The first week back from spring break was pretty eventful. I started up my running with Nicky again and we had several excursions, including the anesthesia museum. But the most notable one was probably to the teaching hospital in Bonn.
Uniklinik day two was much better than day one. I wasn't originally supposed to go both days, but on the first day my group got pushed onto a med student who simply gave us a tour of the department we were in and didn't actually let us into any surgeries. So, we returned the next day with the BIMS students. It still felt like the doctors were all just kind of tolerating my presence rather than welcoming it, but that's nothing I didn't expect. I saw two different procedures that day, which was a vast improvement from the first day. The first was a patient with an infected knee replacement. At this point it had been managed for several years and it was time to just let it go and take it out. However, the patient was not well enough for the procedure and his heart even stopped beating for a short time while they were prepping him, so the surgeon decided that he would just drain the area and return him to intensive care to receive antibiotics against his pneumonia. I watched this short procedure, but there really wasn't much to see outwardly. The surgeon did take me on a little tour of the inside of his knee via endoscope though which was pretty cool. After he was done he said goodbye and walked out so Lawrence and I figured it was time to find a new surgery to watch. Only problem, how do we do that? We walked up and down the halls a couple of times before I eventually stopped a man in the hall with an "Entschuldigung, sprechen Sie Englisch?" Thankfully, he did and he found both of us an OR to go into. I got suited up in some protective gear (against X-rays because they were using that for visualization) and walked into a spinal fusion procedure. The anesthesiologist in this room was super super nice and took the time to explain what was going on with the procedure and answer all the questions I had for him about the equipment he was using--what he was adjusting, why he was adjusting it, etc.
I also went to the doctor this week. I'm usually not too keen on going, but seeing as I'd been sick since before we went to Paris, I thought it was about time. Toby, one of the AIB student workers, accompanied me and we got along pretty well so he made the wait a lot more enjoyable. The doctor was quite nice and although she didn't have a real answer as to why I'm perpetually sick she did provide me a prescription for some medication and that helped quite a bit with the cough and the head/throat/earache. The congestion never quite went away (does it ever??) but it did lessen so that's something.
Side note:
Ibk is honestly the sweetest person on the planet and tries very hard to be my resident mom!
In class earlier when I laid my head down on the desk she passed me a note that asked if I ate lunch and took my medicine. And just now I fell asleep right after I came downstairs for dinner and she asked me if I wanted to be woken up, came and woke me up after an hour, after which I totally fell asleep again but I very much appreciated the gesture. And when I finally woke up from my nap pt 2 with a coughing fit she came in and asked if I wanted any tea. I'm a mess and she's a sweetheart!
Random things:
- transportation strike—mehr Geld, bitte
- bought some more concert tickets, stay tuned!
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| The best way to run is with a view. |
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