A few weeks ago I was assisting on a c-section and got called out to help with a stabbing victim that just came into the surgical theatre. Young kid (18), I should say young MAN because he's married and has a child. He was an employee at the local hardware store and got stabbed while at work (by another employee). There was a fight, obviously, and it seems that they both pulled out knives. Anyway...we opened up his belly from sternum to pubic bone and his abdomen was completely filled with blood. Fixed the hole in his liver and checked everything else out and stitched him up and we were out of there.
The O.R looks like a crime scene by the time we get done and there is practically no safe place to step. So we stand there and remove our surgical gowns as we wait for the nurses to bring the mops in. We start to undress and as the head surgeon looks down he notices the front of his scrubs from from one thigh to the other is completely saturated with blood and he says: "hey look guys, I got my period."
I couldn't stop laughing, but instinctively I also glanced down--kind of like you do when you see someone else with their zipper down--to see if I got 'mine.' Everyone in the room noticed that I had checked and they thought it was hilarious. That was my first trauma case and everyone there treated it like it was a rite of passage. They were genuinely happy for me and sort of welcoming me into the club. So because I was now "one of them" they started teasing about other stuff as well and really let me have it. It was a great day.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
AKA!
So most of you will be happy that I'm not including a photo of the "AKA" that I assisted with the other day (I'll get to that in a minute). I delivered another baby via c-section, but this time there were only two of us (not three) working on the case. The surgeons are giving me more and more to do and I'm loving it! Even though I'm on this tiny island, I'm actually able to see and participate in quite a bit at this hospital--able to do more then I would in the US at this point in my medical career.
I love going into the surgical theatre on Tuesdays and Thursdays not knowing what to expect. I assist on lots of umbilical hernias and lumps and bumps (lipomas and breast lumpectomies), hysterectomies and c-sections, but yesterday I ended the day with an 'AKA' (above the knee amputation, yikes eh?). It's a sad thing to lose a limb like that, but from a surgical standpoint, it was awesome!
I love going into the surgical theatre on Tuesdays and Thursdays not knowing what to expect. I assist on lots of umbilical hernias and lumps and bumps (lipomas and breast lumpectomies), hysterectomies and c-sections, but yesterday I ended the day with an 'AKA' (above the knee amputation, yikes eh?). It's a sad thing to lose a limb like that, but from a surgical standpoint, it was awesome!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
first stitches bitches!
So I've been spending about 10 hours per week (of my "free time") in the surgical theater at the hospital. I teach anatomy with a local surgeon and he's invited me to go and observe. I started going the end of last semester and now that everyone knows me there I've sort of been accepted in as part of the team.
He started me out gradually doing things like switching on the suction and moving equipment, but later graduated to doing things that required gloves. Now I'm asked to scrub in and I get to do 'real' things.
On Thursday, I was assisting the chief surgeon in a incisional hernia repair and after he was finished and was about to close, he asked the scrub nurse for suture material and asked her to give some to me as well. I've practiced my knots and suturing on cadavers--so I was ready to go--but this was the first time I'd ever sewn up living tissue and I was thrilled. I can't believe they are giving me this kind of experience and training.
You may not be interested in this, but today I got do a little bit of scraping for a D&C for a women with uterine fibroids and then assist with a major hysterectomy. There were a lot of bleeders for the hysterectomy and we (three surgeons + me, 4 nurses and the anesthesiologist) were in there for over 5 hours; and I walked out just plastered with blood: it was amazing. (oh yeah, still no fainting!)
He started me out gradually doing things like switching on the suction and moving equipment, but later graduated to doing things that required gloves. Now I'm asked to scrub in and I get to do 'real' things.
On Thursday, I was assisting the chief surgeon in a incisional hernia repair and after he was finished and was about to close, he asked the scrub nurse for suture material and asked her to give some to me as well. I've practiced my knots and suturing on cadavers--so I was ready to go--but this was the first time I'd ever sewn up living tissue and I was thrilled. I can't believe they are giving me this kind of experience and training.
You may not be interested in this, but today I got do a little bit of scraping for a D&C for a women with uterine fibroids and then assist with a major hysterectomy. There were a lot of bleeders for the hysterectomy and we (three surgeons + me, 4 nurses and the anesthesiologist) were in there for over 5 hours; and I walked out just plastered with blood: it was amazing. (oh yeah, still no fainting!)
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
...just one more stomach flu away from my ideal weight
Well I had a fever the weekend of my last exam and I've been coughing like I have pneumonia (like the bout I had when in Japan, only not quite as bad). So, it's lame to not take a test "cause I'm sick," because, well it's just lame. No one should get sick before a test. But to stay positive, even though all the coughing is giving me a pounding headache, my abs are getting ripped, and I'm just one more stomach flu away from my ideal weight... ha
No worries though, I'm slowly improving.
No worries though, I'm slowly improving.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Bloood. wah ha ha ha ha!
Maybe not a big deal to anyone else, but to me this is HUGE! I've always been a big-time fainter, as in: fainting at the sight of my own blood, other people's blood, fake blood--even stories of fake blood. The principal in grade school had to pull me off the floor after the pin prick test and the five tiny dots of blood taken by the school nurse. I know, I know, "...pathetic. . . and he wants to be a doctor?" yep. And today I passed a major milestone: I stuck a needle in this girls arm and I drew blood from a vein. Seriously. I'll admit my hands were shaking and I could feel my face turning a little bit whiteish--but I didn't faint--not even close. I hit the vein on the first try and didn't even hestitate. It wasn't perfect, because when I withdrew the plunger I pulled the needle out a bit and I had to sort of push it in again (which is THE thing that makes me the sickest).
I call it a success because it wasn't mandatory (we were allowed to just practice on the model if we wanted) and even though it could have gone better I hit the vein, drew blood and didn't faint. It was awesome!
I call it a success because it wasn't mandatory (we were allowed to just practice on the model if we wanted) and even though it could have gone better I hit the vein, drew blood and didn't faint. It was awesome!
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