EpiFunny’s of Mine

last friday i got a chance to assist prof zharkin to do a laparatomy(open surgery of abdomen),i still can’t fully believe i did it(it went like..zapp)..

those who are..not very fond of blood shouldn’t read this..readers’ discretion is advised…there’ll be lots of blood in this one…

here’s what went down,the day started like usual,only it’s the last day of our gynecology cycle,we knew that,on that day there’ll be an operation cause om thursday he asked if anyone was interested to assist him(bear assisted him in a laparoscopic cystectomy that day),nobody seemed to give a definite answer though(long day,hungry)..he even suggested us to throw dices to decide..there were incoherent mumbilings,but no decision…

so that day after the rappart he asked again”who’s going to help me?”,seeing that no one is responding i raised my hand(thinking it’s just a laparoscopy again).then he told us”u?ok..today’s gonna be a laparotomy..and a difficult one cause the patient was already operated before”..it seems that during the rappart the doctors already talked about her,she’d been operated for peritonitis when she was 11,now she has a bilateral ovarian cystoma,it’s quite rare,so,”u do it ,prof”.it seems that i was trying to catch up my reading when they’re were talking about her…

my eyes were still not blinking when he got up to change into his surgical suit”see u upstairs”…i knew it was gonna be a long operation.immediately i remembered..owh owh,got to train my stiches n knots.fortunately im was good enough to lend me her mask to train on(it had a 4 long holders,not the rubber type) and jimi reminded me of the 3 fingered knot style..

upstairs i trained my “thumb to fingers” moves(one at a time,u touch ur right fingers to ur left thumb,n vice versa,then quckly rotate ur hand,so that it’ll be a sequential motion,hard to expalain in here,but it’s easy,i knew it since i was 10,never thought it was a regular exercise for surgeons)to increase my flexibility and dexterity.

then,the prof called me to scrub in with him,wearing plastic gowns,washing our hands with soap,antiseptic,and alcohol.he taught the proper techniques to do all of it(not going to jot them down),inside the OT,we were dressed by the nurses: another set of operation gown,gloves,then washing our gloved hands with antiseptics again.

then the operation start,besides the prof,there’s another female surgeon,an anaesthesiologist(she was really cute),2 more nurses and the whole group.
basically the operation went:
1-incision of the abdomen(quite difficult due to the already scarred abdomen,so the prof just followed the scar to minimise the trauma)
2-exploring of abdominal cavity-seems that the cyst already adhered to the anterior abdominal wall,so the prof had to remove it manually)
3-removing the right cyst-had to do it meticulously to avoid more trauma to ovary and tube,cyst was in ovary(10cm in diameter or bigger),then the ovary is stiched back with hemostatic stiches
4-perforating the left cyst-smaller,filled with fluid,so didn’t have to remove it,just made a few holes and stitch.
5-the cool part-the prof offerd me to touch and chenck the consistency of the uterus(hard,muscular),tubes(soft),the ovaries(granulous)
6-closing back the abdominal cavity-lots of bleeding due to many new vessels from previous scar
7-bandaging the wound-with antiseptic measures
8-bladder catheterisation-the shameful part for me,not going to write why,falah n bear told everyone already

in term of assisting what i did was:
1-bothering the surgeons by blocking their view-how many times the prof said”zamani,don’t block the operating filed”
2-drying any excess blood with gauzes-learnt how to pick new ones and how to put the used one on the tray,the nurse reminded me to use all the sides(membazir amalan syaitan)
3-holding the clamps,holders,expanders,other things(i dunno their english names,and i dunno thier russian names too)-while yet again,blocking the surgeons’ view
4-stiching an “uncontinuous stich”
5-tying a few knots-”tightly zamani,or the wound will open”
6-remembering the names of all the muscles of my legs,hip,back and arms while adjusting them to the most comfortable position every 5 minutes-it’s a long.. operation
7-trying not to sleep and laugh at every joke the surgeons made

what i learnt :
1-stamina and concentration is something i still lack
2-never pick anything around the field with fingers-”that’s good,but next time use a pincer,zamani”
3-how big was the responsibility-even the prof was stresses,with all his experience he still was,i saw his face during the operation and when it was finished
4-i forgot most of the muscles’ name
5-a few czech,kazach,and uzbek words-the prof knows them all…

it was an exciting day for me and a (very)challenging one for the prof(operating while teaching me),but in the changing room after that he still smiled and asked”was it interesting for u?”….”of course sir”

wassalam..wallahualam

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 1st, 2006 at 3:56 pm and is filed under YeT @NotHer SpeCial DaY. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.