so i finally took my camera to the OR today...i didn't get a chance to take many pictures because i was in a 6 hour case. but i thought i'd share a few of the shots i did get and give you an update on my work.
after spending two weeks in room 2 with dr. ralph doing general surgery, i was moved to room 3 with dr. thermon, who arrived three weeks ago from arkansas. he is an ENT
(ears, nose, throat) surgeon and we've mainly been removing various large glandular tumors (adenomas) arising from the parotid and submandibular glands. the surgeries can be a bit tricky because some of the nerves of the face run through these areas and you have to make sure not to cut these nerves while removing the tumor or else the patient may not be able to move certain facial muscles. so about 90% of the procedure involves finding and dissecting the nerves, while the other 10% is taking the tumor out.
working with dr. thermon has been great...he's super-nice and highly skilled. he also has a ton of interesting stories, historical facts and
political/ethical issues that we like to talk about during cases. he also has a great sense of humor...for instance, me and my partner (cairin from new zealand) have a great time teasing him about his propensity for putting drains and/or staples in every single case, no matter how small the incision. he takes it all in stride and we've worked out a (fictional) bartering system whereby we allow him to use drains if he smuggles cookies from the galley for us via his wife who works there. =)
anyhow, the 6-hour case i was in today was on a young guy with a large parotid tumor. the case took longer than
usual because of the tumor's large size (the skin over top was stretched so thin that it was starting to break down) and because it was very highly vascular...we lost about 1500 ml of blood during the case. but it went well and when the guy woke up in recovery he kept saying, "God is so great!" over and over again. days like today make me so glad that i'm here.
top pic is of operating room 3 (nice and clean
at the end of the day!). next is the area where we scrub before surgery. third is the patient with the parotid adenoma who we operated on today...after that, dr. thermon and me during the surgery. next is me and the anesthesiologist (from ireland) during the surgery. last is the recovery room.
# posted by Jenn @ 2:33 PM