Tuesday i started a little later so i could have time at the gym in the morning before heading to the geriatric block and chatted to a few ladies with osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis. Out of the blue some nurses asked if i wanted the flu shot so i was happy to get that with so many people being hit by the flu this year, touch wood i haven't had a full flu yet! At 11.30am Emma, Vee, Hsern and I (our little team) went to the surgery theatres on the 2nd floor and learnt how to scrub up for surgery!!
I have decided the hospitals are very much like Hogwarts. You have the main corridor or at Charlies 'Wattling walk' right down the middle and you turn off corridors to the various blocks/regions of the hospital or lifts. Once on a floor you can sort of go in circles as it all looks the same, you go through stairs but only some stairs get to certain floors or in some cases you get to a forbidden section or event the forbidden floor! Yes there is a forbidden floor - level 3 where all the machinery of the hospital lies. You go through seemingly innocent doors that might resemble a cupboard but on the other side you find yourself entering a bustling ED department! So getting to the surgical theatres felt a little the same. We went to the first floor, through some locked doors and excitedly changed into some scrubs (with a picture when no one was looking of course!) went through doors on the other side and up some stairs to sort of like a grand secret entrance to the theatres on level 2. Poor Emma was going to see a surgery earlier that morning and was rushed around to change and lost her clothes in the meantime but was excited to be the first of us in scrubs! It was as though we stepped into a scene off scrubs, the theatres and corridors were so bright and clean, everyone was in scrubs with hair under nets and hats, patients being wheeled, nurses and doctors bustling about, i had to take a few seconds to let it in! We found an empty theatre and learnt to scrubbing process...
1. Put mask over mouth/face
2. Wash hands and scrape under nails with soap
3. Scrub nails with a brush for 30 seconds each hand
4. Lather up with soap to the elbows and scrub hands and arms for 2 minutes (collect soap with the elbow pump!)
5. Rinse off soap from hands to elbows and keep hands up so drips go to elbows and not clean hands
6. Repeat and lather up hands for 2 minutes but this time half way up to elbows
7. Rinse off from hands to elbows with hands up and DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING AFTERWARDS!!
Poor Emma didn't feel the water splashing her top and looked like she had a bath and was so wet by the end of it with water dripping from her elbows :P
I didn't want to take the scrubs off afterwards but had to head to lectures. Wednesday after the gym i had a scheduled clinic session with another registrar and saw lots of ulnar nerve palsies of the hand which was quite interesting! That afternoon we headed to PMH for paediatric rheumatology lectures but ended up being a little late as Emma managed to get into a surgery and couldn't leave until the last minute and i still had to pick up a friend and find parking... but we made it! They had a little boy with them who was so cute, he was brilliant as he let the lecturers examine his tiny limbs as he had juvenile arthritis, it made me want to get into pediatrics now :) I was feeling a little flat that day so it was nice to have that lift up for the future.
Thursday was rather exciting... i properly scrubbed in on my first surgery!!! I went to the 7.45am trauma meeting where they discussed the patients and followed to the scrubs changing room then up to the theatres. I met a lovely nurse Tam who was little like me and people kept mistaking me for her which was a little daunting! I scrubbed up like i was taught on Tuesday, our reg was joking saying it was stressful watching me to make sure i did it right :P I had to wear a lead skirt, top and thyroid outfit for protection from the radiation in the theatre. The lady was having a hip screw put in (DHS) after a subtrochanteric fracture so they use x-rays to guide where they are putting in the nails. The surgeon Daniel was so nice and chatted to me initially, then he asked me to hold the retractor! I was so happy i didn't feel faint or anything watching the surgery (i wont describe it here) and it was amazing to see the layers of the body and the muscles and femur. He was teaching another doctor to do it so i stood back, as it was going on he said 'Janelle can put the next screw in' but i didn't know if i heard right so didn't say anything until he got the next one in place and said 'here you go'. 'Oh i wasn't sure if that's what you said!' It was amazing though, they had already drilled the holes and everything all i had to do was turn the screw so it went into the femur just like a mechanic as they say. Then he let me do the last one too! I felt accomplished with even this little task like i had contributed to helping this lady with a fracture to have a better functioning leg, is this the feeling of a surgeon?? The whole surgery only took just over an hour but i was glad to get the lead uniform off as my hips were hurting! It was a workout in disguise :P There were no more trauma surgeries on that day which was odd to have a quiet day, so Hsern and i looked through the windows of other theatres and saw a brain biopsy, whipple (taking out part of the pancreas, gall bladder and duodenum), mastectomy and a few others and it was exciting to see fellow fourth years through the doors in the surgery giving us a little wave on their surgery rotation! An exciting morning in the theatres i was on an adrenaline high :)
 |
| Emma and I in Scrubs! |
Friday was a big day for a different reason... we find out if we were to get a place in rural clinical school for 2013. After a gym session i couldn't face the hospitals and had a much needed morning working on our menopause research project with a few cups of tea. I was counting down the hours until we were to get an email about RCS. After lunch Emma and i met with our supervisor and a lady helping us write and hopefully publish our results which was good to clarify a few things. Thankfully our supervisor set a few things straight and our work load which was getting off hand was put into a more reasonable limit... it is a little elective not a PhD!! 5 o'clock came and no email yet, we Em and i went for dinner, 5.30 still no email no matter how many times we hit refresh. I got an email from Kyle saying he didn't get a place and i felt a little deflated but he was actually relieved knowing the answer as he was uncertain whether he wanted to go. Still no email for me. Emma got an email and was so excited she got a place in her preferred spot Kalgoorlie!!... still no email for me. It was driving me crazy! Finally at 6.20 i got an email... I got a place in Busselton!! I was so excited and it took quite a while to sink it!! It is such a great opportunity! There are 6 of us in Busselton but i don't recognise the names of the others, 3 from Notre Dame and 3 from UWA! Emma and I had a little happy dance to celebrate :) My only thought is how Kyle would be in Perth with me in Busselton, i was actually excited at the possibility to live with him next year and do everyday things like gym together, make green smoothies, watch little documentaries and of course study together and at least i would know i could see him everyday but this would be the extreme opposite and it is hard not being able to see him much as it is this year! Life can be so conflicting, it doesn't like to be easy that is for sure.
What a long post for a long week! It is so great to watch the Olympics between it all though, i get so emotional cheering on the athlete. Gives me inspiration for my running and general fitness... i think i am starting to see some abs!! :P On that note i think it is time for some sleep before running training tomorrow, uni games is getting closer :)
No comments:
Post a Comment