Every time I have an important order of business in the morning, I spring out of bed before my alarm rings. Today was no exception. My alarm was set for 5:30am for my first OREX day, but in the darkness of the night, I woke up at 4:31am and could not fall back asleep.
I made it to The Hospital by 6:35am, and walked into the surgery conference room 40 minutes early. There was a talk from a UCSF doctor that apparently began at 6:00am (that I wasn't required to go to) so there were already medical students and surgical residents gathered around the long table. Since no two OREX-ers are scheduled for the same day of surgery observation, it was obvious that I was the odd one out on my own.
I introduced myself to Dr. Harken, my new mentor, during a lull in the discussion. He heartily welcomed me to the program, and insisted with a firm sweep of his arm that I get some donuts and coffee at the table. "Just like visiting your grandma," a resident nearby laughed. After some protesting, I got up awkwardly and plunged my hand into a bag containing bagels, because I didn't want a sugar crash during my nine hours at The Hospital. Unfortunately, I was stuck with a really dry millet and grain bagel, which I munched on slowly for the next hour and a half.
Dr. Harken sat next to me for the remainder of the presentation, and explained to me the terms and procedures mentioned. At one point, he even drew a diagram of a colon for me--he was delighted by my meager anatomy vocabulary (take IB 131L, kids!). The lecture was over my head, and I noticed a resident nodding off. I don't blame him-- it was still dark outside. Another thing I noticed was that doctors put their food directly on table surfaces. You'd think with all that knowledge about sterility and germs, doctors would be the most paranoid about sanitation. Meh. At 7:40am, Dr. Harken whispered to me that he had to go to surgery, and then I was free from choking down the rest of that awful bagel.
Twenty minutes later, I made my way upstairs to the fifth floor. I didn't know exactly where to go or what to do (the OREX orientation couldn't bring us to the surgery floor, as it's a sterile environment), but eventually I figured it out with some help and scrubbed in.
Basically, this is what I saw all day (not taken by me, obviously):
The experience was so different from volunteering in the Emergency Department one floor below, where gurneys are crusted with blood, where hallways reek of unwashed bodies, where things are in a constant state of chaos and disarray. The OR had an air of serenity. Three or four doctors, including the anesthesiologist, would hover calmly over an operating bed, instead of the twenty-something crowd during an ED trauma (seriously, everyone wants in on the action in the ED, from nursing students to social workers to randos like me). It was nice to stand and observe and ask questions, rather than chasing down patients with an EKG machine and bedpan. Dr. Harken would motion for me to come closer to the operating table to get a better view, explain what sutures he was putting in, and what devices he was using. It was uhh-mazing. The other doctors were incredibly nice to me as well, even going to far as to moving aside so I could get a good look at the surgery site--seriously? I just wanted to observe from six feet away, and here I am sticking my face into some guy's mouth.
At one operating room, a doctor mistook me for another doctor and started praising me on how I intubated a patient. I think it was an honest mistake, since the doctor look-alike and I are both Asian, and have well-defined eyebrows. Plus, we're all dressed the same and the mask covers 75% of your face. Sweet. Maybe I can pass off as a doctor someday, when I am a doctor...haha.
In some operating rooms, we had dance parties. The doctors played funky music and swayed with pliers in hand. In some operating rooms, the focus was too intense for me to muster up questions, much less make a single peep. In the nine hours that I stood on my feet (I have major respect for surgeons, who don't get the freedom to wiggle and squirm every couple minutes like I did), I witnessed surgeries in the chest, arm, mouth, pelvic region, and leg. This list is in order of increasing bloodiness. And when I say bloody, I mean half-of-that-man's-leg-is-totally-gone! bloody. That was an ED trauma patient, and it made me smile fondly at the department that I will return to during my normal shift next week. Well, I mean, I smiled after I grimaced, but no one could see under my mask.
The one thing that I appreciate most about today is that an attending doctor told me Tuesdays is when they perform surgeries on special needs patients as part of a program. While surgeries seem sterile and far removed from conscious patients with their attitudes, messiness, and smelliness, this simple fact reminded me that this is the reason I commute transbay to The Hospital every week.
More OREX adventures to come!
PS. Thanks, O for the pocket notebooks! They fit nicely in my scrub pocket, and they are exactly what I needed. You can see part of Dr. Harken's diagram. :)
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