Mudgee, Day 11 - Happy Bowel Day

A visiting surgeon from Orange came to town today to cover a general surgery list, and Dr J (one of the GP/anaesthetists) agreed to having me tag-along and watch for the day. As it turned out, the surgeon himself was really keen to teach and because most of the procedures were scopes (there was also a lap chole and hernia repair), he had the aid of a screen to guide us through what he was doing, tutorial-style. He also asked questions which, naturally, presented prime opportunity for me display my knowledge (bah! or rather lack thereof!!); so, just in case anyone had a doubt in their mind, let me reaffirm the fact that I really, utterly, hopelessly know nothing :-S But alas, I keep swimming because I live in the hope that oneday I'll be able to stop writing about how little I know (and then you can assume that I've started knowing). Enough about that/...

Overall, it was a very relaxing and interesting session in theatres; particularly since I'd had a bit of exposure to GI diagnostical & surgical procedures last year when I went to Fiji - and also because we just finished doing the GI block at uni :-P Mind you, I spent most of the time close to Dr J's side while he shared some of his insights about anaesthetics. Speaking of which, it was actually pretty weird because in all of the scopes that were done today with a mild propofol sedation, all the patients came 'round at some point during the procedure and started writhing countinuously until more anaesthetic was given - is that normal? Why not maintain the sedation throughout, rather than allowing it to start wearing off before administering a new dose? Hmmm...so, I got a chance to practice inserting IV cannulas as well which, I'm discovering, is a damn-lot harder in real life than on those plastic arms :-S Luckily I only missed once; but I'm still working on getting a smooth technique thing happening here. Once I go back to uni next week, I should probably try to spend more time practising cannulations in the clinical skills lab and working on my "flicking" skills :-P

Anyway (and I just had to add this...), in the evening the Drs took me out for dinner and I had an amazing hot chocolate fondant with mixed berry ice cream for dessert. It was *so* delicious!!

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Oh, and another thing I wanted to mention: this afternoon, results came out for the mid-yearly exam that I sat two weeks' ago (the one that I was passively shit-scared about failing). Well, somehow - through some means that defy logic and are beyond my grasp of comprehension - I passed (overall and every domain)! Phew! I live one more day then, yeah?