Heart Surgery

"Nurses are the most important part of the hospital-not doctors. Doctors are at home, playing golf, not with patients. Well trained nurses are the most important part."
 - Dr. Kiss



I saw two open heart surgeries today. I SAW BEATING HEARTS. That pretty much tops anything else that happened, and I have no idea how to explain it, but I will try.
Once we got to the hospital this morning and finished our lecture in door to OR times for Intra aortic balloon pumps (yes, that is as fascinating as it sounds), Annita, one of the head nurses, brought us paper SURGICAL SCRUBS to change into! Of course, the smallest they had were mediums, so Morgan and I were swimming in them, but we were getting the opportunity to set foot in the OR, so I was not about to voice any complaints. After suiting up in scrubs, hair nets, shoe covers, and masks, we trekked to the third floor and were buzzed into the surgical suites. Now, let me start off by saying that I have no intentions of ever being a scrub nurse. I never have, and, despite the amazing stuff I saw today, my life goals remain unchanged. I added a possible CRNA certification/degree to my list, but no scrub nursing for me, thank you. That being said, today freaking rocked. Crippled arm or no, when they asked which student wanted to see an open heart surgery, my hand shot straight up. Thanks to our quick reaction times, Melissa and I were chosen to observe an ascending aorta repair. It was AWESOME. By the time we got in there, the surgeon was sewing the tissues replacement into the aorta, and preparing to take the patient off bypass. Even so, it was so cool to watch, and the surgeon was wonderful at answering any questions that we had. When the surgery was completed, he thanked us for being there and explained which cardio thoracic procedures were going on in each room. We were then excused to pick which surgery we wanted to watch. We then stood by the door for several minutes trying to figure out which button opened the door. The surgical team found our confusion hilarious and watched us struggle for a few moments before the anesthesiologist walked over to let us out.
Then began the real fun. Please remember that we are in a country in which the predominant language is HUNGARIAN and very few people speak any English, let alone fluent English.  So we didn't want to walk into a random OR and be unable to explain who we are or why we were there, which is why we began to walk up and down the hall , looking for someone, anyone, that we recognized or anyone that spoke English and could help us. I've never felt so awkward in my life, but I was very grateful that I was not alone, and instead, had Melissa to walk with me.
After about 15 minutes of complete confusion, we saw Dr. Hollòs walking down the hall. We literally started yelling for him fanatically.
I love how his face lights up when he sees us. Michaela calls him Abuelo because he acts so sweet (and he's the spitting image of her grandfather). He rushed over and took us to see a CABG and aortic valve replacement, where we met up with Morgan! This is when we got to see the patient's heart resume beating. It's a good thing I had a mask on, because my jaw just about hit the floor. That is by far, the coolest day I've had in a long time.
I want to throw in a sidenote here about something before I scamper off to bed. The cardiologist who taught class today mentioned the people in Hungary see, to be just as resistant to lifestyle changes following heart attacks and open heart surgery as they are in the US. This blows my mind for many reasons, but rather then contemplating why people make such choices, I wanted to mention how thrilled I am that my father has been such a wonderful role model when it comes to that. For those of you who don't know, and I hope he's ok with me bringing it up, he had some pretty serious heart complications when he was in his early 30's. I was still pretty young, so I had no idea how serious it was at the time, but I distinctly remember that after he came home from the hospital, we made some serious lifestyle changes. I can't even begin to imagine how hard it was for him to give up his favorite foods in favor of vegetables and healthier habits. We starting taking the dogs on long walks around the neighborhood, and he worked hard to make sure that I understood why I didn't get to eat pop tarts or bagel bites anymore. (In my defense, I was a kid, so it was a complete tragedy from my point of view). Now, around a decade later, I am finally able understand what this process involved for him, and I'm so proud of him, and I'm definitely glad he's still around today.
Rather than being resistant to change, he recognized what he needed to fix and did it. Now, I'm sure it's been a rough road for him at times, but the fact that he did it is incredibly impressive. So here's a shout out to you dad. Thank you for being an inspiration to me and helping drive my passion for nursing and patient education. :)

Peace out world, I've gotta get some sleep so that I don't fall at the operating table tomorrow!
Love,
Your overly introspective munchkin nurse



Also, you know you're destined for the medical field when you're staring at a patients open thoracic cavity, and all you can think about is how good lunch is going to taste.


"Jessica! For the next week I don't want to deal with ascites, so you're not gonna take more Tylenol!" -David

"I mean, you're halfway to being iron man, or WOLVERINE!'
-Laura on my metal arm