Bad Oeynhausen

Last Friday was my favorite excursion thus far of the trip! We went to the Heart and Diabetes Center for the whole day. We started with an orientation/video of the core focuses of the center. I thought the tele-medicine program was very neat. I wonder if there are programs like those in the US? They probably would not be covered my insurance of course. Then came the best part of the day: open heart surgery! Madeline and I got to see the beginning of a mitral valve replacement and bypass. The surgical tech led us into the room and told us where to sit. It was fascinating watching them set up the operating room for the surgery. The tech and the nurses had a system for setting everything up while keeping the room sterile. It was such second nature for them. I had never realized how much equipment was used for surgery, or how many plastic and paper packages were thrown out. The equipment for the lung machine and the heart machine was incredible, so intricate and complicated I was somewhat afraid to go near it. Most of our observation was of the set up of the room and the patient. We could somewhat see the chest being opened up. I was too nervous to ask if we could move to see more since we had been told were to stand in a certain spot. But later the anaesthesiologist waved us over. We got to stand on the platform to see straight down to the surgery. It was amazing. You could see the lungs breathing and the hear beating. There was not very much fat, which was nice. The doctor opened up the atrium and placed a tube inside. Then something interesting happened. Madeline turned to me and said she needed to sit down. As soon as she said that she started leaning on me. I thought she needed help off the platform, but then she went dead weight and fell away from me. She fell, hitting her back and her head. It scared the crap out of me. I was really nervous she had hit her head bad. The nurses helped me pull her back up on the platform, elevating her feet and checking her pulse and pupils. I was so glad they were there. We left and went to the doctors lounge to sit for a little and have some water. I was so glad she was okay. I had not even thought to expect something like that to happen. It was so lucky she wasn't badly hurt. We met up with the group for another cafeteria lunch that was pretty good. We had a tour of the ICU and met three transplant patients. It tore my heart up to hear about the 30 year old who, even though he had a healthy life style, was bedridden for a year. It was incredible how much his health had improved only two days after his transplant. It was sad to see the next patient, who was still bedridden waiting for a transplant. He looked exhausted. The third patient was up and walking about with his new internal heart pump. It was nice that he was able to live his life again for the most part until he could get a transfer. My grandfather had a triple bypass when I was six. I had never thought about the surgery until the tour. It was such a miracle everything went well in the surgery and that his heart is still healthy. He can do everything a normal person can do. The heart is such an amazing organ. Then we went to the MRI department and learned the basics of the MRI. He took us to see the machine and showed us how powerful the magnet was. He placed a metal sheet inside the tube and had us try to move it. It shocked me the resistance I had to overcome to pull the sheet out, and when I got near the machine, my ears started turning up because of my earrings. It was really funny. Then he attached a hanger to a string and let it get sucked through the machine. It was so neat to actually see the magnetic power instead of just a picture of the machine. It was an amazing day! I'm so glad I got to see another surgery! I really love surgery, but I don't think I could do it as a profession because of the lifestyle. Man what a day!