Specialties Med-Surg
Published Apr 6, 2013
You are reading page 3 of What's the coolest operation you've watched??
uRNmyway, ASN, RN
1,080 Posts
Most interesting surgery I saw was a thoracotomy for a patient with lung cancer. Got to watch while they cut open the patient basically from sternum to the side of his rib-cage. They then completely cut out a section of his ribs. I got to see the aorta pulsating from the inside, but unfortunately not the heart itself. When they took out the lung, the surgeon asked his nurse to let the nursing student (me) touch the tumor. You know, you see the images of smokers' lungs on cigarette packages, how discolored and gross they look. But to see it live, to feel it...wow. I think all smokers should go sit in on one of those surgeries...
hodgieRN
643 Posts
Brain tumor removal. The brain pulsates with each heart beat. So awesome.
amygarside
1,026 Posts
Bypass! It was really scary, intimidating, interesting. Mixed emotions!
Poochiewoochie
178 Posts
I think all smokers should go sit in on one of those surgeries...
That still wouldn't stop the majority of them.
Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN
6 Articles; 11,663 Posts
Heck, having that surgery doesn't stop some of them. It just means they need to find a new surgeon because the ones I work with wont do a second surgery if the patient still smokes- heart or lung.
Stcroix, ASN, PhD, RN
450 Posts
Most interesting for me was a lady partsl hysterectomy. I could not understand the mechanics of how it's done until I saw it.
My NS refuses to do ACDF's on smokers. Luckily I quit a long time ago.
Smokers have an arrogance about them. My neighbor has had problems with the mesh they use for hernia repairs and is now trying to find a lawyer to represent him so he can sue. He says that if he loses his case because he smoked at the time he will sue the tobacco company. Like they put the cigarettes in his mouth.
Morainey, BSN, RN
831 Posts
Wish I had a good story, but I saw an ORIF of an ankle in school and I thought it was pretty frickin' cool.
NurseNanci1
63 Posts
Cataract surgery is pretty cool I worked at an ambulatory eye surgery center in medical records/ scheduling before nursing school and got see many of them always fascinated me. I saw a cervical fusion during my OR rotation it was hard to really see what was going on .. Also just about anything robotic is pretty cool to watch. I find OR fascinating from a learning perspective but I love the interaction with pts u get on the floor. I'd love to see a transplant!