Took a 15 year old girl to the OR today. She'd had surgery a few days ago and her belly was left open. Really something quite easily could have been closed at bedside, but the patient asked for it, so we took her to the operating room and to the tune of roughly $60 a minute closed her wound there. My attending asked for the stapler and is about to go to town!
Me: Excuse me, but Dr. Karev! We can't use a stapler!!
Dr. Karev: Why not?
Me: Because she's a 15 year old girl! We can't leave that kind of scar!
Dr. Karev: There's no scar with staples. Why? What are you going to do? Close it subcuticular?
Me: Definitely!
Dr. Karev: What? You think you can close it fast?
Me: Definitely!
Dr. Karev: Well... then we close it your way, but we race! Start from opposite ends and see who's the fastest!!
So in the end, we both got what we wanted. We closed it with sutures, and we closed it fast! Only trouble with that is had I been allowed to close the whole thing unrushed... I could have made it look so much prettier!! It's so unsatisfying to look back at the scar, and know it could have been so much prettier!
Much Love!
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