More surgeries!!

Today I spent the whole day in the OR. It was awesome! I didn't want to leave. I saw two ENT surgeries and one plastic surgery. The first ENT one was a guy who had a tumor in his throat and one next to his ear.  To remove the one in his throat they went in with a camera through his mouth. It was so cool. I saw on a monitor the throat and then spotted the tumor. One of the surgeons was so nice. He showed me the charts and ex-ray and explained the whole thing to me. I just wish I understood what he was saying. I was trying my best to make out the spanish words I knew. I got the gist of it though.

When they found the tumor they used these long tools to burn the skin connecting the tumor to the throat. Then he pulled the tumor out through the mouth and put it on the table. I was staring at it, fascinated.

Then they worked on the tumor by the ear. I watched him make the incision, pull back the skin and everything. The way surgeons treat human flesh is incredible. They act like it's just a slab of meat they're cutting up for dinner. I guess they're so used to it. They kept pulling back the skin, poking around, then finally I saw the tumor. It was the size of a quarter. They pulled it out, then a training surgeon (I think) sewed him back up.

The second surgery was a guy getting his nasal passages widened (I think). I couldn't really understand what they were doing, but I think that's what he was trying to do. They went in through the nose with a camera again. They had this cool tool that was calibrated to a computer that showed him exactly where the probe was in the skull. It was like a live ex-ray. He used this tool that looked like a little skin eater. It would just eat away the flesh wherever he pressed it. He did that for a little bit, then he put this white tube-like thing up there and was playing around where he wanted to put it. He kept moving it and situating it. I was waiting for him to take it out, but he never did. Maybe this was to open the nasal cavity? I'm not really sure.

The third surgery I saw was AWESOMEE!! It was a guy that had somehow severely burned his forearm. The burn ate through his muscle all the way to the bone (they don't know how he did it because he speaks polish and I guess no one in the hospital could translate). Anyway, this was his second surgery and there would be one more. In this one they were cutting out all the bad muscle (which was white and dried up) and making sure only healthy flesh remained. There really wasn't that much flesh left. I could see everything. The muscle. The tendons. The nerves. The bone! It was crazy, but awesome. Once they finished removing all the bad muscle there was a gaping hole left in his forearm. To my surprise they rolled up some foam? and wrapped it in this black bandage thing then stuffed the whole thing into the gaping hole. Then they put synthetic skin over it (which just looked like clear tape) and bandaged the whole thing up. I think their plan for the next surgery is to take skin from his leg and try to make a skin graft? I don't know what they're going to do about all the missing muscle. It was a really cool surgery to see though. Glad I didn't pass out. Actually the whole time I kept thinking "I'm really hungry." hahaha

Tomorrow we go to OB. Hope I get to see some babies being born!