My last day at Children's Memorial as part of the Cardio Vascular Surgery team. Walking home I kept blinking in disbelief that it's over already. So hard to believe. There were no surgeries scheduled today. I stayed late as there was a possibility a decannulization would be needed, but in the end it wasn't. The office ordered pizza for me for lunch and we all ate in the conference room. (More like they used me as an excuse to order pizza for the office!!) ;) It was delicious either way!! Ever heard of Lou Malnati's? Very good pizza!!
After rounds this morning the fellow pulled me aside to say "I didn't want to say this to you before, but since it's your last day...." and he told me some nice things, some amazing things. It caught me off guard, kind of knocked the wind out of me and left me a bit speechless. After, I turned looking for someone, anyone to hug and dance with. No one was there. So I hugged myself and danced with Jesus!!
At this point, after all that Jesus has done for me I shouldn't be amazed anymore. But each time I'm amazed anew at what Jesus is doing in my life. Is He really preparing me for this? Is He really going to use me in this? It seems too good to be true. I wonder, what plans does He have in store for these two hands?
Hasta!!
Friday, February 24, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Yo estoy dormitando.
This week has been a pretty heavy one. The surgeries long. (I've now surpassed that previous 9 hour surgery). The days longer. And then today our OR was closed due to limited anesthesia personnel. And after morning rounds the fellow pulled me aside and whispered that when I got a chance I should "slip out, go home, and recover." *wink* I busied myself a few hours more and then I took his advice...although not the slipping out part.
I hadn't planned on taking a nap. I'm not really a napper. But I figured I wouldn't get much work done with my eyes half closed so I grabbed a blanket and curled up on the couch. When my eyes opened half hour later, I didn't move, but rather let myself remain curled up. I was warm. I was so comfortable. And so for half hour more I lay there half dozing and half just listening. Listening to the rain and a wet Chicago outside the window. Not even the construction down at the intersection bothered me. It was a gray rainy afternoon and there I lay curled up with no need to hurry anything. I felt like I had been given a small unexpected gift, and it made me so happy.
Hasta!
I hadn't planned on taking a nap. I'm not really a napper. But I figured I wouldn't get much work done with my eyes half closed so I grabbed a blanket and curled up on the couch. When my eyes opened half hour later, I didn't move, but rather let myself remain curled up. I was warm. I was so comfortable. And so for half hour more I lay there half dozing and half just listening. Listening to the rain and a wet Chicago outside the window. Not even the construction down at the intersection bothered me. It was a gray rainy afternoon and there I lay curled up with no need to hurry anything. I felt like I had been given a small unexpected gift, and it made me so happy.
Hasta!
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Yo estoy saltando.
The surgery I helped with yesterday was the most tedious and meticulous work I'd witnessed yet. We were working with stitches so fine that when you held up the thread, you'd lose sight of it. It was such small slow work that for the first time I got a bit bored...and then annoyed that I was bored. I was bored because I couldn't understand what exactly they were doing. But then the picture became clear, they had finally made progress, and it ceased to be boring. When they finished their work Dr. Russell asked me if I understood what they had done. I replied that yes I did understand but to be honest, I had been rather lost at the begining. Both he and Dr. El Tayeb broke out laughing with that. Apparently they had been just as lost. That both makes me feel better about myself being lost and amazed at their ability. The procedure that they had opened the chest expecting to do was interrupted by the location of a single artery. On the spot they had to adapt and individualize the entire surgery. And to be honest their finished work was beautiful. I am so proud of these surgeons, and so blessed to have this opportunity to learn from them.
One of the attendings on the care unit has the most brillantly orange hair I have ever seen. And when he's thinking he wrinkles up his forhead and peers down his nose through small circular spectacles. He reminded me so strongly of someone, and for days I tried and tried to place those spectacles, and then finally...light bulb!!! "He's Paul's grandfather, very clean!" To be honest I hadn't really liked Paul's grandfather due to his causing problems with Ringo, but now I'll think of Dr. Costello and it'll make me laugh.
When I started helping with CV surgeries at Children's I was the 2nd assitant, and content to be so as a med student. It got me close. It got me dirty. In other words I was those extra hands when the surgeon and 1st assitant needed a 3rd, 4th, or 5th hand. And to tell you the truth, I wasn't expecting anything more, figuring they wouldn't let me get close to the heart or main vessels themselves. But then they did need me. I've worked as 1st assitant various times, and what surprised me most....what scared me most, was that I wasn't scared. There isn't time to second guess or be scared. You have to be sure of your hands.
Hasta!
One of the attendings on the care unit has the most brillantly orange hair I have ever seen. And when he's thinking he wrinkles up his forhead and peers down his nose through small circular spectacles. He reminded me so strongly of someone, and for days I tried and tried to place those spectacles, and then finally...light bulb!!! "He's Paul's grandfather, very clean!" To be honest I hadn't really liked Paul's grandfather due to his causing problems with Ringo, but now I'll think of Dr. Costello and it'll make me laugh.
When I started helping with CV surgeries at Children's I was the 2nd assitant, and content to be so as a med student. It got me close. It got me dirty. In other words I was those extra hands when the surgeon and 1st assitant needed a 3rd, 4th, or 5th hand. And to tell you the truth, I wasn't expecting anything more, figuring they wouldn't let me get close to the heart or main vessels themselves. But then they did need me. I've worked as 1st assitant various times, and what surprised me most....what scared me most, was that I wasn't scared. There isn't time to second guess or be scared. You have to be sure of your hands.
Hasta!
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
A heart for Valentine's Day.
I love Valentine's Day. Not for any particular reason. But I started off to the hospital yesterday morning maybe just a bit disappointed at how ordinary the day felt. Little did I know I wouldn't get back from the hospital until early this morning and the day would be anything but ordinary. A Valentine's Day I will never forget.
Children's Memorial is the only location in the state of Illinois where pediatric heart transplants are performed. Early yesterday before we even got our day started there was a call. There was a heart in New York. By noon I was headed to New York as the second member of the heart team accompanied by the procurement team. Landed at LaGuardia, raced to the hospital, harvested the heart, back to the airport, back to Chicago, back to Children's and heart pumping before midnight. A heart for Valentine's Day.
Hasta!
Children's Memorial is the only location in the state of Illinois where pediatric heart transplants are performed. Early yesterday before we even got our day started there was a call. There was a heart in New York. By noon I was headed to New York as the second member of the heart team accompanied by the procurement team. Landed at LaGuardia, raced to the hospital, harvested the heart, back to the airport, back to Chicago, back to Children's and heart pumping before midnight. A heart for Valentine's Day.
Hasta!
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Yo estoy leyendo.
I guess I'm finally getting a Chicago winter. My roommates are forcing their down winter coats on me. I was hesitant at first simply because I didn't like the idea of wearing someone else's coat when I have a perfectly good one. But I'm so thankful for it now. I am so thankful to live with indoor heating again.
I scrubbed in for my first 9 hour surgery this week. I knew I was free to take a break whenever I needed to, but I really just didn't want to. I didn't want to miss a single one of the 540 minutes we were there. My feet hurt afterwards. Maggie was attending a worship night that evening, and I originally considered just staying home, but then felt like a hypocrit for considering it. One of my biggest whines about GDL is that there's zero singing and close to zero fellowship so I couldn't pass up the opportunity. So I went and enjoyed it, but the entire time was leaning forward with my hands on the bench in front of me trying to displace as much weight as possible trying to find the least painful way to stand.
I also got to scrub in for my first noncardiac surgeries. Both very interesting as I got to see a whole new side of CardiacThoracic Surgery. One particular one neither surgeon really knew what they were doing. So I got to work through the problem with them as they had to ultimately decide on a solution, which they don't actually know if it really is a "solution." Only time will reveal.
All of these experiences are really helping me and teaching me. I'm here not just to learn pediatric cardiothoracic surgery, but to learn how medicine in the States works. The expectations and roles of the different levels of medical providers. How everyone works together. How they work individually. At times it feels like I'm on a tour, but the tour is on a tour bus and it's going so fast all I can manage to do is catch glimpses of everything.
Hasta!
I scrubbed in for my first 9 hour surgery this week. I knew I was free to take a break whenever I needed to, but I really just didn't want to. I didn't want to miss a single one of the 540 minutes we were there. My feet hurt afterwards. Maggie was attending a worship night that evening, and I originally considered just staying home, but then felt like a hypocrit for considering it. One of my biggest whines about GDL is that there's zero singing and close to zero fellowship so I couldn't pass up the opportunity. So I went and enjoyed it, but the entire time was leaning forward with my hands on the bench in front of me trying to displace as much weight as possible trying to find the least painful way to stand.
I also got to scrub in for my first noncardiac surgeries. Both very interesting as I got to see a whole new side of CardiacThoracic Surgery. One particular one neither surgeon really knew what they were doing. So I got to work through the problem with them as they had to ultimately decide on a solution, which they don't actually know if it really is a "solution." Only time will reveal.
All of these experiences are really helping me and teaching me. I'm here not just to learn pediatric cardiothoracic surgery, but to learn how medicine in the States works. The expectations and roles of the different levels of medical providers. How everyone works together. How they work individually. At times it feels like I'm on a tour, but the tour is on a tour bus and it's going so fast all I can manage to do is catch glimpses of everything.
Hasta!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Yo estoy una corazon.
This work is absolutely fascinating. Once again I'm finding myself at a loss for words. Everyday is another story. Beautiful, challenging and amazing.
One of the first things I noticed were the hands of the surgeons. There's a tiny heart jumping at say...150 beats a minute, lungs rthymically inflating and deflating. In short the work area is moving a mile a minute, and the hands....rock solid. At one point a perfusionist in the OR hit something making a loud bang like the sound of a balloon popping and the hands....not even a flinch.
On one particular case the tiny baby wasn't even the size of a normal newborn. They were accessing the thoracic cavity through the rib cage and at one point Dr. Russell asks Dr. El Tayeb, "Do you think you can fit your finger in there?" He wasn't joking, he was serious. I paused...did they even realize what they were asking? They were attempting life or death surgery and couldn't even get close to the work area. In the end Dr. El Tayeb didn't have to anyways.
I'm just loving it!
Hasta!
One of the first things I noticed were the hands of the surgeons. There's a tiny heart jumping at say...150 beats a minute, lungs rthymically inflating and deflating. In short the work area is moving a mile a minute, and the hands....rock solid. At one point a perfusionist in the OR hit something making a loud bang like the sound of a balloon popping and the hands....not even a flinch.
On one particular case the tiny baby wasn't even the size of a normal newborn. They were accessing the thoracic cavity through the rib cage and at one point Dr. Russell asks Dr. El Tayeb, "Do you think you can fit your finger in there?" He wasn't joking, he was serious. I paused...did they even realize what they were asking? They were attempting life or death surgery and couldn't even get close to the work area. In the end Dr. El Tayeb didn't have to anyways.
I'm just loving it!
Hasta!
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