Hosp. Militar Parte Dos

Friday was my best and final day shadowing Dr. Vargas and staff at Hospital Militar. Finally, I felt that I had achieved a level of confidence and improved comprehension of the medical cases we were handling. By the end of this week I made significant progress in breaking through my language barrier, & I was able to converse freely & comfortably with the med students part of "las rondas." Today was especially exciting because I got to "scrub-in" on a laparscopic surgery performed by Dr. Vargas. It was a gall-bladder removal that was deemed necessary due to several gallstones detected in the patient´s gall-bladder. Mona and I stood back and actively observed the 2-hour long surgery. We watched as Vargas fed sterile gauze through the apparati down into the cavity of her (the patient) liver and gallbladder. He used Kelly forceps, scissors and sterile plastic clamps to manipulate the gallbladder and cut it out. He also used a cauterizer to burn ligaments of the gallbladder, as well and stop bleeding. Mid-surgery he accidentally made an abrasion on the woman´s liver and it began to bleed profusely. This caused a slow in the surgical process, as Dr. Vargas had to use the cauterizer and suction to slow bleeding and remove excess fluid caused by the blood. For a quick minute I worried that the liver´s bleeding couldn´t be quelled. Surely enough, it slowed and Dr. Vargas placed a wire "mesh" over the abrasion which helped clot the source. In the end, the surgery was successful and, once removed, I got to see the gallbladder up close. It looked like a tiny slab of raw chicken breast, and the stones look like tiny marbles below the flesh. Super fascinating! My classmate Mona got to handle it for a solid 5 minutes with sterile gloves. I was slightly jealous.

Here are some pics to accompany the story.....I also got several video clips but don´t have enough space on my flashdrive to get them posted on here. Sad to say I won´t be returning to Hopsital Militar next week------but what an incredible experience while it lasted.



Pre-surgery requirements:
Emerson and Mona washing up to elbows x 5 minutes.



Carolina, Emerson and Dr. Vargas.

Dr. Vargas is a multi-tasking pro

 clamping and cutting gall-bladder

close-up gauze being applied to gallbladder. liver surrounds it.



Mona and me- enthusiastic observers!




the final product: gallbladder glory