Week 5

This shortened week started off on a great foot with a trip to the zoo! I really love zoos and could spend hours walking around looking at all of the creatures but this trip was especially cool since we got to go behind the scenes. First we got to feed the giraffe, which was so so cool. Its tongue was really long and its lips felt like sandpaper. On our way to the food house we got to stop by the cute little prairie dogs that live in the same enclosure as the alpaca. I thought their take on the enclosures was really cool and especially liked the dry mote in the camel enclosure. It does make the animals look more natural and less like prisoners. I also found it funny that there were raccoons in the zoo. If you want to see a raccoon in Texas, all you have to do is leave some trash out at night and they’ll come! The behind the scenes elephant house was really interesting and we got to get closer to an elephant than people ever get! It really did look like Jurassic Park back there and it was cool to hear about how cooperative the elephants are with the keepers. After the zoo we got some much needed knock-off chipotle and a group of us headed to the Chocolate Museum. Unfortunately it is closed on Monday so we didn’t get to go and decided to head back to Bonn.

We had a very early start on Tuesday but once I put those scrubs on and stepped into the OR it was all worth it. I got to watch a mitral valve replacement surgery. The case was especially interesting because the patient had had two previous cardiac surgeries: a coronary bypass surgery and a mitral valve repair. He had also had a post-op infection in the sternal incision site so the surgeons didn’t want to use the same site due to a build up of scar tissue. The three surgeons on the case huddled around the patient for a couple of minutes confirming their plan to open him up on the right side underneath the nipple line. It took over an hour to prep the patient and then another hour to expose the heart in order to attach the heart and lung machine. From there it was hard to see what was going on until they began to remove the dysfunctional valve and prepped the site for the prosthetic. The replacement valve was from a cow, which is preferred over mechanical in this situation. Seeing the valve fit into place over 4 hours after we had entered in OR made all of the waiting worth it. It is so crazy that a part of a cow can work properly in a human heart! Every time I see a procedure I get refreshed and more excited to continue on with my plan to become a doctor.

            After the surgeries we returned to the AIB for two lectures from Dr. Wasser. The first was about Hildegard von Bingen and the second about Paracelsus. Both were very interesting people and played large roles in the history of medicine. As Dr. Wasser has said from the beginning, we have to try to not look down on the ideas that earlier doctors had as they all led to the knowledge that we have today and someday people will be learning about medicine in this time period and will most likely think that we were wrong about some of the ideas that we have too. After class it was finally time to celebrate Jessica’s 21^st birthday! It was so fun being all together and the concert that Jacob’s host sister, Makeda, put on for us was incredible. We all had a really good time and it was a good last night out in Bonn.

            Wednesday was another full day. We left early for Bingen and got to take a nice nap on the train before arriving at the small town on the Rheine. There we visited the Hildegard von Bingen museum. My favorite part was the garden that held some of the different plants that she had written about. I find the use of Digitalis in patients with cardiomyopathy to be really interesting and a true use of an active ingredient found in a plant. After the museum we got some gelato in the town, ate lunch by the river then hopped on the boat for a cruise to St. Goaz. The cruise was really nice and relaxing. I wish we could’ve stayed on it all day. In St. Goaz we hiked up a small mountain to the “Catselbow” Castle (I cant remember the word in German).  It is funny to think about all of the little kingdoms with their own castles scattered in the Rheine valley. The tour of the castle was really fun and the view was absolutely beautiful. Crawling through the meter high pitch-black tunnel was definitely an experience and I’m glad we made it out without any serious injuries. We wrapped up our Rhinecruise and headed back to Bonn for most of ours last night in the city.

            Today (Thursday) was a sad day for me. It was the last day that we were all together in our new home city of Bonn. I can’t believe how quickly our time flew by here. I miss it already and we still have 9 days left! As I lay here in bed writing this blog, my cab pickup time of 4:20am is quickly approaching. I am looking forward to spending the long weekend in Barcelona but am sad to leave Bonn.