A Surgical Experience

I was a member of the group that went to the university clinic on Tuesday. The day started out normal enough, with yet another bus ride to an unfamiliar place. Getting to the hospital, we go and change into our scrubs for the day, something I hadn't done in a while. Putting on scrubs always felt good, serving as a reminder and picture of my life in the future if everything goes my way. From there, we spit to visit an operating room. I, along with Joanna, went to the ear, nose, and throat ward or something of that nature, readily apparent by the fact that we walk into a room containing a woman with several metal tubes in the nostrils and down the throat. She had something wrong with how the tubes of her ears went to the throat, so they were checking to see what exactly was wrong. We were attached to the anesthesiologist, an excellent teacher and great guy overall. He talked to us about the procedure, a little of what he did personally, and then asked us to participate in the surgery. We were not expecting to actually do anything hands on, but were too polite to say no.

First task was to draw some blood. He walked us through what to do with the syringes, and then had Joanna start with the first one. Everything went well, but as she pulled the plunger out she also pulled the syringe in that direction as well, pulling the cord taught. Eventually, she pulled out enough where the needle in the woman's arm came out, causing a large blood puddle and mild panic in our anesthesiologist. We quickly got a new needle, and then he asked me to put it in another one of the woman's veins. I had never put a needle into a vein before, so I was nervous and tried to inform the man of my inexperience, but he wasn't having it. So, I feel the vein, follow with my finger where it is going, aim the needle, and drive it into the woman's skin. I puncture it, but not quite as straight as was necessary. He says pull out slightly and try again, but that's about where the panic sets in and the reality of what I was doing hits me. I pull the needle out slightly, but my hand begins to shake uncontrollably. Eventually, he just takes the needle and goes into another vein. Once that's in place, we draw the rest of the blood, and when the procedure is finished Joanna got to put the "wake up" medication in the IV to pull the patient into consciousness. The anesthesiologist then gives us a lecture about different medications, their effect on the body, and a lecture in physics about how resistance and fluid flow play into how the heart operates. We almost have the whole lecture time of 50 minutes before we are called into surgery #2.

For this one, the patient is an elderly man who has a suspicious mass in his throat that will be checked. For this one, we are joined by four German medical students, and after we put the man under and the surgery commences, we talk about what the anesthesiologist does and he shows us his "control panel" and what all the information on it means. All the while, I am watching the surgery take place behind, and after an endoscopy that shows nothing, they make an insicison in the man's neck to actually view the mass. This part was the only part of the day that made me a little uncomfortable because they cut into this man like it's nothing, like he's just a cadaver or a piece of paper. But, overall, I loved the experience this presented.

I would have liked to stay there all day, but the basic need of hunger had to be satisfied. I'm glad this program had an experience like this.