Went with my consultant for his all day theatre today. Saw a total splenectomy in a woman with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) who's spleen was enlarged to about 3-4 times its original size. It was MASSIVE! Weighed 3kgs when the normal spleen should only weigh 150g. Thought I was going to faint (bad history of fainting in theatres, eg. whilst watching an appendicectomy) but I didn't! So proud of myself (:
Anyways, so the consultant was opening her abdomen by cutting and cauterizing the blood vessels to prevent excessive bleeding. The smell of burnt human flesh filled the whole operating theatre and surprisingly, I was not nauseated like I was last time. So I stood there, somewhere right behind the consultant (I didn't want to push my limits by scrubbing in and offering to help in the operation) and managed to watch the entire operation without feeling sick or dizzy. Yes, I'm overjoyed (: Finally becoming a proper medical student.
Diagrammatic picture to show the location and size of spleen. The patient's spleen was massive and enlarged until her umbilicus (belly button) :/
The other surgeries I watched were wide localized excision (WLE) of a skin tumour and a sentinal node biopsy (SNB) after the consultant injected a radioactive blue dye under the skin. Was upset when the consultant told me a female patient had 5% chance of survival in 5 years after being diagnosed with nodular melanoma. She was having the WLE+SNB done and the doctor told me there was nothing much they could do to help her. She is 25 years old :(
Ah. I guess it's all the reality of life. Living and dying. Unavoidable. But I guess I'll still always be affected when I hear stories like these. Worse when I witness it happening. sigh. Especially when the patients are young. Gotta toughen up, Elvyna. Be strong.
Well, as ya'll can tell, twas a good day, pretty awesome I would say (:
xoxo, elvyna.
P/S Sorry for all the medical jargons but I don't know how else to explain it if I don't use those words. Well, I am a medical student afterall (:
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