Week 11: Human Surgery!

This week was so cool. I got to shadow an anesthesiologist for the day. It was so great! Even though the surgeries that I watched were not that interesting it was really cool to talk with the anesthesiologist. The anesthesiologist's name is Dr. Achilles Delis. He was super fun and had a unique approach to solving problems. He spent a good chunk of time quizzing me on drugs and physiology. When I didn't know the answer he would create a scenario to help me solve it. It was super awesome. It really showed me how truly important physiology is and how everything is connected in some form or fashion. I really appreciated him showing interest in me and my education. It's not something you see everyday. He even bought me ice cream which was super sweet of him. Dr. Delis invited me to come back and shadow him again if I would like. He told me he doesn't extend that offer to everyone and really likes my engagement with the topic. The one really cool surgery that I saw was the placement of a stent into the aortic arch. It was really neat to watch the xray imaging of the blood flowing through the aorta. It was also interesting that one of the arteries had to be rerouted before the stent could be placed.

As a group we went to the anesthesia museum. There was a really cool collection of anesthesia machines, textbooks, medications, and related devices. Its truly impressive to see how far we have come in medicine within a relatively short period of time. I also liked that our tour was given by the doctor who started the museum and even worked to develop some of the techniques we use today.