I Got What I Deserved

Being the first student at a hospital is bound to come with some hiccups. Like every other day someone changes their mind about what I can do in the OR. Well, on Friday, after observing 10 or so lap chole's (galldbladder removal via laparoscopy) I asked if I could scrub in to hold the camera. Dr. H said yes, asked the charge nurse and she said no. So the surgery starts, I'm sitting on the stool all pouty, and Dr. H finds that his gallbladder is actually gangrenous (very bad!) and he can't distinguish the anatomy because it's so inflamed. This means that a conventional cholecystectomy has to be done (with a big incision). The charge nurse tells another nurse to call the HEAD NURSE to see if I can scrub in because well there isn't enough people and Dr. H needs another person's help. The head nurse says "uh yeah, she's scrubbed in all week" so I go scrub in. Well let me tell you, I had to hold retractors (which is normally med student duty) and I had to hold them for a long time and hard. My hand became stiff, my back hurt for hours, and yeah I got what I asked for that's for sure. This poor man ended up having gallstones the size of olives with a pitt. Mmmm hope you weren't eating olives for lunch today.
In the office Friday afternoon I got to help with two I&D's on patients. Then the office manager asked if I would take off all her skin tags. I'm thinking "You do know that there is a surgeon in this exact room that could probably do a better job than myself." She wanted me to do it. Thank goodness I've already learned how to do this because I might have turned the job down otherwise. Halfway through, Dr. H comes in to check to make sure I'm not screwing up. I'm thinking "Umm now's a fine time to come check. I'm almost done."

I know I need to find pictures because people like reading posts with pictures more than just text but it's kind of hard since I can't really take pictures of patients. That was a Brazil privelege only.