Day 1.5 - Laproscopic Colicys... Cholycistec.. damn gall bladder.

It was my first day ever to step into an OR without being poked or prodded for it.

Lots of you are asking how i arranged this, it definitely was not easy. Most hospitals do not allow anyone under the level of med student to look at an OR and that was the case for Hamilton hospitals. However through determination, some very insightful emails and talking to a lot of people i caught a break. All i can say to anyone trying to get experience is be truthful and people will be sincere to your requests. Also, please don't call the hospital asking about this trying to get in as i'll probably lose the spot and rip our your cholecyst and feed you bile (Thank you Dr. X for the in OR physiology lesson). Theres a million other ways to get in an OR, this was probably the hardest.

This was probably one of the most interesting days to date in my life and i want to have an account for it somewhere.

I showed up at 10am at the hospital and spent a good half an hour reading a surgical handbook while waiting for things to get started. Most ORs already were inbetween their first and second day surgery so i was just waiting.
I was taken down to the OR suite, put on my scrubs and cap for the second time (they feel like pyjamas..mmm) and headed to the OR-1 which is mainly general surgery. I came in about midway through a laproscopic hernia re-repair. Basically they used a mesh to hold up the hernia but had to reinforce it with another surgery. Was a very tedious process to clear up everything inside and it was like a video game pretty much. Everything was done through a laproscopic camera and other such tool. Somewhat looks like this.

It was all really interesting, barely any incisions, minimal bleeding and it was all very casual. Surgical procedure, casual?! They were listening to the sultans of swing, i wanted to get on the OR table and groove.
That took about a good hour and a half i believe and went off for a quick lunch. The very nice scrub nurse invited me back after a quick break.

I sat in the surgeons lounge for a bit picking up on some conversations about scrotum sweat, the 'gay' scale and variable mortgages. Interesting i must say. Honestly was way too nervous to start a decent conversation with any of them, most were way too busy with their own thing or couldnt care less. One vascular surgeon lady was extremely bitchy and chomped down a popsicle while rambling about how the clerks mislabled her patient.

After lunch i got back into the OR for an open hernia which was actually quite boring considering i didn't really get to see much. Unless youre scrubbed you can't really get up there for the most part so the nurse moved me to another OR with Dr. X who was doing a lap choli (gall bladder removal).

As soon as i stepped in i was greeted by everyone, it was so odd. There was an attending, surgical resident, med student and two scrub nurses. Had some small talk about what i was doing there and who i was and it just went into a physiological lesson from there. I got step by step action of gall bladder removal and how to poke a liver with a camera in order to make your resident not able to see what he is doing. Fun stuff. I dont know how much of this i am allowed to write actually. I just won't use any names. So for our sake i was at sacred heart memorial hospital in Wichita. Watched them clamp off the gall bladder and remove it through one of the lap holes.The gall bladder is really really tiny and red and squishy! Never seen a human organ before, WWHD. (What would hannibal do).

After that i high tailed it around with Dr. X for abit. All i can say is that if you plan on being a surgeon, learn to walk fast. I had to run just to keep up with him at all times, it was like zoom zoom zoom.

Finished off the day with another lap choli and a talk with the scrub nurse about the steriotype of mean scrub nurses, she kindly explained to me that med students and residents are cocky don't pay attention which is why they might sometimes get yelled at. I agree.

Really all i can say is i loved every minute of it, i wish i didnt have to leave the OR today at all.
Conclusion: Headed in the right direction.

All in all, im exhausted. I passed pretty soon after i got home and off to my bio lab exam tomorrow. For the sake of awesome pictures at the end of every blog entry...