I had a fantastic day of work on Monday! I spent the morning in the burns theatre with Prof Thomas, which was quite an experience. The room is always set at higher temperatures because the patients don't have the skin to keep them thermoregulated, so it was a bit toasty (when I stepped inside, the surgeon greeted me with a "Welcome to the hotbox!")
The very first case was a one-month-old with a bad burn on his foot and ankle; a skin graft was being taken from his thigh and applied to the burn. After briefly meeting the plastic surgeon named Chris and describing my role as a student, he simply asked if I wanted to scrub in! I absolutely jumped at the chance, so he walked me through step by step how to scrub. Props to all you medical folks out there - I had NO idea how detailed this procedure is. It's not simply washing really carefully; there's a step-by-step process of how to properly clean your hands and lower arms. It was hard not to touch a thing once I donned my gown - I couldn't even touch my face mask. Once the surgery started, I was in awe and so absorbed. It was definitely the simplest procedure of the day, but aside from the assisting nurse, Chris and I were the only ones scrubbed in! It was my first time actually assisting during surgery, which felt amazing.
The last case of the day was a particularly bad one; I believe the boy had been in a house fire and was burned head to toe, including eyelids. The theatre was set at 33 degrees C for this surgery (91.4 F) and lasted quite a bit. When it was over, everyone emerged soaking wet with sweat. Thankfully throughout the morning there were pitchers of water and orange juice right outside the theatre door to keep everyone hydrated.
Once all five surgeries were finished, Prof told me I did a great job surviving my first time in burns! It's a different environment compared to all other theatres because of the heat, strong smells and (frankly gross) sights. It was a little tough at times, but overall a superb experience to add to the list! Prof asked me if I was keeping a journal of sorts to keep track of everything I've gotten to do and told me that burns is a great area for opportunity because they'll really "use and abuse me" there!
Today was spent on getting started on one of the research projects I'm helping out with regarding the use of a drug called gabapentin that's given to patients for neuropathic pain. I studied this drug a bit in my clinical neuroscience class last year, so it will be great to apply my classroom studies to actual clinical cases. My workday will consist of balancing research with observing in theatre, but overall, it's an incredibly independent internship so I'm in some sense in charge of my own hours each day.
The uploading started working up again, so here are a few more photos from this past weekend. Enjoy!
Pretty peacock
One of the beaches in Simon's Town
Penguins! xoxo
Boulders Beach (the Indian ocean is so clear!)
View driving in Simon's Town
The little apartment we rented out for the night (left half)
Baboon taking in the scenery with the rest of us
One of the views from the hike up to Cape Point - Indian Ocean is on the left, Atlantic Ocean is around the corner on the right
The southernmost tip of Africa
xoxo Em
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