Permission granted

[cjsmith]

I can go watch surgeries! I had generic permission from the clinic owner, and for tomorrow morning I have permission from the vet doing the work.

I am trying to see whether I will get woozy or faint. There's just dental work and some skin tag removal on the docket for tomorrow morning, so I'm probably safe this time. And if I don't fall over and cause all the staff to trip on me and injure themselves, I may get permission to do this AGAIN.

I know I need some serious desensitizing. I'd like to make this a semi-regular activity if I can. Who knows what I might be able to observe in the future? And if I don't pass out all the time, I'll one day be a much more effective veterinarian. I get the impression that during surgery it's frowned upon for the person doing the work to go off and faint in the corner.

(You thought I was going to say something about the shuttle launch, huh? That one got rescheduled anyway.)

Comments

[iridium.livejournal.com]

Awesome! Good luck with the desensitizing; be patient with it. I still get a bit woozy sometimes, when I'm watching and don't have anything to do. It does seem to be easier when I moving around/have something to do. (From anatomy-dissection experience, at least. I haven't gotten to scrub in on a real procedure yet.)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the encouraging words! I've come a long way since my "show me a needle and I'll sway in my seat" days, but I bet I still have a long way to go. It's reassuring to hear that you, an obviously successful physician-to-be, had some of this too and have (mostly) gotten over it.

[ken_r]

Neither watching surgery not the shuttle were what came to mind when I saw the subject line. Actually, what came to mind was along the lines of http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/giftsforher/6792/ which I think you posted a link to (or something similar) a while back...

I hope the desensitizing works. Sounds like they've got some relatively tame stuff for you to start with. (I was going to say, "get your feet wet", but, eww.)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

*laughter* I'd forgotten those!

Hey, maybe I have to scrub my shoes! ;-)

[lindalee.livejournal.com]

Well, it's probably better to faint in the corner than onto the patient. A little bit, anyway. :-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and let's not mention that if you have to throw up... oops, I mentioned it.

[sharya.livejournal.com]

Not sure how long animal surgeries are and if they compare to human ones, but there's a big problem in surgery where the assisting staff get light-headed. It's from standing so long in one spot... not fainting due to sight of blood/ickiness/etc. We had that problem a lot in the military as well. The main thing to remember is to keep clenching and releasing your feet/leg muscles on a regular basis... this helps to prevent blood from pooling in your extremities and eventually feeling faint :)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Good reminder! I've been in the military also, so once I'm reminded I ought to be okay.

(Like human ones, most are quite short and some can be serious marathons. I suspect there are fewer very long ones in the animal world simply because of cost.)

[tiger-spot.livejournal.com]

Ah, you missed a rat spay and tumor removal, then.

I'd say you can watch the next one, but I hope there won't be one for a while....

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Dang. Well, I sure hope you won't need to bring any of yours in for a while!

I'm trying to imagine anyone watching a rat surgery. There's probably room for the main players around the table, and everyone else can't see! Now a Great Dane... :-)

OK, now that I've said that, I feel pretty foolish. No matter what kind of critter it is, it's on a table at waist height. If I'm going to be watching, I'm going to be standing at that table, right? Umm. Not sure I'm ready for this. I guess I'll know tomorrow morning!