The Hospital Attachment

The past few days have just been amazing in so many ways. I'm doing a hospital attachment at the Penang Adventist Hospital. It broke so many misconceptions I had of doctors previously. Yesterday I had the opportunity to shadow three surgeons so it was one full day.

First up was the cardiothoracic surgery. I was introduced to the doctor and the first thing he said was, "Wait a moment, we'll be going to the operating theater".

The surgeon had to make four bypasses. He started by opening up the patient which involved loads of drilling, cutting, and cauterizing. I never imagined surgery to be so messy. Well, it is VERY organised but I've always imagined that everything would be done in a very nice and dandy way. I was wrong.

I would describe the scene to be like a butcher, with loads of chopped meat and blood. Difference here is that so much precision and skill is required considering that the patient is still alive.

Then, he saw through the sternum and opened up the thoracic cavity revealing the outer layer of pericardium that covers the heart. He then does some careful cauterizing to open up that layer revealing the heart.

WOW.

Personally, I found it so captivating just looking at a heart beating right in front of me. Its one of those 'pinch me' moments where you are left in awe of the moment. Then after that he does the bypass thingy, I won't bore you guys with too much details. But the highlight for me was definitely getting the opportunity to see a beating heart.

The surgeon was so kind to allow me to enter his operating theater, and guiding me through the whole process he was carrying out. I was really surprise to see how chilled out the atmosphere in the operating theater was. You have some West Side Story era songs playing from his iPod in the background and he even had the time to talk to me during the whole surgery and answer any questions that I had.

I also liked how everyone work together so well like an oiled machine. Everyone knew what they needed to do. The nurses did very well in supporting the surgeon and made the whole process seamless. Everything is so clockwork, its scary! The surgeon just need to name the apparatus or instruction (with the magic 'please' word of course) and it would be carried out right away. So I guess this is the standard doctors/surgeons and the team need to uphold considering that someone's life is entrusted into their hands.

The operation was a success and after standing for more than four hours my feet was aching like crazy! They have such strong stamina. According to the surgeon it comes with training and time. There is so much more that I have gained from this experience and this is just a brief summary of what I saw.

The other two operations that I witnessed were also interesting- appendix removal and a total knee replacement. The knee replacement reminds me of a scene from the 'Saw' movies, with all their huge drills and whatnots. Yup, there was lots of drilling and sawing involved, definitely not for those with weak stomachs. I thank gory films like 'Saw' and 'Final Destination' for preparing me for sights like this. Hmm....this should probably be on the 'must watch' list for all prospective medical students.

Interesting thing is that people always warn you about the blood you'll see during surgery. But no one tell you about the (electro)cautery smoke! They use a cutting current to cut through the flesh and seals the blood vessels. This results in the stinking smell of burning human flesh. Blood is fine but I reckon that the smell would take some time to get used to.

That would be all for now. Oh, and Penang food have been so awesome. It lives up to the whole 'hype' on Penang food. The food can get a tad too oily though and I'm currently suffering the consequences of having hawker food for every meal in the past few days. Kinda sick now with flu and a slight fever.

First week of holiday is almost over!! Noooooo......I haven't started hitting the pile of work I brought over.