Day of the Doctor

Yesterday was day of the doctor for all first year medical students at UofT. This means shadowing a doctor of your choice for an entire day. I followed an excellent Anesthetist/internist/intensive care doctor from 9am to about 4pm and it was FANTASTIC!

At first I was worried because I thought anesthesia would not be my cup of tea, and in fact I am sure it is not. But the cool part was sitting in on three surgical procedures. I was even directly involved in one of them!

The first operation I saw was a decompression of an ulnar nerve (a nerve in your arm). It was a great thing to see just to get me warmed up for what was to come because it was a very routine procedure with very few complications. The surgeon was also really considerate; when he opened the arm, he showed me the nerve and pointed out where it was swollen etc. It was fascinating!

The second procedure I saw was by far the coolest of the day. I was in the Burn Unit and this man arrived with extreme electrical burns which required a plastic surgeon to open both his arms because they were suffering from compartment syndrome (and I know what that is from class! Yay! The idea that the information I learned in class was applicable in real life just makes all this studying worthwhile!) Basically compartment syndrome is when the muscles get very swollen inside their compartments and so it hurts a lot and you get decreased blood flow to the muscles etc. The plastic surgeon involved in this case was just super super awesome. His name is Joel Fish and I could just tell that he knew exactly what he was doing. If I ever need a face lift- you know who I will call! He also guided me through the procedure telling me about the anatomy of the arm which was really great.

The last procedure was the most exciting for two reasons: first, he almost died on us and second I got to "bag" him, which means to pump air into him using this big balloon type pump. I felt like I was part of the team! It was truly exhilirating. What happened was this man needed a tube put in his throat, but in order to do this there is a limited amount of time where you can actually insert the tube because at this time, he can not get any oxygen in. What happened to us was that the tube refused to go in for the first time so he was severely in need of air. Machines started beeping, the doctors started yelling at each other and the man's face even started to turn blue! Luckily we got everything under control, but it was very intense. To think something as routine as a breathing tube could turn out to be a life and death situation! Nothing is ever boring in the OR!

So that was my brief glimpse into the real world and what awaits me after these four years. It could not have come at a better time as well because I now have the bigger picture to look at and to inspire me to keep chugging along no matter how many exams (grumble, grumble) and assignments they throw my way.