Surgery rotation....contd

Sorry about the wait...xxx but it's another ***LONG POST ALERT****

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Ehn ehn where was I? *scratching head*....oh ok I remember..

P.s for those who did not catch the beginning of the story,,you can find it here.

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After all my spiritual and educational rush-rush prepping myself (..i no go wan mess up if prof decides to ask questions na)....myself and Pato zoomed to the operation room..

Before I go further let me mention that at that time i was working out with Tony Horton's P90 series 6days a week and i was about 50 days into it...and my God my metabolism was through the roof as in I got hungry virtually every 3hours .......for those who know the routine that thing is monstrous.

So before scrubbing in I made sure I finished up a whole Bounty Trio and some apple and grape juice to keep me from getting hungry 3hours into the surgery..
I felt prepared...

Straight into the scrub room..,we scrubbed in..and so it all began..
The procedure is a Left hemicolectomy because the patient had Colorectal cancer..
On a pretty day the procedure shouldn't take more than 3-4hours if everything was going as planned..

But hey, after the patient was opened up, a manual exploration was done and behold liver metastasis!!!!
Oh Oh the duration of the surgery already gets an auto extension..5-6hours..because the metastasis also had to be cut out...

On and On we were there cutting,stitching, retracting,washing e.t.c...practically re-modelling the patient's normal anatomy...

About 2hours 30 minutes into the procedure...I started feeling hunger pangs (yeeepa!!...ok ok no cause for serious alarm yet)..somewhere in the corner of my mind I was hoping myself and Pato became mega geniuses on the spot so the surgery would end faster (because in the real sense we are babies..therefore we were slowing the prof down)

3hours into the procedure..I was already loosing focus..(and I was thinking after all my gingah..na so I go ask for permission say I don taya???...keep trying barbie..keep trying..I kept on ranting to myself)

4 hours..I was already sluggish...(God if I was oyinbo they would have noticed I was pale already and told me to leave the table..but as I black reach..dem no notice at all)...
I kept looking at the clock...and at approximately 4hours 30 minutes...I felt the cold rush (the first stage of syncope(fainting) )....and then I nudged Pato (he was standing to my left) ..

Pato: Wassap?
Me: Can I go out?
Pato: Just wait it would soon be over..
Me: No I can't...take this retractor and forceps from me..

Funny enough Pato did not reply and I kept repeating myself or atleast I thought I was repeating my self (..after the surgery Pato said I did not say anything like that)
In the next instant I swayed forward ..and all I wanted to do was close my eyes for a second..

...whoosh..black out...

...then I heard the professor's voice I don't remember what he said and I felt a pair of strong hands pull me from the table while someone else's was taking instruments away from my hands..

The next series of events happened fast..someone was removing my mask,another was removing my cap..someone else was taking my gloves..another person was untying my overall from behind...and I felt the hard ground on my back..I was on the floor..
Then I opened my eyes..I saw Pato's looking at me from the table like he was questioning "are you ok?" and I simply nodded ..I could not say a word..
I was taken out and put on a stretcher..a stretcher for God's sake I am not the patient!! But jokes apart I was loving the feel of the stretcher..I was surrounded my nurses and doctors showing me fingers, asking me to identify and stuff...all the while I just kept smiling and nodding..

I was handed a mug of over-sweetened tea because my body needed the sugar rush...and I was forced to lay motionless for about 30minutes..

****
approximately 30minutes later Pato walked out..the surgery was over..
and I'm like whaaaat??? all i needed to do was last an extra 30-40 minutes???(but i was still thanking baba God for the bed sha..in my mind..lol)
Then the prof came out smiled at me and said "well-done"..and walked away..

***
I felt better..got off my stretcher (surgeon turn patient..lol)...me and Pato walked back to our floor changed back to our regular clothes...walked out of the building and we hailed a cab..
I sat back in the cab looked at my watch and it was past 6 in the evening...I slouched against the seat and enjoyed the ride home..with a smile of relief saying to myself "Oh what a day...."


Thank you for reading..

A memory..Surgery rotation

*******LONG POST ALERT*******

I spent today cleaning and moving things around my apartment and while my hands kept busy my mind was lighting sparks...

..sparks of memories of the previous weeks..,some of these memories died as sparks while some continued into a full fledged fire some made me groan with laughter...,some had me simply smiling to myself while some still left me undecided..

....

The one that I enjoyed most that got me laughing, embarrassed and undecided at the same time is the one I will share now (my God I am smiling at the screen now ;)

The story;

Surgery rotation; duration 3weeks

Before I became a victim..,I always thought it happened only in movies especially Grey's anatomy ..

My surgery got stolen from under my nose!!!

Yea it happens most of us usually are scalpel hungry but I never would have stolen anyone's surgery..(it's not as if they are going to let me "fly solo" on the procedure ...)

.....

The surgeon walked into the room and asked we blood thirsty children (i no be vampire ooo...lol) "which one of you would like to assist me on a surgical procedure at 1pm?"...oh boy!! see reflex..9 hands flew up eagerly...and out of the 9(my goodness..) I heard my name..

Surgeon: Ok, Dammy you would be assisting me..the surgery would be on 4th floor

Me; would it be in the same operation room we all observed the last time ..?

Surgeon: yes..1pm don't be late..

Me: ok..thank you

In my mind I was dancing galala and alanta even though in reality my body can't even understand those dance moves...

I turned to my colleague Dr. Pato ( my only fellow naija person in the room)...and we started our micro jubilation in pidgin english and yoruba ..(we add pidgin to yoruba because yoruba is a suicide mission for Pato despite the fact that he is a yoruba boy......i believe we all know the drill..gbeborun time)..it was around 11.30 am at that time..

12.30 I and Pato left for 4th floor (we did not want to be late)..we went straight to the operation room ...LO and BEHOLD it was empty!!..ok no cause for alarm yet we started searching the other rooms..still nothing (1.00pm) ok now there is cause for alarm!!!..

1.07pm we found the correct theater and my God there he was doing my surgery( oh my God..my brain was on fire..)...and Pato said "can you imagine but he could have called your phone nau?"

And i was there just thinking.."there goes my very first #1assistant in this hospital" (not my first generally..)

Let me explain what #1assistant means; it is possible to have more than 2surgeons on a procedure, 1 of the 2 surgeons is the main surgeon while the other is the assistant..so in a scenario of more than 2 assistants we start using the terms #1assistant #2assistant blah blah blah...as the number increases your importance at the table decreases( at least that's what we the children like to think)

Let me continue my story..

As I walked into the room the surgeon looked up and asked "why did you come late??" and I replied "we had a tough time locating the room" and she simply nodded her head in understanding..

After some minutes I let the issue be and focused on enjoying and trying to learn while observing..

After some hours the surgery ended..and I saw the victorious smirk on my colleagues face but believe me i wasn't bothered..

Life continued..everything was back to normal or so I thought..I had my chance and I screwed it up

Little did I know...a bigger fish or should I say the biggest fish was still coming my way...

3days later,

The same surgeon walked in..but this time she wasn't asking questions she simply said "Dammy and Pato you would be assisting the Professor in surgery later today"...

"Gbagaun gbagaun" (ring ring as in from a bell) that's what was in my head...as in like "The professor...Like Theee professor"....me and the professor ( ok not only me...lol) me and Pato and the Professor as in no other board certified Surgeon to assist (which if there was would push me and Pato to #2 and #3 assistants irrespective)..

What can I say..me and Pato must have been doing pirouettes in our minds...

We just nodded and said Ok and muttered our thanks..and she left the room..

This time we told ourselves we would go an hour early..to avoid any hitches

Little did we know or should I say little did I know..

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Stay tuned for the conclusion..( no vex at all...but I can't finish it now because of a prior appointment....on the bright side it would give you a break from this my looong story..you can grab a cup of tea with doughnuts)

Be back soon..

Thanks people..

Cheers!!xxx