Week 3 done....

Wow, I am really proud of myself. Not because I have successfully completed my third week of surgery. No. More important is that I have kept up blogging with my incredibly crazy and hectic schedule!!

So, as mentioned above, today was the end of week 3 and of Surgery I. On monday, I start Surgery II. I'm looking forward to breast, rectal, and head/neck. Hopefully, I get to see some great surgeries and more importantly, I hope the surgeons are willing to teach us (because I am so willing to learn).

Let me recap this past week. I did make it into the OR on several occasions this week. I saw a carpal tunnel release, multiple phlebectomies (to remove varicose veins), but by far the best procedure is what I saw on Thursday. A debridement and skin graft on a diabetic patient. This patient had a partial foot amputation. They needed to trasplant skin from his thigh to his foot, hoping that the new skin will take and therefore relieve him of a stumpy red foot with no skin. The grafting was interesting. The plastic surgeon informed us that they use a similar device that the cow hide industry uses to shave off the epidermal layer of skin. It looks like a giant metal razor. Then the skin is place on a platform with lots of holes and is pressed in another machine. This makes the skin come out looking almost like an accordian, with the purpose being to allow the skin to stretch more so less skin needs to be harvested. By far the most stomach turning moment was when the surgeons had to debride the patients foot. They needed to rid the foot of any non-viable skin/tissue thereby allowing the new skin to be grafted to healthy, blood rich tissue. Basically, they scraped the foot with tools; and the blood and tissue that flowed off the table and onto the floor made the OR look like a horror film. I swear it looked like a gallon of blood on the floor!! It was both gross and interesting at the same time. If not for the surgical mask covering my face, everyone in the room probably would have seen my mouth wide open and fixed (as if the wide eyes didn't give me away)!! Overall, the surgery was a success and now we get to follow the patient to see if the grafting took and if someday he will be able to walk.

Other than that, I had call on Wednesday night. Only one trauma: an 18 year old patient who was hit by a car crossing the street to school. His head hit the windshield and he had a huge hematoma on the top of his head, but other than that, no injuries - he is very lucky. We kept him overnight to evaluate his mental status. We had lots of consults all night long, and the night was officially annointed Bleed Night. Everyone was bleeding...consults for upper GI bleed....consults for lower GI bleed....even a consult for epistaxis (nose bleed). I have never seen so much blood come out of any oriffice before. The only plus of the whole night was I got to perform my first rectal exam.....and then, about 20 minutes later, I got to do another :)

Overall, call went well although I was exhausted thursday night and basically just came home and slept. I have also found that call night messes royally with my circadian rhythm. I found it incredibly difficult to wake my ass up this morning. But once I was up, I was okay. The best part....lecture was cancelled today so I was out of the hospital by 3:15pm!!! I came home, ran in the park for 45 minutes, ate dinner...and now, I am just relaxing with a Caribe and waiting for the Penguins to hoist the trophy!!!! GO PENS!!!

Everyone have a wonderful night!