OP experience and practice

In Bonn we got to visit the University Clinic and observe some operations. We got to scrub in and wear the hair nets, crocs, face masks and everything. I think we all looked particularly great in our outfits and we will all make great doctors solely based on what we look liked wearing that. Nils looked particularly doctorish. Shayna, Nils, and I all got to watch an orthopedic surgery first. It was an older woman with pins and screws in her elbow and they were removing them. The part that bothered me that I didn't think would was the cutting of the skin. The elbow skin is kind of tough so they had to go at it a few times. An older doctor came in during the middle of the operation and just grabbed the tools and scrapped the wound open and was like "don't worry, just pull it, be rough." It was really neat though. The suturing was pretty neat too but very time consuming compared to rest of the operation. Next we saw a patient who was stabbed in the train station and had damage to a tendon in his thumb. This was really neat when the doctor found the tendon in question and pulled it out and tested it to see if it was working properly. He had multiple stab wounds and the first one was not the problem so we had to move to the next one lower down on the arm. We didn't get to finish watching this procedure so I am not sure if they found the tendon in question and sutured it or not.

Karima's neighbor is a doctor in Cologne and she arranged for me to go with him one day to the hospital. Dr. Jan Brunkwall was his name. Karima took me over to his house early in the morning and I rode with him to the hospital...we took the autobahn. Oh how I miss cars and highways :). He is a Doctor and Professor in Vascular Surgery. We got in around 7 am and met in the conference room with 3 other students in the last year of their medical program and 5 other doctors. One student had to make a presentation about an article she read. It was in German so I just smiled and payed attention as best as possible. After words Dr. Jan introduced me to Dr. Marco and a student, anna, and said I would follow them around. The first operation we saw was of a 65 year old lady who was awake the whole time and getting plaque removed from her carotid artery in her neck. I prepared myself for the cutting, but it did not bother me at all this time. I got so comfortable with the surgery and they let me stand behind the curtain and look directly over and ask questions. First they had to find the artery, then they had to tie off the blood flow, cut open the artery, remove the plaque, then suture a patch on the artery! It was really neat. The patch should last a life time. The neck was easy to suture up because there is only a very small layer of muscle right under the skin, but the neck is mostly just fat and the skin doesn't bleed a lot at all. It will be a nasty scar though. She was awake, which was beneficial for the patient and the doctor because they don't have to put a shunt in like they do if the patient was under. Then we went to another OR and saw the doctor remove a cystic growth from a vein in the neck. It was a short procedure but still neat. I really really enjoyed vascular surgery. Compared to what I have seen so far it was definitely my favorite. Then I got to go eat with anna and two of the doctors. They were really great and down to earth and I really enjoyed my experience there! I hope to go back next week one more time.

Today we got to practice drawing blood and doing basic sutures on dummies. It was really neat and fun and I had no problem doing any of it. It was only dummies but definitely great experience. I love hands on work in the medical field. Too bad it's back to books and school in a few weeks :(