The orthopedic surgeon performing the surgery was extremely informative and gave us a review of some of the main parts of the hand and lower arm before beginning the surgery. I tried to soak up everything he was telling us in hopes to have a small understanding of what we'd be seeing in the next few minutes.
Weeks leading up to this field trip, I was filled with the only excitement, as I think medicine will be my career path in the future. However, right before the surgeon made his first incision on the cadaver, he warned us that some may feel light-headed and some people just can't handle the sight of the surgery. Immediately I was praying I wouldn't be one of those people. I so badly wanted to be able to handle that because I have such an innate interest in anatomy and medicine in general. He began to cut into the hand, which then opened to the appearance of fat and some tendons. A wave of relief rushed over me, and the excitement flowed back in. I was totally fine, and even more intrigued than before.
Shortly into the procedure, a couple of people needed to step away and sit down, and as dumb as this sounds, I am so glad my body could handle watching it. I found it so interesting I would have upset to miss any of it. It truly sparked my interest even more in medicine in general and motivated me to push even harder the rest of this year, and years to come academically to get where I need to be to have medical school be a possibility for me.
Would you take the opportunity to watch a surgery like this?
Would you take the opportunity to watch a surgery like this?
I could absolutely never watch surgery. The thought of a foreign object, whether it be a knife, IV, or needle, honestly freaks me out. Even during movies (when I know it’s fake), whenever I see too much blood I have to look away. I had to get blood drawn for a blood test one time, and afterwards I literally could not feel that entire arm for the next 20 minutes. I know it sounds very overdramatic, but if I ever watched any type of surgery, I would probably pass out. To me, some parts of the human body are just not meant to be seen.
ReplyDeleteHonestly one of the best feelings in the world is realizing your passion is something you'll actually be able to do the rest of your life! I'd probably be okay watching the surgery, but it would definitely make me squirmy and light-headed. It definitely seems like a cool experience though!
ReplyDeleteI would absolutely take the opportunity to watch a surgery like that. When I was reading your post, my mouth actually dropped in awe (and jealously) that you were able to go and witness that. My family and I went to take a personal tour with a med student from Penn Sate Hershey Medical School after my sister was accepted there. We were actually allowed to go in the cadaver lab. Of course the bodies were in white body bags, but it was so intriguing to see that right in front of me. I couldn't imagine how exciting it would to see a cadaver surgery live and up front.
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