a surgeon wannabe!

Today, im a surgeon.

haha, just joking. :p (i shdnt even take the photo xD), today my schedule was ward rounds, then go inside the OT (operating theatre) to see see look look :p WOOHHOOO.

today im with a surgeon, HPB (hepatobilliary surgeon). DR. CHANG. (read CHENG). haha, whoa, i think he is a good surgeon! (not like the other one xP, refer to below). todays ward rounds was abit funny because we went to a ward at kent ridge hall (where one patient get one room) and there was this family from makassar (thats in sulawesi), who can't speak english. haha, dr. chang tried to speak malay but they cant really get it (his malay not as good as dr. reuben n dr.dan), and there was another girl MO who is totally clueless. and of course as you can guess, i become the translator -.- hahaha, not bad la i feel quite useful :p explaining the procedure of the medication (chemotherapy and biopsy) and the risks involved, after the patient understand then they are allowed to sign the paper. the patient got a liver cancer that unfortunately is spreading to his lungs. ( i just hope i dont translate wrongly xD) haha, im stuck at the word 'research' though xD hahaha..

after that, dr. chang brought me to the changing room and ask me to wear the cool cool coolest attire. SURGEON attire xD haha, the full blue uniform! (refer to the pic up there :p) and guess what is the footwear? crocs sandals. xD woohoo, but i tell u, the blue uniform is just so thin! im freezing the whole day! :S so so, first i went to OR 3, to look at dr chang performing laparoscopic surgery to remove the person's gallbladder. as it is not a open surgery, everyone is looking at the 2 screens, including me. haha. OH YA, before that, they went to scrub themselves! ahh, i din get to scrub and become sterile xD haha, so i can only watch at the sides. but it was real fun! a short 1 hour surgery, involving cutting open the belly button, making 3 holes on the stomach, controlling 3 laparoscopes that are inserted from the 3 holes, looking at the camera, inserted from the bellyy button. then with the laparoscopes he cut the gall bladder, at the same time closed the wound inside, and collected the gallstones. all with the laparoscopes. i bet he is good at video games too! hahaha, imagine, controlling 3 long laparoscopes, looking only at a screen (that cant even show everything). haha, finally he got everything, put it inside a plastic bag, and then pull it out from the belly button, then he stitch back the belly button and the 3 holes. all done in 1 hr. great surgeon.

then he said to me, "you want to go dinner with me, or go watch another operation?" haha, of course i said, "WATCH ANOTHER ONE!" haha, turns out to be a wrong answer xD hahaha.. so, i went to OR 8 this time. i clearly remembered it was around 12am. the operation has started at 10am. it was an open surgery, colon cancer, that has already spread to the liver, causing another cancer. undergone chemo, so now removal of the cancer. yep, 2 hr has passed, the stomach is already opened. i can see the liver and intestines! WOOOO, its like WOW. :D darned cool. but then, yes, i dunno whats the problem but the operation is taking damn hell alot of time! by 2 oclock, there was some stitches inside, and cut the liver abit. so after that, i dunno what they do till 330. i was dead bored. then suddenly the patient condition went down! woah, its like on movies xD hahaha, the blood pressure become unstable, etc etc, but i guess, the surgery was quite safe, (at least is not a cardiac surgery). so u know what they do? WAIT. if it goes stable, continue, if not, cancel. CRAZY, wait again. 415, they decided to continue. slowly cut, burn, stitch, till 630, they barely finish cutting. the MO beside me said, havent ressect yet, still quite long. T.T i wanna cry already, feel damn cold, damn sleepy and bored. like what the BLEH? im in there for more than 6 hrs alr watching them slowly operate! maybe they are still operating now. -.- and so i found this!

"A liver resection takes approximately 3-5 hours and can be performed without the need for blood transfusion (see bloodless surgery). Up to 75% of the liver tissue can be safely removed. The hospital stay is about 5 days and complete recovery occurs in 5-6 weeks. The resected liver regenerates to its preoperative size in 6-8 weeks. Excellent results from liver resections are usually achieved. "


3-5 hrs? SURE NOT?! haha, and this surgery also got blood transfusion. hah, the doctor is from india university i guess. NOT IMPLYING ANYTHING xD

overall, this was quite an eye opening experience. i guess the feeling will be different if im the one holding the knives xD, or even, the ones holding the clampers (which are the interns). ah i hope to be one oneday. and of course, ill be different if ure the one whos stomach being opened xD haha, i must take care of myself! (:

tommorow is scoping with dr reuben! wooyea (: