Dad is smoke-free 6 weeks now. It's kinda like the Energizer Bunny...just keeps going. Sort of goes to show that once you get over the withdrawal period, anything is possible.
My cardiothoracic and vascular surgery rotation started yesterday. I'm thrilled to be back in surgery. Yesterday I scrubbed in on an aorto bifemoral graft procedure. Someday I might explain what that means. Today I had a meeting with Dr. Villa and the anesthesiologist to discuss how to approach the thoracic aortic aneurysm repair study we will be designing. The aorta is the huge artery that leaves the left ventricle of the heart and goes on to supply blood to the rest of the body. Basically, when someone's aorta gets dilated, it can cause problems. When the aorta dilates to over 5 cm (called an aneurysm), there is increased risk that the aorta will rupture and the person can bleed to death. Dr. Safi's group at UT-Houston is one of the world leaders performing the operation to correct this condition, and it seems I will be helping them on their next big aneurysm repair study. Anyway, the biggest complication of this surgery is paralysis that can occur during the procedure, develop shortly after, or a few days post-op. No one is completely sure why these patients develop paraplegia, but there are several theories. Dr. Safi's group has made several innovations to try and reduce this morbidity including draining cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) to lower the pressure. CSF is fluid that bathes the spinal cord providing nutrition and a mechanical cushion from vibration and outside forces. It is postulated that high CSF pressure during the operation might block the blood flow to the spinal cord causing ischemia (or lack of nutrition and oxygen) which causes damage. There are several other possibilities which we will attempt to study. I'm really excited about this project. Hopefully I'll learn a lot and actually contribute something to the group.
Other than that, I hear Nick speaking forcefully to Seema on the phone. I'm glad I'm not involved. Nick is heading to Austin tomorrow for Lonnie Mark's wedding (a classmate of ours) and then on to Pittsburgh, PA to do a rotation in transplant surgery. The chairman of the center where he is rotating invented several of the techniques in transplant, so he's a bit excited about going. Also, I beat Ryan in X-Box soccer today in overtime, scoring on a pretty sweet free kick just outside the penalty box. Hurray for video games.
My cardiothoracic and vascular surgery rotation started yesterday. I'm thrilled to be back in surgery. Yesterday I scrubbed in on an aorto bifemoral graft procedure. Someday I might explain what that means. Today I had a meeting with Dr. Villa and the anesthesiologist to discuss how to approach the thoracic aortic aneurysm repair study we will be designing. The aorta is the huge artery that leaves the left ventricle of the heart and goes on to supply blood to the rest of the body. Basically, when someone's aorta gets dilated, it can cause problems. When the aorta dilates to over 5 cm (called an aneurysm), there is increased risk that the aorta will rupture and the person can bleed to death. Dr. Safi's group at UT-Houston is one of the world leaders performing the operation to correct this condition, and it seems I will be helping them on their next big aneurysm repair study. Anyway, the biggest complication of this surgery is paralysis that can occur during the procedure, develop shortly after, or a few days post-op. No one is completely sure why these patients develop paraplegia, but there are several theories. Dr. Safi's group has made several innovations to try and reduce this morbidity including draining cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) to lower the pressure. CSF is fluid that bathes the spinal cord providing nutrition and a mechanical cushion from vibration and outside forces. It is postulated that high CSF pressure during the operation might block the blood flow to the spinal cord causing ischemia (or lack of nutrition and oxygen) which causes damage. There are several other possibilities which we will attempt to study. I'm really excited about this project. Hopefully I'll learn a lot and actually contribute something to the group.
Other than that, I hear Nick speaking forcefully to Seema on the phone. I'm glad I'm not involved. Nick is heading to Austin tomorrow for Lonnie Mark's wedding (a classmate of ours) and then on to Pittsburgh, PA to do a rotation in transplant surgery. The chairman of the center where he is rotating invented several of the techniques in transplant, so he's a bit excited about going. Also, I beat Ryan in X-Box soccer today in overtime, scoring on a pretty sweet free kick just outside the penalty box. Hurray for video games.
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