Observing Surgery

(For some reason this didn't get posted several weeks ago.)

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to observe a total knee replacement surgery. I have never been close to an operating room before so was instructed by several different staff what to do if I started to feel woozy because "once you are in there, you can't come out until it's over." Because new components are being put into the body everything in the room needs to be sterile. The four people directly involved in the surgery were covered from head to toe including closed air circuit helmets as seen below. This is part of the reason the temperature is kept cool enough that everyone else needed a jacket to keep warm.

The anesthesiologist called me over to the head of the patient where a step stool gave me a bird's eye view of everything that happened. He pointed out the chair I could sit on if I needed too. I didn't get woozy though I did take his advice to "breath." He was kind enough to explain the surgery step by step along with some of the improvements that have been made in the 30+ years he's been in the OR. A tourniquet kept the blood to a minimum. This was a scheduled surgery so all of the hardware had been custom made. That included the plates that were "nailed" to the end of the femur and tibia so the cuts made on the bone were precise. It didn't take me long to figure out why people are so sore. Bones are drilled and sawed but the worst is muscles stretched and pulled to the side throughout the entire surgery. Once the components of the new joint had been put in and the stability of the knee verified by plenty of bending and pulling, the components were taken back out and then cemented into place. The patella was sewn back over the joint and the surgeon left to start on the next surgery while his assistant sewed up the rest. The thread now has microscopic barbs that hold it in place so knots, which tend to cause problems, are no longer needed.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to have observed a surgery but am also glad that I work with people once they are all sewed up.