Uniklinik

To continue my trend of blogging about events from months ago, here's a blog about an event that happened back in the beginning of March. We took a trip to the Uniklinik to shadow surgeries. We were split up between the different categories of surgery. I got assigned to general surgery, so obviously I was a little bit nervous that I was about to see something relatively boring and wouldn't have an interesting story to tell. This was not the case, because I watched a guy's foot get amputated. The wheeled him in and part of it was already gone (just to the base of the toes). The anesthesiologist, who was incredibly nice, explained that he had some sort of cardiovascular disease that made blood flow insufficient to his lower extremities and it was resulting in necrotic tissue. The surgeon told me they were taking the 'sausage approach' of cutting it off in segments every few weeks until the tissue was no longer dying. It lasted about an hour, and they cut off the main body of his foot (up to the ankle), pulled the foot bones out, cauterized the small vessels with what looked like a soldering iron, then used the skin from the bottom of his foot to cap the wound. The whole time I didn't know whether to vomit or think that it was really cool. From an engineering/medical standpoint, it was very very cool and interesting to watch. But from the standpoint of a human being who has feet of his own, I wanted to curl up in a little ball.

 The next surgery was a routine colonoscopy so I decided that it was time for a break. I wandered around a little bit, talked to some of the other students, and ate some of the soup in the break room. When I returned to my room, I opened the door to the little entry room before the surgery room to find an old woman on the table with wheels and two doctors standing over her, one of which waved very dramatically to get out. So I did, and then I didn't know what to do so I just stood in the hallway for about ten minutes. The doctor then came out and told me I could come back in. Apparently the woman was actually one of the hospital workers who had been there for a very long time and was very well liked. She had some sort of cancer and needed a device implanted to administer medication more easily. The doctor said they were letting her succumb to the anesthesia without having any students staring at her. When I finally got into the room, the anesthesiologist further explained what was going on. It was very emotional in the room, because the surgeons/doctor/anthologist had all been friends with the woman for a long time. It was a significantly different atmosphere than the surgery from that morning. The incision was made and the device was inserted and attached to the vein without any issue. I didn't see the end because it was time to leave. 

 The whole day left me with a very strange feeling. The things we're learning about actually apply to real people, not hypothetical test question people. It seems like such an obvious thought, but I don't think I appreciated it until that day.