As some of you may know, I am the drummer in an alt rock band, Used Karmas. If you are interested, you can take a listen on Spotify, and hear our first album. What does this have to do with plastic surgery? Absolutely nothing.

As I have practiced and played the drums more, I have improved. It is no longer just keeping time and fearing a miss hit, it is a sense of rhythm, time, and what is called “the pocket.” Being in the pocket means that you are in rhythm, but you feel the whole song revolve around the time signature you set. This is a musical way of saying you are comfortable with the beat and can dance around it without losing it. It is sort of what happens with a great dancer who is really feeling it.

As I operate, I am in a zone where time, hunger, and the outside world do not exist. I am so focused on the case at hand that I literally do not look at anything but the field I am operating in. I reach my hand out for whatever I need, and it is placed in my palm.

As my drumming has gotten better, I have thought of operating in “the pocket” as a different way to experience surgery. I am still dead focused on what I am doing, but enjoy and feel the rhythm of the operation as if it were a piece of music. Having this time signature in my head has made my favorite thing even more enjoyable.

I guess I dance to the beat of my own drummer. Fortunately for my patients, I have never lost my groove.