MY DIARY

[flatface]

Hey guys,

Tomorrow I am going to theatre to watch open heart surgery and on Friday I am going to be watching a post mortem. I thought some of you maybe interested in this kind of topic, so I shall be posting about my experiences tomorrow and then again on Friday.

This is going to be the second time I've watched open surgery and I'm pretty excited, not too sure about the post mortem - my work colleagues have said they're not pleasant, they have also told me that the smell is tattooed to the inside of your nostrils for weeks after! I think they're trying to scare me though :(.

Wishhhhh me luck!

[Mikey]

Good luck and I would probably not like that experience at all. :P

[myke]

good luck Josh, rather you than me.

[The Don]

Good Luck :), just wondering, what course is it your doing?

[Becca]

Good luck, I don't know how you do it.
I can't even stands watching casualty.

[flatface]

Hey guys,

Today went very well, I went up to the ward with a ODP (Operating Department Practitioner) and two Porters. We were then directed to the patient and the ODP asked him a few questions, mainly to make sure he was aware of the procedure he was about to have. Once the paper work was sorted we then took the patient down to Theatre.

Once we arrived, I was told to change from my usual uniform into scrubs, I also had to wear a surgical head cover. I then proceeded into the scrub room, where I was shown how to correctly wash my hands & forearms, I then had to put gloves and a surgical face mask on. Once this stage was complete I then popped next door to the Anesthetic room where the patient was being anesthetised. In this room the patient was also connected to all the machines and also had an epidural fitted (this was for pain relief after the operation) the whole process took around 45 minutes. The patient was then transferred to the operating room. The registrar then shown me the patients CT scan and what the operating plan was, once this was done the two surgeons and one "scrub" nurse scrubbed up. The equipment was then wheeled out and the operation began!

The first part was the worse - due to the fact that they used electric to make an incision and it smelt of rotting flesh. It took some time to get past all the muscle and fatty layers, once this was done the registrar had a feel around (under the beady eyes of the consultant) they then began to snap part of a rib away to gain access, this made a lovely sound - one word crepitus. The surgeons then began to remove apart of the heart making sure all the vessels were isolated. The consultant then made a cheeky comment to me "Josh *giggles* if Sanjay (the registrar) lets go of this clamp then the patient will bleed to death... good job he has a steady pair of hands" and I thought oh my god lol. The diseased part of the heart was then removed and the lengthy process of stitching the patient up started. Layer by layer of stitching of all the fatty tissue and muscles. The outer skin was then stapled to align it correctly, after this the wound was dressed. At this time the anesthetist started to inject medication into the patient.

A few seconds later the patient shown signs of waking, he was transferred from the operating table to a ward bed before being pushed off to recovery. The Consultant then came to the recovery ward and told the patient the procedure went really well, around 20 minutes later the patient was fully awake and talking.

I shall pop in tomorrow to see how the patient is getting on!

[myke]

josh.

that reminded me of the film 'awake'

it made my stomach turn

thanks for the lovely in detail thing

yuk

rather you than me :(

ew

am just about to cook dinnr

[flatface]

josh.

that reminded me of the film 'awake'

it made my stomach turn

thanks for the lovely in detail thing

yuk

rather you than me :(

ew

am just about to cook dinnr

I could go into more detail for you if ya like Myke haha :)

[myke]

no thanks

'awake' has given me eternal fear of operations as it is.

[flatface]

no thanks

'awake' has given me eternal fear of operations as it is.

Never watched it, but the likelihood of being awake in a operation but paralysed is next to none, the anesthetist is always present and there are so many machines to prevent this lol