Surgery!

Yesterday and today were great! I'm pretty not excited for tomorrow - but anyways, about my great days....

Yesterday I only had class for like 3 hours in the afternoon so not only did I get to sleep in but when I woke up it was SUNNY and warm! I actually went to class with no jacket and my sunglasses on :) Then I just did a little homework and made dinner, it was a relaxing day. Today was long, but fun. I got to watch a CABG surgery...

[CABG = Coronary Artery Bypass Graft]
Wikipedia defines it as: a surgical procedure performed to relieve angina and reduce the risk of death from coronary artery disease. Arteries or veins from elsewhere in the patient's body are grafted to the coronary arteries to bypass atherosclerotic narrowings and improve the blood supply to the coronary circulation supplying the myocardium (heart muscle). This surgery is usually performed with the heart stopped, necessitating the usage of cardiopulmonary bypass; techniques are available to perform CABG on a beating heart, so-called "off-pump" surgery.

*the room kinda looked just like this!

For the first few hours (yes hours, it lasted from about 8:30am until after 2pm) I did not get to see much because I am too short, and was not "scrubbed in" and so could not get close to the patient... After that I was allowed to go up near the patients head, where anesthesiologist sits (and had previously needed direct access too), and stand above the bed and look down into the open chest of the patient. It was amazing! I got an up close and personal view of the heart, and the surgeons doing their work. What precision and technique that takes - not to mention patience! I was so impressed by the whole surgery from watching the nurses set up the room, to watching the heart stop beating as it went on bypass, to the new nurse doing the charting. The whole team was like a well oiled machine (with a couple of us students thrown in there watching it all - I was the only nursing student, but there was 3 med students and an anesthesiology student).

So I guess being an OR nurse is not out of the question for me, which is a nice surprise :) I was getting a little nervous with not really liking much yet.... Though there is still a little bit of time left until I have to decide!