Operating Room: traded in for the maroon scrubz today.
[[Sorry for the lack of posts lately... just been super tired working these long shifts and wanting to just give myself some relaxation and time to catch up with friends]]
My nursing preceptor is off this week for a critical care conference, so I have the pleasure to kind of float around and see what things are like in some of the other units at the hospital.
Today, I put on some OR scrubs, wore some shoe booties, and a bouffant cap that made me look silly. The first surgery I went into was a lap chole (laparoscopic cholecystectomy aka removal of the gall bladder). It's interesting how different OR nursing is. A lot of it is setting things up and making sure equipment is in order to make the surgeon's jobs easier and smoother. It's definitely somewhere new nurses shouldn't be or else they will forget all the nursing skills they learned from school!
Anyway, the lap chole was interesting to watch. The way the surgeons cut these tiny incisions and take this tool that literally looks like a screw. You look up at the TV monitor where you can view the patient's insides and you can see how this screw spiral in and punctures through the membrane. They're in. This screw. Like what you would imagine an actual screw would look like is how the surgeon was entering this human body. It was interesting to think about. How the body is just this piece of machinery. Surgeons use blades, screws, clamps, wires, towels, etc. to make the patient better compared to when they came in.
The day went on. I got to see a c-section (teared up when baby came into the world). The sound of a baby's first cry is simply so beautiful to me. Birth in general. Is so. Beautiful. Congrats to the new mom and dad!
Saw a spinal surgery, foot wound debridement with bone and tissue culture (guys... diabetes SUCKS... you WILL get gross feet if left uncontrolled), AV fistula graft (end stage renal disease aka kidney disease patients often get these arteriovenous fistulas placed in their upper extremity. an artery and a vein connected together. this creates a way for them to obtain dialysis, a blood filtering system since their kidneys are in such bad shape they can't filter the blood well enough on their own. guys... kidneys are REALLY important).
Again, sorry for such the delay in a new post. I really appreciate my readers out there! Working my third 12 hour shift tomorrow. Time to sleep. Zzzzzz.
Sincerely,
Meagan