Bad Oeynhausen and First Day in Vienna

It's so weird that we're on our last stretch of the trip and only have 3 more full days here!! It was nice to walk outside the hotel in Hannover this morning and not be freezing, but then when we got to Vienna it was really cold again unfortunately. I guess the cold likes to follow us around everywhere. I am still really enjoying everything though. I was thankful for the time to nap and just relax this afternoon, especially after getting up at 4:00 this morning! St. Stephan's Cathedral was beautiful, just like many of the other cathedrals that we have visited. The amazing buildings and architecture are definitely things that I will miss when I am back home. I love walking outside anywhere and seeing really pretty, and usually very old, buildings everywhere. I wish we had things like this at home; parts of America (such as College Station and Arlington) will seem so much more plain now!! The catacombs were really cool to visit, but I have to admit that it was a little creepy being right next to the coffins. I think my favorite part of the catacombs was seeing the rooms full of bones. I had never seen anything like this before and it's so weird to think about how many people there are "buried" in these rooms. It was also a little creepy to think that there used to be alot of dead bodies stacked in many of the rooms that we walked through down there. It was still an awsome experience though! I wish I wasn't so cold after finishing up with everything because I would've liked to shop around some, even though I don't have much money left to spend. It has been awesome getting cash dispersements throughout the trip though, I am very thankful for this money!

I absolutely loved seeing the open heart surgery in Bad Oeynhausen and all the different areas of the clinic were extremely interesting also, but I really wish I had felt better that day. I need to remember to drink water much more than I have been doing. The heart surgery was definitely one of the coolest things I have ever seen, if not the coolest. Dr. Mirow showed us the angiograms of all 6 patients, one of which we would have the opportunity to see that day. It was cool that he pointed out exactly what would happen in each surgery. Krystyna and I chose to see the surgery of a 77 year-old man who was having quadruple bypass and a mitral valve replacement. He was also on dialysis, so he wasn't in very good shape. We had the opportunity to see the man be put under anesthesia before going into the room and even this was interesting to watch. We got to stand directly behind the patient's head, which gave us the opportunity to see everything that was happening. It was awesome!!! We saw them cut open the man's chest and saw through the sternum and the cartarize the bone and surrounding tissue. The smell from this wasn't too pleasant. While they were opening the man's chest, there was another surgeon who cut open the man's leg from just above the ankle to right below his knee in order to remove his saphenous veing to use as a source for the bypass grafts for his heart. I think it is amazing that they can do this. It was really cool to see how they spread his chest open and to watch them cut through the pericardium. When we first got a glimpse fo the beating heart it was incredible...one of the most amazing things I have seen for sure! They then put the heart on full bypass by connecting tubes to the inferior and superior vena cavae and drained the blood from the heart and area surrounding the heart to put it through extracorporeal circulation. Once the heart was on full bypass, it soon stopped beating. It was really really cool to see. The cardiologist, Dr. Mirow, then lifted up the heart to point out where the bypass grafts would be sewn. I really wish we had more time and that we didn't have to go to lunch because I would've loved to see the rest of the surgery!!

Seeing the artifical heart/LVAD unit was also really awesome. I didn't realize how large and heavy the pulsatile pumps were. There was a large size difference and weight difference between the axial flow and pulsatile flow LVADs. The gentleman who showed us his device and talked to us about it was really nice. I really enjoyed this part of the clinic. We also visited the intensive care unit for the LVAD patients. It was really sad to see them and hear how bad of shape they were all in. The MRI demonstration was very cool. I had seen MRI machines on television before, but I never realized how strong the magnetic field was that they created. The last thing we did was see MR images of diseased hearts. I liked that the doctor clearly explained what we were seeing and which areas of the hearts were diseased. I am really interested in the medical technology and I am looking forward to my BMEN classes that deal with medical instruments and imaging, especially after having a small introduction to the machines. Everything that we saw was incredibly interesting!!! I was extremely exhausted by the time that we got back to the hotel that night. This was without a doubt my favorite day by far!

I am so excited about medical school! I was really excited about going before this trip too, but I am much more confident that the medical field is where I want to be after everything that we have done. Learning about everything in much more detail in medical school will be awesome! The human body fascinates me!! And so do all of the medical advancements that have been made! It is incredible that devices exist to replace and assist the functions of organs, such as the heart. Reading Blood and Guts made me realize just how much medicine has advanced. It is all incredible!

These last few days will be great, but I feel like we are all pretty worn out by now so we will enjoy the free time that we have and all the time to relax. The opera will be really cool to see and I am excited about the medical walk around Vienna as well as the museums we will visit. It will be a good last few days! Vienna is a really pretty city and I've already enjoyed the time here.