Death

I am not sure of the view that any readers I have may have on death but seeing as I am surrounded by it on a fairly constant basis at the moment I thought I would write a morbid blog post.

I have thought this a few times but I really don't want to get too old. Some of the horrible horrible illness/diseases people have are really bad. Bowell cancer, kidney failure, liver failure, prolapsed vaginas to name a select few are some I am seeing on a fairly regular basis at the moment and you can see how much excruciating pain these poor people are in. Being a bit of a wimp myself I really don't want to get these types of problems, having said that a lot of the conditions patients come in with are of their own doing (alcohol abuse, heavy smokers, fatties) but an awful lot aren't and that's where it isn't really fair. Now I am not saying I want to be taken before my time (now would be a good point to mention Jade Goody blah blah blah, but I will resist) and if there is something that can be done about a condition then great, one guy who was in intensive care, sedated, looking particularly awful was running up and down the stairs today singing with me and had made a brilliant recovery. A lot of people we see though have such a poor prognosis that I would really prefer to be put out my misery.

Anyway I have seen a tracheotomy inserted yesterday and the surgeons/anaesthetists etc were all really cool, if I had my time again and was a little more intelligent then being a surgeon/consultant would be pretty damn good if a little stressful. They were both really decent and I had to help with preparation of the area and I was shitting it that I would drop something or knock something over or touch something sterile that I wasn't supposed to but all went well and he said I made a good assistant! They involved me in the discussion of what was to be done and asked for my opinions on things (probably just to humour me, but it was nice they were trying to keep me involved). A tracheotomy is what they do to people with a biro in all the films by the way but the way these guys did it was a bit more technical than whipping out the pen and shoving the biro tube hard and fast into their neck. They made a small cut in the neck then wiggled scissors in to make it bigger revealing the trachea. The dude then stuck a camera down the ladies throat until it reached the trachea area they were going to cut, this was the good bit as he got me to have a look with his telescope device as the surgeon prodded the trachea to make sure they were going to insert it in the right place. The other bloke then continued to watch as he stuck the needle in to ensure he didn't go straight through the trachea and out the other side into the oesophagus. Anyway that was the best bit followed by placing the tube in removing the other one and attaching the ventilator. They got me to keep looking through the camera and I found it extremely interesting even if everyone has pressed the little x in the corner of your screen to stop reading!

They have invited me to another operation that they will do in a few days to see an oesophagectomy which in total is about an 8 hour operation, involving deflating the lung and lots of cutting through tissues, muscles, ribs and stuff which should be very good. I think they only asked due to the fact the other student that is on my course also at the hospital who watched a tracheotomy earlier in the week passed out, ended up being taken to A&E where they were filming for Sky One! He is now the laughing stock amongst all staff at the hospital!

Oh and guys.....why is no one blogging????