I finally got to scub in to a surgery at Albury Base. The clinical school spent a while teaching us how to do the scrubbing (hands above elbows, for 15 minutes), gowning (this is the mistake i made) and gloving (2 pairs of gloves, size 7 and 6.5 for me). So after at least 20 minutes prep I am ready, complete with shower cap, mask and shoe covers. Theres probably a dozen people in the operating room but 4 of us are in the sterile green section. The nurse, the surgeon, his intern and me. Of all the surgeons and interns there is only one girl out here in the country. Penny.
The surgery was a hemicolectomy, where they remove quite a bit of the large bowel. This guy had some polyps which are growth that can look like cancer. I got to watch it all and hold the retractors (pulls the skin open so you can see inside) and when the surgeon left I helped cut the stitches as Penny was working on them, and use the cloth to wipe up heaps of blood. The guy ended up with a stoma (for colostomy bag, you can look that bit up), but will hopefully get 'joined back up' next time they operate.
I was surprised at how much blood there was... it really smelt bad. and how relaxed the surgeons were... questioning me on my anatomy and explaining stuff as we went along. Thankgoodness I wasnt getting in the road.
We'll all try and get photos next time in our gorgeous blue scrubs. Greys anatomy style.
I'll keep you posted...