After seeing my family I was sad to leave them but excited to be back in Bonn for a week. My first day back included shadowing surgery, a much needed nap, and loads of laundry. The day started off with going to the teaching hospital in Bonn and watching surgeries. I was so excited but also very nervous about getting lightheaded and passing out! Spoiler alert, I didn't pass out so no worries. Once changing into some super cute and comfy scrubs I was ready to go! I was lucky enough to be assigned to the cardiology wing and got to watch a cardiac bypass and aortic valve replacement. The crazy thing about shadowing in on a surgery of this kind is that there was nothing in-between me and the patient who's chest is wide open on the table. The surgery started with thoroughly sterilizing the patient and then harvesting a vein in his leg that would be used in the bypass part of the surgery. While the vein was harvested the main cardiac surgeon started to open up the patient's chest by making an incision and cauterizing the tissue and finally taking a bone saw to the sternum to expose the chest cavity. The chest was then retracted to further expose the heart and lungs. I was surprised by how little I was freaked out since I was looking a live beating heart. Once the vein and heart were fully prepped the bypass machine was started and the heart was stopped. This part was probably the craziest since you literally get to see a live beating heart stop and have the blood drain out of it and seem to become flat and lifeless. But nonetheless this is not the case since the blood is being rerouted throughout the body by the bypass machine. At this point the real surgery began and the harvested vein is attached the heart to bypass the damaged arteries. In this patients case there were three bad arteries so the surgery was a triple bypass. After this was complete it was now time to replace the damaged aortic valve. In order to do this an incision was made on the aorta and the old valve was completely removed. The old valve was then replaced with a biological valve made from a bovine pericardium. Once the valve was sewn in I had realized I had been standing and watching the surgery for over four hours and was ready to leave. Throughout the whole surgery the surgeon was very informative and answered all of my questions and even joked the whole time which was shocking since he was just casually doing heart surgery but no big deal. My favorite thing he told me was that being a cardiac surgeon is easy because everything is simply a circle, for example the veins are a circle, arteries are circles, and the valves are circles. I simply just laughed because he was majorly under-hyping how difficult surgery can be! After the excitement of surgery all I wanted to do was sleep, sleep, and sleep some more and that was exactly what I did. The next day was kicked off with normal class and ended with a trip to the local organ factory. At the factory we learned how they make each individual organ part and how they come together to produce the unique sound. Thursday included visiting the museum of anesthesiology which is owned and operated by the cutest little elderly man. While there we learned all about the progression of the field of anesthesiology including the machines and anesthetics used. Finally Friday was met with a day trip to Bingen. The first part of the trip included a visit to the Hildegard von Bingen museum where we finally got to learn about an influential women in medicine. From there we took a scenic cruise down the Rhine where we probably saw easily twenty castles! The calming cruise was then followed by a strenuous hike up to one of the only castles still fully intact. Although I was exhausted and definitely didn't wear the proper shoes, the hike was worth it due to the spectacular views! Not only were the views from the outside cool but so were the ones from inside the castle where our tour guide shed light into what it would be like to live there in its prime.
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| Replica from the anesthesiology museum |
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| View from the top of the Marksburg castle |
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| Brother Jeremius singing his heart out |
After a very busy and long week the weekend was much needed and I happened to be heading to the perfect place to relax! Next stop Cannes, France. For those who don't know Cannes is located in the southern part of France know as the French Riviera and is home to the Cannes Film Festival as well as some of the best beaches in the Mediterranean. Sadly we missed the film festival by a month but the beaches and luxurious shops are always there. Once arriving and checking into the hotel the first thing on the agenda was food and boy did France not disappoint! Lunch consisted of truffle pasta, a bottle of rosé, and something that is very hard to find in Europe, ice! After lunch it was time to head to check out the town. Unfortunately as soon as we started walking along the strip the rain started to come down but no worries we hopped into a pub for a couple of beers and watched the Women's World Cup which happened to be in France. The night continued with strolling along the beach and bar hopping. Since Cannes is very laid back and doesn't have many sights other than the beach we did something crazy and decided to sleep in for what seemed like the first time in forever. Luckily for us Sunday's weather was warm and sunny so that meant a day at the beach. After visiting the port that houses the elites yachts, we decided to grab some lunch at a beach side restaurant that also had a private section of the beach. After eating I ended up finessing a couple of lounge chairs that would have cost 35 euros a piece and was able to enjoy the beach in style. This weekend was exactly what I needed and sadly it came to an end too soon but no worries the French Riviera hasn't seen the last of me!
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| you can never have too much pasta |
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| Sunset stroll on the beach |
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