Resection Colon

Due to a lot of assessments, I couldn't write a post on the day when I went to the internship.

This time, I watched a surgery about resection colon.

Since the surgery was happening inside the body, a deep part, it was really hard for me to look inside and see what surgeons were doing. I was suffering from my curiousity. Fortunately, one doctor who still remembered talking with me about my background and school for a while last time, two weeks ago, brought a standing chair for me. I felt extremely thankful for him to care about me. Therefore, I could stand there and watch the surgery. It was amazing how long surgeons could stand forever until they thought the surgery was successful. Even though I stood up for 2 hours, I felt so painful and tired that I just wanted to sit down on the chair even though on the floor (especially, since it was during the morning). To be a doctor, I realize that you need to stand up with your legs soreness for as long as the surgery could be. I revered all those doctors and nurses. 

So, the patient on the operating table had a big and puffy something on her/his belly. I really wanted to ask what that person was thinking and doing until he/she got that big. The surgery was about getting rid of that and connect two separated colon parts into one connected colon. It was amazing! I could tell it was a severe job to proceed that because there was one time when blood gushed out of the body intensely. It was my first time to see that; however, doctors were behaving casually and coping with that situation. 

I and my friend were talking about having a surgery.

If one of my friends or family members is going to have surgery, I will be shocked and surprised because it is not the occasion that happens often like a routine life to me. On the other hand, for doctors who consider surgery a part of their routine life, don't find operating interesting or shocking. I think it is really interesting how one thing can be interpreted into different ways.

Reflection of the Internship so far

I can't believe that one and a half months have already passed since I've been to the OR!

As an observer, I get to see more than 10 surgeries (a part of this wonderland!)
Whenever I put scrubs on, I feel like the most lucky student in the world.

Even though I am the person who hates to wake up in the morning, I never was upset about waking up early to go to the hospital. I was really amazed at myself!

I definitely appreciate that I'm given this opportunity which not everyone can experience.

I still remember the first time when I walked in the OR and how I felt. I was like "This is my passion." I just loved it and I just wanted to stay there forever! Even watching surgeries made me feel so special that I was in awe for a while. Also, doctors are not only operating but also asking & answering me questions. They are so nice that I feel thankful all the time. Thanks to them, there are a great number of things that I have learned! For example, how surgical tools are working, what kinds of surgeries there are, what kinds of doctors there are and so on. A lot of people told me that if I want to be a surgeon only after watching Grey's Anatomy, I shouldn't be one because that's not the reality; however, that's not the reason I want to be a surgeon. According to the feeling when I walked in the OR for the first time, I know myself that being a doctor is my dream and that's what I really have passion in. The only question is whether I really want to be a doctor after committed to live my all 20s while studying for one goal. So many people are telling me that it's worth it and I look like I can be a great doctor! On the other hand, it's still my dilemma as a person who really wants to enjoy life and spend whole time efficiently. I hope that I can make up my mind as soon as possible!

For sure, I'm enjoying this internship so much! This internship is not only an awesome opportunity to see surgeries but also the way to find my dream and future.

Umbilical Hernia

It was my second to watch this surgery, umbilical Hernia.

I realized that I've been into OR, more than 10 times so far even though I feel like I've started this internship since last week. Time goes by so fast!

There are so many things I don't know about "the wonderland of SURGEONS" yet. I'm getting to know a lot of information thanks to extremely kind surgeons.

Today, I learned that there are two types of needles. One is continuous, which means it's longer than the other one and it needs to be cut by scissors. The other one is pop-off?, which means that the the needle can be apart from hook when the doctor pulls it away.

After the surgery ended, an anesthesiologist put a pipe into a patient's mouth and sucked yellow liquid out from the stomach as to prevent him from vomiting after waking up.

Also, when the patient peed without consciousness on an operating table, no one was screaming or something. People who were in OR, reacted really casually and gently. I was really surprised and impressed by how they reacted.

I had a long conversation with a doctor who was setting up the tools for the next surgery. It was really nice talking to him. When he asked me what I want to be, I said maybe Cardiovascular surgeon and he said to me, "you look like one with those two little hands that can allow you to operate gently and precisely." I was really happy when he told me this.

Today was another best day!

A Trigger Finger and Crooked Foot Sugery

Both of patients, today, were young children. The first one, a 4 years old boy, had a trigger finger. It took only 15 minutes to operate on, a quick but beneficial surgery for his life. The second one, a 10 years old girl had badly cooked feet. However, the doctor only operated on the left foot, the worse one. She was born with those crooked feet. I felt extremely bad to both of them and thankful for my parents to make me not suffer from any disease or disabled body. Both of surgeries took only around 20 minutes, which was amazingly fast! I realized that even 20 minutes long surgery changes one's life and takes forever to prepare for. 

Robotic Ovarian Cystectomy

I always wonder how robots can help doctors to operate the surgery. And! I finally had a chance to see the robotic surgery, which was called robotic ovarian cystectomy.

It was really amazing to see the doctor controlling the machine in the surgeon console. He was controlling the joystick and pedals to move the actual surgical arm cart. The doctor let me come and see through those lenses in the surgeon console. The screen was 3D inside the binoculars so that doctors could actually feel easier to operate. It was awesome!  Even though they were apart from each other, the way how it worked was tremendous! On the other hand, the one thing I realized was that there were more mistakes than when he actually operated with his hands directly. Eventually, He took the teratoma out from the ovary. It was only one and full of oil inside. The doctor was taking a picture of it after having the surgery done in order to show his patient and her family. I asked him whether it was all right to take pictures of it but of course not for patient's privacy. I definitely understood that! I'm looking forward to next week!

Teratoma is an encapsulated tumor with tissue or organ components resembling normal derivatives of more than one germ layer. The tissues of a teratoma, although normal in themselves, may be quite different from surrounding tissues and may be highly disparate; teratomas have been reported to contain hair, teeth, bone and, very rarely, more complex organs or processes such as eyes, torso, and hands, feet, or other limbs.

Another AWESOME day

As usual, I woke up in the morning and got on the shuttle to go to internship, one of things I'm really looking forward during weekdays. Nowadays, I don't even ask a nurse what to wear and where scrubs are because I'm used to doing this and I know what to do when I get there first. After dressing up as an observer, I went up to the nurse who tells me what options are and guides me into that operating room. Today, I saw two surgeries. Even though I couldn't get to see all the process of the second surgery due to time, both of them were awesome. 

1. removing gallbladder with 3 gallstones(mulberries) in

2. foot joint implant surgery

During the first surgery, doctors used something like endoscopes to put them in four holes on the patient's belly. And there were two screens which show the inside the body. The doctor used the laser to burn the tissues of gallbladder to take it out. After taking it out, he asked me to put gloves on and let me cut the gallbladder, which was SO awesome and amazing. I couldn't understand what he was talking to me because I was in awe for a while. I was hesitating and he told me that I would not kill anyone because the gallbladder was already out of her body. I did what he told me to and started seeing three stones coming out!!!

It was just terrific!!!

I screamed when I saw them because, of course, It was my first time to see gallstones. Later, he told me that I was allowed to touch them. They were three total and too hard to smash. He told me that people called them mulberries because they looked like mulberries, which was true.

I asked him two questions.

- How long does it take to form one gallstone?

--> doctors don't know exactly but since one gallstone is made of a lot of layers of cholesterol, he thinks a few years.

- Why didn't you take clips out after you clipped them on organs near liver?

--> they were made of titanium and they are not harmful for human's body. Therefore, they are left in the body.

P.S. 

A Gallbladder is a small organ where bile is stored, before it is released into the small intestine. In humans, the loss of the gallbladder, in most cases, is easily tolerated by the body. The surgical removal of the gallbladder is called a cholecystectomy.

The gallbladder is a hollow system that sits just beneath the liver.

The Gall Bladder is a storage vessel for liver bile. It acts as a reservoir for holding bile on its way from the liver to the intestines.

What are gallstones?

When the chemicals in the gallbladder, cholesterol, calcium bilirubinate, and calcium carbonate are out of balance gallstones may form. There are two main types of gallstones:

• Cholesterol gallstones - these may form if there is too much cholesterol in the bile? They are the main type of gallstones in the UK and the USA.


• Pigment gallstones - these form when the bile has too much bilirubin. They are more common among patients who have liver disease, infected bile tubes or blood disorders, such as sickle-cell anemia.

The Best Day Ever

As usual, I departed school at 7:40 without any complaint to go to the internship. Even though I was a bit tired, I couldn't be more excited to see surgery.
Today, I saw two surgeries.

1.     the girl was not able to walk or run properly because of her heel bones too short to be bent properly. She had that terrible bone structure when she was born, which is impossible to fix but possible to make her a little bit comfortable to move.

2.     60 years old man had a total hip replacement.

 The first one was operating on a 5 years old girl. It was so cute when she came in the OR with two stuff animals beside her. An anesthetist was really sweet because she was singing a lullaby to a baby so that she will fall asleep easily as inhaling the gas “called strawberry smell”. The team of doctors who were operating this surgery was really bonded and looked happy working each other. Also, the doctor gave me chances twice to help him. When he was putting a cast on her feet and a tool on her thighs, I was holding those cute small legs. I really appreciated his effort to let me involve and experience something special. The more interesting one was that his niece is my friend back at school. It was one of the most awesome days ever.

The second was about the total hip replacement, which I really wanted to watch. This surgery needed three doctors at once, a big deal. One of doctors was physically disabled. He was stumbling but a doctor, orthopedist, which was really impressive and amazing! I realized that there is no boundary of being a doctor. Also, the tools there were amazing! There were so many metals, which were used during the operation. There was music playing on the OR, which was interesting. Additionally, since I was always wondering how doctors put the urethra on a patient, it was really interesting when nurses were putting  the urethra on a patient’s penis, which is a tube that connects the urinary bladder to the genitals for the removal of fluids from the body. Due to the shuttle time, I was only able to watch this surgery for 15 minutes. I wish I could watch it for a longer time. 

The Second Day!

Today was also amazing!
I was in OR where Umbilical Hernia surgery was happening.
I had no idea what that was in the first place.
Therefore, I used the dictionary on my phone after the surgery ended
and looked it up for a while.

An umbilical hernia is an outward bulging of the abdominal lining or part of the abdominal organ(s) through the area around the belly button.

The more interesting thing was when one of nurses in the room gave me a chance to look at the disposable fixation tool. It was really small and sharp, which would hold the gap.
Whenever I go, I experience amazing things.

The First Day of Internship

I went to the local hospital, which is only 20 minutes far from my school. I was so excited to go there even though I had to leave at 7:40 am. With all excitement in my mind, I drove there. Under the instruction of a lot of nurses, I arrived in OR, operating room. I couldn’t even believe that I, as a student, was able to be there. Very friendly nurses told me to put scrubs on including shoe-covers, a mask and a cap. I couldn't be relaxed at all! I was so ready to go inside OR! They casually led me to OR and Bang! There was surgery going on right in front of me. There were two surgeons operating surgery, one helper who was standing right next to them and passed all tools surgeons called for, one nurse who was taking care of the machine connected to the patient and her condition, one more observer like me and one nurse who was recording something. It was amazing at it was! I didn’t know how to express. They were casually saying HI to me and explaining what they were operating on. I couldn't understand what they were saying at all in the first place because they were on masks and I was out of mind due to too much excitement! After a while, I caught that they were getting rid of cysts from the ovary. I saw everything including blood, organs, tools, and serious surgeons. I was really appreciated that I had this opportunity. After the surgery ended, I went to another OR to observe and I watched the whole knee transplant. It was crazy. I felt like I was watching TV show, “Grey’s Anatomy.” While I was watching every surgery process, I realized that there was nothing that could make me more excited and happier. A doctor, I really have considered to be one, is an amazing job. I’m looking forward to exploring this world more!