complete the majority of the files that were left over from the project! In previous weeks, all four interns were working on these files intermittently, but didn’t make that much progress because we had other items on our agenda that needed to be completed first. I’m glad that we were able to help UCSF with their project!

On a quick note, I wanted to share that our Charles Bonnet Syndrome project is projected to show great, significant results. I am very excited to see where this paper goes. We were informed that if we could have an abstract finalized by November, our project would be presented at a conference! Our hypocretin project is still alive, and ideas are being thrown around on how to progress with it. The third project we were assigned this summer was about including RSWA in the community. This project, unfortunately, didn’t end up going very far. Sometimes that happens in research, though! Maybe one day, a spin-off project will include some of the work we did!

Week 10 held one of my most favorite opportunities of the summer: neurosurgery! I was able to shadow a doctor in the department who was very charismatic and incredibly skilled. I was able to watch two surgeries the day that I shadowed.

The first surgery I watched was a left microvascular decompression. This is a surgery that is performed on people who have immense pain in their face caused by nerves being compressed by an artery. The surgeon would cut a hole just above the left ear, chisel below the skin, and remove a small section of the skull. After this is done, and a few more intricate steps are followed through (including opening the dura), the surgeon reaches the nerves and the arteries. Carefully, a piece of Teflon is placed between the problematic nerves and artery. The goal here is to offer a cushion, of sorts, so the pumping artery doesn’t compress into the nerve. Patients have been reported to have relief for many years after the surgery!

The second surgery I watched was an endoscopic transnasal transsphenoidal procedure! This is a surgery that is performed to resect a pituitary gland tumor through the nasal cavity. I had a blast watching this operation – it was one of the most unique experiences I have ever had or seen. The surgeon would place a camera and the necessary instruments inside of the nostrils of the patient. Then, they would venture up the nose to the sphenoid cavity. Along the way, small pieces of bone are being removed to open the space. Once the surgeon makes it through the sphenoid cavity, they would open the wall to the dura and then open the dura to view the tumor on the pituitary gland. From there, the tumor is removed and the nasal cavity is repaired.

As I reach the end of my final blog post, I wanted to reflect on this summer at Mayo Clinic. To say the least, I had the best time ever. The amount of knowledge I gained is immense! From how to score a patient file to taking in how an operating room is turned over, it was all incredible. Each activity I was apart of led to the enhancement of the skills in my tool box. The experiences I gained from Journal Club, the multiple projects, and shadowing will stay with me forever. I know I will use what I learned at Mayo Clinic this coming academic year, into my career, and beyond!

While I have countless takeaways, the 3 main ones I have from my time at Mayo are:

1. Connections are everywhere. While I have many examples of this, my favorite one is of the people I spent the majority of my time with. The interns started as total strangers and ended as some of the closest of friends. This wouldn’t have been possible without the eagerness we all had for learning together.
2. Research is eye-opening. This statement may seem obvious, but I feel it is more than valid to have as a takeaway! I started this summer with a bit of research experience under my belt, but this summer’s projects were different from anything I had done before. I learned things at Journal Clubs sessions and within the research we were conducting that sparked new interests in the neurology field for me!
3. Organization is key. I consider myself to be an organized individual, but it became apparent very quickly that in order for a project to be set up for success, detailed organization needed to happen. Luckily, everyone was able to find a common ground on how information should be organized within the spreadsheets that we made. This really helped when someone would need help figuring out where in the projects we were or what they should do next!

Before my final goodbye to the blogs, I wanted to say thank you to everyone at Cornell College who made this experience possible: The Berry Career Institute, the Dimensions program, my faculty advisor, and my fellowship donor. I appreciate all of your support more than I could express in words! Because of this opportunity, I not only have some of the coolest stories to share, but I also have professional connections and experience that will enhance any path I choose to take in the future!

And with that, I’ll say goodbye to the blogs and to Mayo Clinic’s Center for Sleep Medicine. I look forward to sharing even more of my experience this December at the Fellowship Showcase!