Anecdotes from the OR

I am pleased to report that my surgery rotation has been full of unusual moments amidst the intensive hand washing and sterile techniques...

---Mr X was brought down to the OR from one of the hospital wards for surgery. Prior to very recent illness he had been bilingual, but in the last few days he had lost his ability to understand English despite his comprehension of his mother tongue being intact. I don't know if his English returned once he recovered, but I can only imagine how odd the experience must have been for him if he was still self-aware.---

---When patients wake up from the general anesthetic at the end of an operation, everyone reacts in a slightly different way. Patients are usually instructed to take some deep breaths and later place their arms across their chest (when being transferred from operating table to the stretcher). Mr Z surprised us all as while he was too sedated to cooperate with the instructions, he was lucid enough to be aware of this and began apologizing profusely. Maybe one's true character is revealed in those moments... though I highly doubt it!---

--- Knee replacement surgery is often done under spinal anesthetic (i.e. not general anesthetic). The surgeon instructed me to stand in the narrow space between him and the patient's arm. Shortly into the surgery I became aware that the patient's hand was moving around and had managed to find itself resting against my rear. Somewhat uncomfortable, I wasn't sure what to say or do and I wasn't sure whether or not the patient had any awareness that his hand was on my rear! After some deliberation, I mentioned to the anesthetist that I was "concerned" that I was bumping into the patient's arm. The arm was moved slightly and I was freed from further gratuitious groppage. ---

--- Some of the surgeons play music during their procedures, but it is always a sensitive issue if the patient is not completely unconscious. Yesterday, during a knee replacement, the surgeone opted for some internet radio. The patient had been talkative at the beginning of the procedure but was know soundly sleeping. The next thing we knew, alongside the background cacphony of the drill, the bone saw and assorted banging, we realized the patient was singing along with the kd lang song playing on the radio! She complimented the choice of stations and shortly thereafter fell back asleep. Nothing quite like free entertainment during a surgery! ---

Dirty Girl

On a post-call day recently, I decided that I needed to run some errands despite the rainy weather. I biked around to a few different places, checking off the tasks on my to-do list. At my last destination, I noticed that I had mud splashed on my coat and I commented on it to 2 different adults who were assisting me. When I got home some time later I happened to glance in the mirror and was surprised to discover that I had mud splashed on my neck and face. I am positively bewildered as to why no one felt a need to mention to me that I had mud on my face, ESPECIALLY since I had drawn attention to the mud on my jacket (and clearly had no clue that there was mud anywhere else!). I think it is simply common courtesy to alert people to such matters. That being said, I do find the whole thing rather humorous.