Blog 5, Hannover/Vienna

The first day back in Germany, we were in Hannover. The group split up in the morning so that the vet students could go to the vet school and the rest of us could go to the medical school. We had a bit of a problem at the med school because the doctor that was supposed to talk to us and give us a tour had a family emergency that he had to deal with. Fortunately, the head of the nephrology department was able to talk with us for a while instead. He mainly focused his talk on the differences between the health care systems of Germany and the United States. It was interesting hearing a doctor’s perspective on this. He did a good job of presenting all of the facts and offering his opinions where applicable. We kind of came to the conclusion that there are many flaws with both systems. It’s a complex issue where many considerations need to be taken. In the afternoon, we moved on to the cattle clinic. We got a tour of the clinic and an overview of some of the medical practices involved with care of cattle. The surgical methods they use on cattle are surprisingly unsterile, but it still is effective. We got out a bit early so we took a short walk around the city, seeing how it has grown over the years by looking at some models. Tuesday was one of the coolest days of the whole trip. We went to visit the Heart and Diabetes Center at North-Rhine Westphalia. It is a leading center for both heart and diabetes procedures. The group split up so that half could watch heart surgery while the other half had a tour of part of the center. I went to surgery first in the morning and saw a double bypass procedure. This procedure differed from the one I saw a few weeks ago in that this heart was not put on bypass. Instead, small areas of the heart are stabilized at a time to minimize motion so that sutures can be applied. Small plastic shunts allowed portions of the radial artery to be used for bypass. The other cool difference about this procedure is that we got to see it through to the end. I had no idea that the surgeons basically just wrap the sternum with metal wire to hold it together while it heals, and then just leave the metal wire in permanently. In addition to watching the heart surgery, I spent a bit more time watching what the anesthesiologist was doing. The computer program he was using was pretty amazing. It monitored every physiological parameter and kept track of every drug that was administered to the patient. The anesthesiologist simply recorded when he was changing a bag out or when he was putting in a new syringe. In addition, the anesthesiologist explained some of the things, and answered questions about things like whether the patient had diabetes. All of this could be looked at in the computer program he was using. Later in the day, the other group went in to watch surgery and my group went out to the ventricular assist device (VAD) unit of the center. We met with the VAD coordinator, who explained about and showed us all of the different VAD’s and full artificial hearts that they use. That was awesome because we have heard or read about many of these devices in theory, but it is quite a unique experience to be able to touch them and pass them around. These are very expensive devices, so having an opportunity like that was quite unique. After that, we went to meet some patients that actually had VAD’s or artificial hearts implanted in them. They were in fairly good spirits, and let the doctors explain each of their cases and the type of hardware that they had. It was depressing to think that each of them really only has up to about 2 or 3 years to get a heart transplant before they start having serious problems with clots forming. Apparently one of the patients already has pulmonary emboli visible on x-rays. It was very cool to meet these patients, because it serves to keep people like engineers and researchers grounded to what they are doing. It can’t be thought of as a purely scientific problem. You have to take into account the human element of it. For instance, some of the machines, while they may function almost perfectly, are so loud that patients have a really hard time sleeping with them.

That night, we had to say good bye to Nils unfortunately, and then leave on the night train for Vienna. That first day in Vienna, we woke up very refreshed from another long nights sleep on the train. (That was a joke.) The first day we mostly just toured the city, visiting the St. Stephens cathedral and the catacombs underneath it. Vienna is a really nice city, and it was great weather for a walking tour around the city. In the afternoon we went to the Café Demel, where we got coffee and chocolate cake. Both were excellent. Thursday we went to the medical school in Vienna in the morning and heard a talk on the differences in the education systems between Austria and the United States. There are quite a few differences, such as different types of high schools that you can go to depending on what you plan to do with your life, which you are placed in as young as 4th grade. Later in the day we visited the Josephinum, where most impressive display was the collection of medical wax sculptures that were used to teach anatomy to students before more sophisticated models could be built. Each of them is basically a work of art as well as a teaching tool. Later, we went to the pathological museum. This museum has over 50,000 specimens of both wax casts and real anatomical pieces. The focus was on pathology, so we got to see the effects of many different diseases. As gross and odd as some of it was, it was still one of my favorite parts of being in Vienna. The Opera that night was a very unique experience. It’s amazing how much of the humor we could pick up even though we didn’t understand what was being said or what they were singing about.

The next morning we went to the Spanish horse training center. It was quite a tranquil experience to simply sit and watch horses for about 2 hours. The stadium is all really nice and all made out of stone. In the afternoon we went to the Sigmund Freud house. This is where Sigmund Freud both lived and worked for most of his professional life. Much of the furniture is missing because it is in England where he fled to during the second world war. We had a lecture while we were in the house about the life of Freud and some of his ideas. It’s a pretty amazing thing to have a lecture in the exact place where the lecture is most relevant. After the Sigmund Freud house we went to the Vienna Museum. This museum gave a good overview of the history of Vienna, including the two famous sieges. There were lots of weapons and suites of armor from the battles outside the city.

The final day in Vienna we went to the Natural History Museum. This museum reminded me of other natural history museums that I’ve been to, especially with the dinosaur fossils and archeological artifacts. My favorite exhibit that we saw was the Body Works animals. I’ve seen the Body Works human exhibit before, but seeing animals was somehow totally different. My favorite pieces were the animals that were only the cardiovascular system. From a distance they look like the entire animal, only painted red. However, when you get up close to them, you can see that there are only blood vessels present. In the afternoon after the museum, we went shopping around town, and then headed to the big farewell dinner. It was a great end to one of my favorite trips in my life. I’ll never forget my experiences in Germany, and all of the things that I learned.

I’d like to thank Dr. Wasser, AIB, and Nils for making everything we did possible. You guys helped us get the most done and have the most fun we could in the short time that we had. Thanks!