OR Day

Guess who watched open heart surgery today? Yeah, that's right --- me. I spent my clinical day in the cardiovascular operating room watching a mitral valve repair/replacement. It was absolutely incredible. The anesthesiologist let me stand on a stool right at the head of the operating table (that's where all of the anesthesiologist's equipment is set up), so I was right next to the surgeons but about six inches above everyone so I was able to look down right into the heart (once they opened her chest with a giant SAW, of course). It was unbelievable, watching a real heart beat right in front of my eyes. Then they stopped the heart and put the patient on a bypass machine so they could repair the valve. To slow the heart's metabolic rate, they actually ladled sterile ice right into the chest cavity. Then, two hours later, they started the heart right back up again! The surgeon walked me through the entire procedure. I felt pretty cool walking around the hospital in my surgical scrubs. I wish we had a whole rotation in the OR, but then I'd actually have to do boring things like positioning the patient and writing care plans for post-op care rather than watching the exciting part. Tomorrow it's back to the med-surg floor. Somehow I managed to get assigned TWO patients for tomorrow that are over 500 pounds! It's going to be a long day...