Today, the residents and I spent the afternoon practicing cardiac surgery on pig hearts. The resident I'm following has connections with the farming community and was able to procure 9 pig hearts. The drug companies 'donated' various valves, and various staff would drop by to see how we were doing. We installed a ring around the pig's mitral valve, and then I anastamosed a drinking straw to one of the coronary arteries! Truly super fabulous. I'm beginning to understand why the staff are so nervous about letting students do things. It's never as simple as 'tie a knot'. There are structures to avoid, and tissues that are particularly fragile, and sensitive surrounding structures etc...

I sent my stethoscope to be refurbished. It was my Uncle Alex's old stethoscope, and I had broken the part that holds it in your years. I requested that they give me purple tubing. I'll be the coolest doc on the bloc.

Things are exciting as ever at the hospital. I just got back from an emergency case. The surgeon bought us all take out Vietnamese food while we waited for the patient to be prepped. It was quite nice.

Yesterday, I got a needle stick. I put down a suture and when I reached for it again, I accidentally put it in my thumb. I had to go to the emergency room to get blood work done. Tomorrow, I'm going to go to employee health where both my blood results AND the patient's blood results will be waiting. I'm not too worried. I went over his chart, and I think it's a very low risk patient. Not like the patient we did earlier... who had had multiple incarcerations.

It was my sisters' birthday yesterday! Happy Birthday little ones!