A Day In The O.R.

This morning at Georgetown Hospital in Grand Cayman of course, I was able to shadow Dr. Jefferson in the Operating Room for the second time. I really enjoyed it the last time I was given the opportunity as I witnessed 6 surgeries ranging from Carpel Tunnel Syndrome to a Blepharoplasty. Today was just as interesting. This is my play by play.

I left my house at 7:30 this morning to make it about seven miles from West Bay to Georgetown hospital. I didn’t encounter much traffic at first as I began my journey to the O.R.. With The Fray playing on the radio, white coat, shades, shirt and tie all nicely primped ready to impress I was on my way. Passing the supermarket less then a mile from my place there is always a little back flow of traffic as people it seems on this island love to let others go in the front of the line even though they are not at a stop sign, its just a three way intersection. So after passing the intersection I cruised down seven mile beach road and made my way onto the bypass. I got within a few blocks of the hospital and realized  almost thirty minutes had passed. This is the worst feeling in the world when going to shadow cause we are grilled to be on time and ready to do whatever they ask of us.

So I am getting a little anxious at this point wanting to get to the hospital.  Finally at 8:03 am I arrived and began to swiftly run into the hospital where I met Rose, a fellow classmate of mine who was waiting for me and who had no idea where the O.R. was. She was thrilled I finally showed up as she was frustrated with the staff who were unwilling it seemed to help her figure out where to go. Since I had been there before I was able to calm her down and we walked to the O.R.

Upon arriving we introduced ourselves and went to change into scrubs and clean up to prep for surgery. There were three scheduled surgeries during the time we were there, but one of them took a bit longer then expected so we only were able to scrub into two. The first surgery was a little boy I would say a little over a year old, who was getting a circumcision. This was my first time seeing this procedure and to be blatantly honest. I am glad this happens at such a young age so the memory of it doesn’t stick with us throughout life. Quite a brutal surgery, but I may be a bit biased. During the surgeries we are able to be up close and personal with the patient watching every move and monitoring the patients vital signs and so forth.

The second surgery of the morning was a Laproscopic Cholecystectomy, aka removal of the gall bladder through a dime sized hole in the abdomen. The surgeon Dr. Matthew’s was very nice to have let us get some hands on experience with this procedure and talk us through what he was doing. Very helpful and fascinating to see the dexterity of the surgeon as normally two surgeons would perform this. One positioning and the other cutting and removing.

All in all, today at the Hospital was great. I learned  the most important clothing/apparel is  shoes. My back was aching, likely as a result of my motorcycle accident a few years ago, and because I was wearing dress shoes for six hours while standing virtually in the same position.

At the end of the day we, filled out the paper work took of the scrubs and headed back to reality, otherwise known as CT class till 5 pm. A long day, but a day well spent. Can’t wait to be home and begin my rigorous step 1 prep.