We'll do the less exciting of the 2 whoops first. For the past 5 summers, I have worn the same polo shirt every Friday. It looked good that first summer. It was eager to be there. Slowly but surely, the color faded. It became less and less excited to be there, even if it was a Friday. Today was my last day working at PAML. Ever. I know I said that last summer as well, but I mean it this time. I will have maybe 3 weeks off (w/ no studying) next summer; I am not going to spend it working at PAML. Every year I have worked fewer and fewer weeks. The first summer I think I worked something like 14 weeks. The next summer about 12. Then 10. Last summer it was about 10 as well. This week...maybe 8. Whatever. I am very grateful for the job though. While it bored me to death, it paid me well and gave me something to do other than workout...and eat. Also, it made the next WHOOP possible.
On Monday, Dr. Anne Oakley called me (the anesthesiologist I met w/ a few weeks ago). She said that she looked in to me coming in to the OR w/ her. At our first meeting, she thought my being a med student was a sure in. Well she was wrong she told me. That holds no weight with these people. She did, however, mention to them that I work(ed) at PAML. Ding ding ding! We have a winner! Because I had a job in the "medical field" (if you count sitting at a desk medical), it made me eligible/legal to go into the OR. Thank goodness I accidentally left it on that first time we met or she may have never known I worked there. She said she would call me the evening before the surgery to let me know. On Tuesday she called letting me know that Thursday was the big day. Heart surgery. Be there at 620 (which wasn't as early as I thought it was going to be). I was there early of course. Wearing my PAML badge as requested. We walk around the oh so confusing Sacred Heart Medical Center. To the doctor's locker room as for to put on scrubs. Yeah me! We go to do the pre-op with the patient. She was a nervous wreck, but I don't blame her. People often make fun of anesthesiologists for not doing much at all, but from previous experience as well as from watching Dr. Oakley, it is easy to see that this is in no way true. You have to have great bed-side manner. You have to get the patient to trust you in less than 10 minutes. Dr. Oakley was great at it in my opinion. I got to watch her do some amazing things and some really awesome procedures. I didn't scrub in, but I got to be in the OR the whole time right next to her. And now for the cool part...the surgery.
This was an open heart surgery (so warning, this may be a *tiny* bit graphic). I have never seen a live person cut into, only a cadaver. I wasn't sure if I would get dizzy/light headed at all or not. I didn't. They were doing a coronary bypass as well as a mitral valve replacement. The cracking of the chest wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I got to see the lungs moving. I got to see the heart beating. I got to see them stop the heart. Oh my goodness. That was amazing. They just all stood there waiting for it to stop (when the time came of course). Watching that heart beat in the first place was just about the coolest thing I have ever seen. They did the coronary bypass (the surgery PA harvested the vein from the leg earlier) and then began the valve replacement. Because of the condition of her heart, however, the surgeon couldn't replace the it. He had to do an Alfieri stitch, something he had never done before. After it was all over, they successfully started the heart again, but I had to leave before she was sown up all together. Needless to say, this was a truly great experience. It kind of really makes me excited to start back up in the fall (slash a few weeks). It also reminds me that I have forgotten just about everything from first year. Boom chick...I'm out.
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