This past week went by
incredibly fast. I took two exams, saw three surgeries, took a day trip
to another country, and ran a 10K. It still amazes me how different my
study abroad schedule is from my usual college semester in College Station and
how many opportunities we have on this trip. This week really epitomizes
my time studying abroad: extremely busy, full of new experiences, and a ton of
fun.
Wednesday, the BMEN
students all went to the Bonn Uniklinik - a hospital/medical school. Each
of us was assigned to an anesthesiologist to shadow and watch surgeries.
My anesthesiologist was a young resident in his last year of training,
and he was so nice. The first surgery I watched was an excision of a
lipoma. It was a fairly simple surgery that did not last very long.
I had already seen that particular surgery a couple of times when I
worked for a general surgeon last summer. However, when the surgery was
over, I got to see something that I never saw shadowing a surgeon - bringing
the patient out of anesthesia. It was not a pleasant experience. I
did not realize that the patient is partially woken up (to ensure he can
breathe on his own) before he is extubated. It was difficult to watch the
patient wake up after surgery and immediately start choking on his tubing.
I don’t think I could be an anesthesiologist because it was quite
nerve-wracking just waiting for the patient to wake up. The next surgery was cleaning an abscess in a
hip replacement. During our lunch break,
my wonderful anesthesiologist asked if I wanted to see a cardio surgery (even
though that would not be with him), and I said yes of course! So, my final and favorite surgery was a
double bypass open-heart surgery. It
apparently started at 9 a.m., and I joined around 1 p.m. I didn’t leave the O.R. until 5 p.m., and the
surgery still wasn’t over! The very
first thing I saw when I stood up on my step-stool was an actual, real-life,
human beating heart. Right in front of
me. It’s a strange and amazing
feeling. I got to see the surgeon
harvest two arteries from the chest wall to be used to bypass the coronary
artery, perform the bypass itself, and insert the pacemaker in the four hours I
was watching. It. Was. So. Cool. I also was able to talk to the surgeon and
even correctly answered a couple of questions he asked me about the heart! Having the opportunity to see surgeries was
really motivating: It reminded me of the goal.
All this stress and schoolwork will be worth it when I’m the surgeon
performing an eight hour surgery to save a life.
Saturday, a few friends
and I took a day trip to Bruges, Belgium.
The very first thing we did was go to a restaurant to get some Belgian waffles. We each ordered a waffle, and much to our
dismay, looking over at the table next to us, we saw a huge waffle being set
down in front of four girls to share…
Our waffles arrived, and they were HUGE.
And delicious. Mine had chocolate
sauce, strawberries, and ice cream.
After stuffing ourselves, we took a walk through the city canals to two
big windmills on two hills. It was a
beautiful day, and the grass was perfectly green; so of course we all decided
to barrel roll down the hills. It was so
relaxing to be able to just sit in the grass in the sun. We walked back to the town square and ordered
another Belgian specialty: fries with mayonnaise (and various other
sauces). Was I even hungry after that
giant waffle? No. Did I still eat a basket of fries? Yes, yes I did. Ignoring our aching stomachs, we then did
some Belgian chocolate shopping. On our
way back to the train station, we walked through a beautiful park. Overall, Bruges was an adorable town, and I
really enjoyed my visit!
Sunday was the
city-wide, charity Bonn Marathon. The
AIB students and workers participate every year to raise money for schools in
the South Sudan. Maggie, Kanci, and I
ran the first leg of a relay marathon together, which ended up being around 10
kilometers (~ 6 miles). Now when I say
ran, I do mean walk/jogged. Don’t get
the wrong idea about our athleticism.
Once again, it was a beautiful day and a lot of fun! My favorite parts were running over the Rhine
and down the streets with cherry blossoms in bloom. Afterward, everyone who ran was treated to
lots of free food. I signed up with much
trepidation, but I’m really glad I participated!
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