Pass me the Scalpel. Week 4.

6 AM came very early Monday morning, because our train from Amsterdam got into Bonn at around midnight Sunday night. I was definitely excited to get to go shadow doctors in a German hospital, but the lack of sleep was really hindering my enthusiasm on Monday. I chugged a cup of coffee at the train station and then we headed to the hospital. When we were introduced to our doctors at the hospital mine did not say much and told me to go sit in the break room and wait because the patient was not ready yet. So I sat in the break room for about 45 minutes and was starting to get skeptical about whether or not I was going to actually see a surgery or not. Finally, the doctor comes in and says that the patient is finally ready, so we headed to the OR to start the anesthesia. The two anesthesiologists were so welcoming and were very enthusiastic to explain everything they were doing. They were so comical and made it a really fun environment. When it was time to put the catheter in the patient the anesthesiologist looks at me and asks, “Do you want to put the catheter in?” It caught me off guard and I explained to him that I had never done that before, but he insisted that I do it. He walked me through the steps and I ended up inserting the patient’s catheter myself almost entirely myself. It was such a cool experience! The patient was having a aortic valve replacement done, and the doctor set up a stool right behind the anesthesia curtain so I could watch the surgery up close. This was my first cardiac surgery to watch and it was so fascinating. It was so weird to be standing a foot away looking at someone’s beating heart. The surgery ended up taking about 5 hours and I was thoroughly tired after standing in the exact same spot for that amount of time. But it was such an amazing experience to get to witness. I have been in an OR before but it was so strange to listen to the doctors communicate about the surgery in a different language and then stop to ask me questions in English. It was an awesome experience to say the least.

On the excursion to Cologne on Wednesday my group went on the tour of the cathedral. I am absolutely terrified of heights so the walk on the small ledge on the top of the cathedral gave me a thorough adrenaline rush. However, the cathedral is absolutely breathtaking. Its sheer size is intimidating but it was so cool to get to explore the parts of the cathedral that most people probably do not think about, like the attic above the ceiling of the church.

For the weekend we went to Paris. Honestly, I was fully expecting to be underwhelmed by Paris. Everyone I have talked to about it did not like the city. Most people say that it is overhyped. I found it to be quite the opposite. Paris mesmerized me. Seeing the Eiffel tower took my breath away because it was so much larger than I had it pictured in my head. We saw the Arc De Triomphe, bought some overpriced macaroons and took a night bike tour around the city. The bike tour was a great way to see the city. Along the way we stopped for gelato, saw the Notre Dame cathedral, found some live music on the street, and unexpectedly rolled into Louvre at sunset with a violin street performer playing in the background. It could not have been a more picturesque moment. We then finished the tour with a wine cruise around the canals of Paris. After the tour we went to a pub with our tour guide and some of the people we met on the tour and it was just the coolest bonding experience. These people were complete strangers a few hours earlier and then that night we were chatting and laughing over a beer. Then after that, we walked back to the Eiffel tower and just laid in the grass and watched the lights twinkle. It was one of the most blissful moments. I was more than overwhelmed with Paris and it exceeded every preconceived notion I had of it. It was definitely one of my favorite weekends and I will definitely be going back.