What's the coolest operation you've watched??

Specialties Med-Surg

Published

Mine was a C-section, in the Army. Wsn't in nursing school, and at the time didn't know I would be 'ordered' into later by the Army? Slice, slice, slice- hand in, out comes a baby, in like a minute? The woman was awake, and little did I know what 'epidural was', and I thought: Om my god- they just cut into that woman without gassing her!

Specializes in Geriatrics, Transplant, Education.

In nursing school, it was a toss up between a CABG and and an appy turned removal of an ovarian cyst we didn't know the pt had.

In my career (not an OR nurse, geriatric rehab turned transplant), the coolest surgery I ever saw was a live donor kidney transplant where I started in the OR with the donor and followed the kidney right in to the adjacent OR to watch it sewn into the recipient. Watching her all of a sudden start making urine was so awesome!

Specializes in Geriatrics, Telemetry, Med-Surg.

A CABG.

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

I only saw a hysterectomy in school. Since school I think a valve replacement was fascinating. I have done internal massage and held a heart. Been [resent/assisted with cracking a chest on post open hearts and traumas.

The most interesting, however, was the harvesting of organs from the donor and watching the team......how and why they did everything.

I assisted in a PDA ligation on a 3.5# chihuahua mix puppy. PDA surgeries are not commonly done in small general practices like the one I work in. It was amazing to watch the changes in vitals signs on the monitors during the procedure.

Fuzzy

Specializes in Pediatric Private Duty; Camp Nursing.

During my clinicals, I watched a breast reconstruction created from an oval-shaped piece of skin and fat taken from extra abdomen. So the woman got a bonus tummy tuck with her new breast! They cut away the pot-belly while keeping it vasculated, then it was tunneled up under the skin and fat (cut away from the underlying muscle) up through a surgical cut at the breast area, and before I knew it, this lady had a nice, believable breast, with her original nipple which had been left from her mastectomy. Coolest thing I ever saw. Her belly button was moved too. The added bonus was, the surgeon and all the staff were female, and and the casual girl-talk and friendly rapport in the OR was more remeniscent of a pajama party rather than a professional setting. The date was April 1, and the surgeon kept having the nurse outside the sterile field make prank phone calls to everyone. It was a riot.

In nursing school I saw 4 different C-sections (plus a lady partsl birth) and one of the C-sections included a tubal ligation. The most cringe-worthy happened at the ENT office I worked for--a uvulectomy. Yep, you read that right. Doc removed a UVULA using local anesthetic--IN THE OFFICE and I got to assist and send it off for pathology. He'd also do ear tubes in-office (adults only, kids were done in the OR).

Specializes in ICU.

Heart transplant. Just amazing watching them lift that big, soggy, failing heart out ... leaving just a big empty hole ... then replace it with this firm, healthy fist sized heart in it's place. The whole organ transplant process is too weird for me, not sure how I feel about it.

Aw, Biffbradford beat me to it. I worked in a heart transplant unit and they let us go watch the implants of the patients we were going to be primary nurses for. The first time I saw that barely-beating heart the color of an old roast beef you forgot to cook two weeks ago come out and go into the bowl, and then the healthy fresh one go in, I just loved it. I saw it a number of times again and it never got old.

The fun part came the next day when they came and extubated and pulled chest tubes, and the patients just jumped out of bed. Unlike most other open heart surgery patients, perhaps their pain receptors were fried from years of inadequate oxygenation. Or maybe they felt so much better they didn't notice the incisional pain. Whatever, it was just great to see them pink, chest dry, making pee, and hopeful.

Specializes in ED.

Saw a guy with facial fractures being repaired in the OR. They peeled his face right down to his nose to get to the bones. Unforgettable.

man...mine are boring compared to you guys...saw numerous c-sections as an extern (including a tubal ligation), and I did see one bowel resection...

the heart transplant stories are touching!

Specializes in Med-Surg.
Heart transplant. Just amazing watching them lift that big, soggy, failing heart out ... leaving just a big empty hole ... then replace it with this firm, healthy fist sized heart in it's place. The whole organ transplant process is too weird for me, not sure how I feel about it.

Wow, my grandfather was a heart transplant recipient, and my stepmother a donor. I find that whole process so incredibly wonderful.

Specializes in Med-Surg.
Aw, Biffbradford beat me to it. I worked in a heart transplant unit and they let us go watch the implants of the patients we were going to be primary nurses for. The first time I saw that barely-beating heart the color of an old roast beef you forgot to cook two weeks ago come out and go into the bowl, and then the healthy fresh one go in, I just loved it. I saw it a number of times again and it never got old.

The fun part came the next day when they came and extubated and pulled chest tubes, and the patients just jumped out of bed. Unlike most other open heart surgery patients, perhaps their pain receptors were fried from years of inadequate oxygenation. Or maybe they felt so much better they didn't notice the incisional pain. Whatever, it was just great to see them pink, chest dry, making pee, and hopeful.

My grandfather was told something like that, what you mention about pain receptors. They told him that when he died, it was most likely to be from heart failure, basically an MI, but that he would feel no pain, just 'go to sleep'.

+ Add a Comment