OR Observations

So a couple weeks back we all got the chance to observe surgeries at a local clinic and it was probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen.  The first surgery I was in was for the removal of a cyst from a woman's urethra but I walked in late so I didn't see much.  After observing for a couple minutes another doctor walked into the OR and asked if I was interested in watching a cardiac surgery; my answer was a profound "yes."  It ended up being a double bypass surgery and we had to stand on a stool to look over the curtain separating the man's head from his body to see what was happening.  We stood behind the curtain for awhile while the anesthesiologists showed us what their job was but when the cardiac surgeon started burning open the pericardial sack we stepped up on the stool.  The smell was awful (literally burning flesh) but the coolest thing came when it was open and I saw a man's heart beating inside of his chest.  I never thought I would see that in my life and it really was incredible because we'd been in the middle of our cardiac unit in our physiology class and it put a different perspective on what we were to be able to see the real thing.