Wednesday, August 3, 2011

A Hosp. Waiting Room Experience: Geeky but Awesome Surgical Knowledge Upgrade

When you go to a hospital... to meet a renowned Doctor who basically sees patients between surgeries.... you eventually end up in the waiting hall for like 2 or more hours... you either watch the TV on mute mode... drink some coffee... feast your eyes by looking at other people.... play games on your mobile that you never knew were on your mobile...doze off for a while... or keep pestering the receptionist "when" the doctor will be available....

Today... I took my mother to see a Doctor at a hospital for she was complaining of pain due to gallstones..... and guess what... the "waiting  experience" was so completely different today!!! why...??? 'Coz the TV installed played the recordings of a successful surgery (~30 min-45 min recording) over n over again... at first I did not wanna look for the fear that the mere sight (it just looked as if i was sitting in a mutton shop) of it would make me give up Non-veg once n for all..  but then i was so bored waiting.. that i started to follow the surgery... At first I did not understand what was the surgery for... though I could see the liver clamped to the roof to work on a duct beneath it (may be bile duct) ...Now for a medico... all this may seem plain... but for a non-medico.. its an "experience" that is worth sharing...

The surgery recording (after giving anesthesia of course) started with four tubes being bored into the patent's abdomen....in diamond shape...it was through these tubes that that the Surgeon inserted the various weapons.... the top one was for the clamp that held the liver to the roof ... the side ones for various "weapons" to go in n out... the bottom one for the camera.... 

First the liver was carefully clamped up... next one slightly bent beak like clamp from the left and a hair straightener like fat burner from right came in... [ I guess the beak like clamp makes it easy to maneuver around..]
Anyways... The beak Identified what to burn [Around the duct] and the straightener like thing simply melted nd burned that area when the stuff was pressed between its plates...I could clearly see the bubbles and fumes of the fat ns some tissue like stuff burning....

Now a lot of blood was oozing out... the surgical net like cloth with a black string attached was introduced [ The black string basically makes it identifiable even after it is completely soaked in blood and is sitting around with the organs chatting up]... The surgeon dabbed the blood and placed it in a small crevice next to the working area inside the abdomen [ I guess that is the reason why many forget to remove such things while concluding a surgery].

Now two beak like clamps were introduced... n using both of them like hands... the surgeon carefully ripped the tissue like thing around the duct ... slowly the duct began revealing itself.... the surgeon dabbed the excess blood again.. the ripped residues now looked like charcoal charred tikkas.... 

Then an instrument with a red light on the head was introduced.... inside the duct through another organ that was baby pink in colour.. God nd medicos only know what it is... may be its the stomach... [it was big like that of a stomach nd distended like balloon during the surgery at this point...] anyways the red light instrument went thru the duct... initially with great difficulty... nd then moderately smooth...[I guess it was used to remove or detroy bile stones or something]... the duct glowed like a torch in the dark...

Now a spl instrument was used to suck out debris in the abdominal cavity.... the same carried warm water inside for cleaning.... when this was being done... the fat around the area seemed leave oil and the water became all shiny.... the device again sucked out all the water like a vacuum cleaner...

The beak like clamp... and another clamp holding a curved needle [resembling hook of a pirate] with a bleak thread was introduced... and very artistically the left clamp held the pink organ over the duct and the right clamp pierced it with the hooked needle.. and then repeating the same with a tissue on the other side to join both ... the left clamp then pulled the string like when you do while you stitch something... it was now time to make a knot... the right wound the thread on the other side over the left clamp twice... the left held the thread on the right and now the clamps were pulled apart for making that knot... nd i was like ..WOW!! for some reason!!! this was repeated thrice on the same spot nd at 3 spots.... 

Now the washing process was done again... then the blood soaked surgical cloth was removed usiing a clamp that shoved it in the vacuum cleaner type instru...[thank God]... the tubes were withdrawn... nd finally the clamp lowered the liver back to its place [ the bottom of the liver turned blue probably coz of obstruction of blood flow... ] and was taken out... last came the camera nd its tube... Voila operation Successful... :)

And wait that's not all.... just then some1 came to the receptionist to show some advanced surgical weapons... and now I actually saw those instru... they were long nd thin like a kulfi stick... the actual clamps... straightener like  intru... etc were so small that If I have to tell them apart... I actually need my glasses...!!! The giant screen and the zooming made them look like mass destruction weapons... but in real there r so minute.... nd cute... :)

Aaah.... a good "waiting room" experience... though geeky... nd sharing this on a blog is even more geeky... I guess sharing such experiences makes you feel ... "Okay.... I learnt something today.. I appreciate what I learnt... I m not such a waste after all... " :)

PS: If any Medico reads this... and can explain to me what the surgery was all about... in a more  medical perspective... I would really appreciate it.... :)

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