Surgery

My second day in the hospital was so different than my first. Friday was absolutely crazy! I scrubbed into 4 different surgeries and was running around the hospital all day. For now during surgeries I mostly just watch. Occasionally I help retract things or cut sutures and eventually I'll be able to do more.

Today our attending physician had to go to a different hospital for a complex surgery and left my resident with nothing to do - which left me with nothing to do but study. I'm so glad I decided to pick up some books this weekend. The hospital downtown is really nice and has been a lot of fun exploring and finding my way around. So far I have learned that I really love being in the hospital and I love seeing patients. I'm really glad I get to start with pediatric surgery and have these experiences to compare to working with adults well before my actual pediatric rotation begins later this year.

On Friday I met my resident who grew up in the Bahamas. He's the guy that I will be spending all of my time with over the next four weeks. He's a really nice guy and will be a lot of help. He seems willing to help me learn and is patient when I have no idea what is going on. I chased him around all over the place on Friday. I saw a circumcision, an umbilical hernia repair, an omphalocele closure, a neck abscess drained, and pancreatic ascites fluid drained. We bounced around from patient to surgery to patient and back to surgery. We also saw a little girl who had fallen out of a first story window and hit her head. The CT scan came back normal but they kept her overnight for monitoring. The little premature baby with Beckwith Wiedemenn syndrome is a sad case. He was born with all of his guts hanging out of his belly (the omphalocele closure I saw in surgery), a huge tongue that won't fit into his mouth, and severe hypoglycemia. He has had his guts suspended above him for the past week to prep them to slide back into his abdomen. Friday I saw the doctor sew them back in. It is crazy to see this little tiny body with a surgeon's hands inside it's belly.

Today was so slow. We rounded twice, saw all of our patients and created their plans for the attending to approve, and then sat and waited for him to return from another surgery. While sitting and waiting I was able to get a lot of studying in. We did get a new patient - a 6 year old boy was riding his dirt bike off jumps and crashed directly onto his handle bars. He looked and acted fine - just had a bad stomach ache. The CT scan was super impressive. It showed a huge liver laceration. On a scale of 6 - he was nearly a five. Level 6's are so serious that people with those types of injuries usually die before they can make it to the hospital!! He is in bad, bad shape but it isn't physically apparent. His parents were convinced he had a small tear on the liver that was of little consequence. We had to scare the parents to let them know how serious his injury really is. They have not been very successful in helping their son comply with the Dr.'s orders.

6AM - 6PM is a long day. I was spoiled in school to have one hour lunch breaks. I realize that eating is a privilege. If I have a chance to eat I need to take advantage.