Week Three: A quick summary.

This third week of the was one that strengthened my existing interests in and genuine passion for  medicine, while simultaneously opening my mind up to new specialties and areas that I wasn’t well versed in before. I have always respected anesthesiology as a prestigious vocation and admired it and its practitioners, but hearing from a man who himself is a legend in the world of anesthesiology did me in and now I’m a hopeless fan of the art and science of anesthesia. When Dr. Wasser talked to us about the museum of the history of anesthesiology, noting that professor Horst Stoeckel created it with his own collections; I expected a room filled with old and impressive pieces of history related to anesthesiology. What I didn’t expect was shelves of drugs(cocaine included), a massive array of tools dating from the days of the first successful anesthetized operations to our modern day technologies, all of which Professor Stroekel is able to elaborate on in immense detail, oh and he has an Iron lung and the contents of an entire 1930’s French operating theater. In his age, you can still clearly observe his passion for his speciatialy and you can literally see the progression of anesthesiology as we know it today, and be able to understand when he jumped into the timeline himself, being a part of the progression of anesthesiology with his extensive research on the closed loop feedback system, and hearing his astounding stories of manually ventilating a patient for 36 hours. The opportunity for me, a measly undergraduate student, to be able to hear from such a world class pioneer in this field is what I take to be both a huge rarity and an honor. Tuesday saw us diving into lectures on all of the details that construct the history of medicine. Sitting in my seat, having a wealth of knowledge on a powerpoint before me, I felt like my mind was going a thousand miles a minute making connections and forming my understanding just in time to move onto the next century of medical history, with discoveries all it’s own. There is so much that I’ve learned in the few lectures we’ve had from Dr. Wasser, but I know that we are only just scratching the surface, leaving me with a lot to learn in the way of relating the history of medicine to medicine today throughout the rest of my education and my career. The second half of the week took us to Hannover, Emden, and Norderney. We spent a lot of time at the MHH in Hannover, for good reason. Learning about ventricular assistance devices from Dr. Jan Schmitto, a prominent cardiovascular surgeon was a first for me, and it deepened my interest in the wonder of the human heart. Getting to meet one of his patients and hear his case was a priceless opportunity that I will always remember like it was yesterday. The next day at the MHH, we met with researcher, Dr. K. Reimers, who is working in Bio-regeneration with Axolotl’s and spiders. At first glance to the program schedule, I didn’t fall out of my seat with excitement at the thought of a morning talking about research. Don’t get me wrong, I understand it’s instrumental importance in the very existence of modern medicine, but I have never before been exposed to it in high enough amounts to have an accurate impression of a life in research medicine. I was floored by the brevity of her research, the dedication she and her team have, and the motivation of betterment and progress for medicine. In the afternoon we met with Nephrologist Dr. Kielstein, who spoke with us about the weak spots and strong points in the German healthcare system. The way in which healthcare is swayed and carried out will always in some degree be determined by the systems in place that provide the funding for healthcare. Because of this, there will always be places in the system that are lacking, be that system German, American, or otherwise. The high point of meeting with Dr. Kielstein was hearing about Dialysis from him. It was not something that I had a particularly great interest in, but in hearing the physiological processes involved to take on the stress of filtration, osmoregulation, and so many other functions of the kidney, I was amazed. I was honored to play a part in our small dialysis theatrical production right there in the unit. It was my first theater performance and most likely my last one too, but I enjoyed my short career. Lastly, we travelled to Emden, our stop before Norderney. Emden is one of the most beautiful places that I’ve encountered throughout this program. I loved the character and personality of this friendly town, and if(more like when) I return to Germany I would like to stay there for a little while longer and enjoy it but Emden was just our stop on the way to our main attraction, Norderney. It was a bit of trip to get there, but sink your legs in that heavenly mud and tell me it’s not worth it. Hiking the mud flats of the Wadden Sea was something that you only get to do once in your lifetime, (with the exception of Dr. Wasser and our tour guide) and so I enjoyed the opportunity to sink my bare feet in an important and beautiful piece of Germany’s Geography. To my dismay, my camera ended up in the gully that we were washing our feet in, and this little hick-up has reminded me how important flexibility is, and that even somewhat of a rough day in Norderney is still a great day in the big scheme of things. After the mud flat hike, we were able to tour the clinic there, which was an entirely new type of medical facility to me. I’m sure that having a clinic that caters to chronic lung and skin illnesses, using climatology and Thalassotherapy is a great benefit to Germans and I enjoyed getting to see it up close and personal. I can’t believe that this wraps up the third week of the program. I could easily stay an additional five weeks if it weren’t for the pesky fall semester that’s looming ahead. While I’m excited to get back to school, see my friends and loved ones, and get back my daily routine, I suppose that I will have Germany withdrawals on a regular basis. Nevermind all of that, there’s still 12 days of the program left and I’m eager to see what is left to be learned, seen, and laughed about.