This morning, I had to reacquaint myself with my old Strade routine, i.e.- Get up at 06:25, eat breakfast and attach a caffeine IV by 07:00, have a cold shower by 07:15, get dressed and leave the house byt 07:30. It was a fair bit easier than I was expecting it to be, to be honest. But I was born a morning person.
Come to think about it, I was also born a night person too, but that's another matter...
Actually... I tend to go to sleep in the MORNING, and wake up in the MORNING, so I suppose I really am a MORNING person...
Anyway.
The purpose of my "early" rising was work experience.
To be more accurate, Orthopaedic work experience.
I met Mr. Price, a consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, at 08:00, and shadowed him and his team as they made their ward-round of the patients under their care.
These patients were a diverse lot. One was a 17-years-old female drug addict, who was on Methodone, to try and cure her of her habit, but had relapsed. When she attempted to inject a dose of Heroin into her system, using a vein in her right arm, the vein had collapsed, leading to the dose being deposited subcutaneously. This had led to the development of a cyst, full of pus and fluid (including residual Heroin). The cyst had to be incised, drained and padded, and the patient will require a lengthy course of antibiotics to insure against infection of the wound, which is left open to prevent bacterial culture.
Another patient was a 73-years-old male, who was in the habit of falling. Previously, he had been admitted with skeletal bruising to his left side, but was admitted yesterday with a broken left shoulder, and a broken hip. As the swelling surrounding both injuries was still quite new, it was impossible to take him to theater, but hopefully I'll be able to observe his operations tomorrow.
There were several other patients too, but it was after seeing them all on the wards that the REAL fun started...
I was led upstairs to the Operating Theatre block.
Here, I was directed to the changing-rooms, handed surgery-blues (THE most ill-fitting clothes ever invented, but I still FELT like the coolest guy alive...), and told to wait in the Surgeon's Mess (their canteen/common room area). After about five minutes, Mr. Price's pupil, a friendly Polak called Peter, called me through to the O.T.
Told to stand in a certain place, I then observed an operation to close a 4"x7"x2" wound to a 14-years-old's right knee, and a bone-graft and hip-repair operation on an 89-years-old female (see link below).
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/RightFemurIV.JPG
Rather than collapse (as many present in the O.T. evidently expected me to...), I kept moving in for a closer look, and firing questions at the surgeons and the supporting team.
I left after this operation, as my bola was a-calling, and thereafter got picked up to go home (which I where I am now).
I'm going back tomorrow, and hopefully will be able to sit in on more operations, and see more of the ward-rounds.
If this blog has so far sounded like a really bad personal-statement, my sincerest apologies to you all. I'm just recording everything I saw for posterity, and to show my admiration for the skill of the people involved in these operations.
On a different note...
I just want to apologise to Abi, for being such a shit to her.
I don't know why I was, but I know I SHOULDN'T have been.
So I'm sorry. From the bottom of my heart.
I love you, Ab.
End.
Dude... I'd be so interested in watching operations! I'd probably feel a tad bit sick at the start, but after I'd done my whole soul-aside thing, I'd be in the zone! xD Glad you enjoyed yourself =) My Work Experience was at the Miner's Theatre in Ammanford with Mess Up The Mess Theatre Company and all we did was make a set and some admin! xD
ReplyDeleteLol, my sister passed out when they were TALKING about dissecting hearts! =) I did my work experience in a hospital too, but in the medical physics department. I didn't see any people getting cut into, but I did get to see plenty of breasts and penises (peni :)), and I a few newborn babies :D.
ReplyDeleteSam
Oof... I bet the babies turned you on! I know they'd be pressing all of my buttons! xD
ReplyDeleteSorry... I like to be inappropriate when I first wake up. It gets me over-excited and then I'm less likely to be a tosser all day.
There we go, a statement, an apology and an explaination all in one comment! Oh, and a conclusion now! I am just pure genius! xD
PostScript.
Peni is an adorable word! xD Sounds like what you'd call a babies dick! Bless...
:L It's AWESOME.
ReplyDeleteSeeing an 89-years-old lady's (*Borat voice*) vagine is a little... ODD, to say the least. But it's all part of the parcel. :D
Glad you ain't squeamish. :P Blood is one of the coolest liquids, if not THE coolest.
Cool. :D I did Drama for GCSE, and got sent up the 40ft scaffolding (with unlocked wheels, no safety barriers, and a broken platform...) to rig the lights. :D (Y)
Sound tidy, Sam. :) What do you want to be eventually? A Radiologist?
xD Yeah... It's like a porno sometimes. :P
And Sophie?
NICE.
:P
And yes, you ARE a genius. :D
xox
Hmm, not a radiologist, and probably not anything medical. The main reason I did the work experience was so that I could get an insight into how physics and maths are applied in the real world, but I think I'm more interested in the theoretical side. Once I know a lot about something, I lose interest in it, so I'd definitely want to do something in research or a job where I'm constantly learning or doing new things. I also love being creative, and I've thought about being a professional computer programmer (when I was really small I used to want to be a hacker XD), but I really don't like the idea of spending my life in front of a computer screen.
ReplyDeleteI tend to got through stages of being interested in certain things (I used to really love dinosaurs :D). Because of that I'm worried that I might get into a job having worked for ages to get qualifications in it and then find out that I don't want to do it and that I'm interested in something completely different :S. So for now, I'm just gonna leave my options as open as possible and let God or chaos theory decide for me :).
Sam
Fair enough. :) So you'd like to be involved with research projects in places like universities then? :)
ReplyDeletexD I used to want to be a hacker too. It just seemed so COOL. :D (A)
You say about the learning and the creativity... Do you play any instruments? :)
xD Me too. I did the dinosaur thing, and planes. Trains too. And cars. :L tbh I STILL love machinery. :D Especially the old kind, like steam-engines and classic cars. I like tractors too though... :$
:D Good plan, although I think Chaos Theory's safer. ;)
xox
Yeah researching universities would be cool, or maybe devising new theories about the universe and that xD. Ever thought about doing something in research yourself?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how much experience you've got with this, but I just thought I should say that hacking and programming is not as cool as depicted in the movies :P. Most of the time I don't code with a gun pressed against my temple while rushing against a countdown timer that's about to blow up my girlfriend who I have unrealistically managed to fall in love with after only really knowing her for half an hour. Sorry to cripple your dream xD.
Well I should really play an instrument, seeing as I can get free lessons from my mum, I used to play the piano and (ages ago) the violin. Unfortunately, I just lost interest in it, several times. I know I'm probably gonna regret it in 10-20 years though :S. I also did dabble a bit in computer generated music with Rebirth and that xD.
I used to collect little toy cars like Corgi, then I'd have races with them =).
Well, God is a lot more predictable :D!
Sam
*sorry about butting in, but I'm lonely and depressed and am trying to find things to do with my time*
ReplyDeleteJust let the Government dictate what they want you to do in life. No thoughts or personal opinion necessary (Y) Oh, and I always forget which one is the double letter in that word; my sister was always the spelling one and I was always the punctuation and grammar one.
I'm not as interesting as you guys. I just wanted to be a vet. Mainly due to being an animal lover, then I wanted to be a game designer, although all I'd do would be come up with game plots. So I've always written really! xD I am afraid that television and movies have mislead me as far as wanting to be a criminal psychologist goes though... Shame.
x
Yup. :) Pancreatic cancer research.
ReplyDelete*rofl* I KNOW, Sam. :P But thanks ANYWAY. :P
Mhmm. :) It's a good way of continuously learning new things, and of pushing yourself on to new things. Also, composition is creatively a joy, and you don't HAVE to play any instruments to do it, although knowing the notes on a stave is pretty useful. :)
:O ME TOO!! :D
Hmmm... Possibly. But Chaos Theory isn't vengeful...
:P
No worries, Sophie. :P Always welcome to butt-in. ;) :P
xD Spoken like a true Drone. :P
And I'm pretty dreadful with spelling too. :D
xD That's interesting!! :D I'm actually considering Veterinary Medicine. MARGINALLY, but it's always floating around in the back of my head. :) I love animals. I love farms. I think I'd love being a vet specialising in agricultural animals. :)
xox