Today I chopped a dude's leg off. On February 1st, I switched from trauma surgery at the University to vascular surgery at the Veterans Hospital (VA). Today I amputated a leg for the first time. The patient was an old man with a dead leg that was infected and making him sick.
We got in the OR and I took the knife and started going to town on his leg just above his knee. After cutting the skin and subcutaneous fat with a scalpel, I then continued cutting the muscle with electrocautery. When I came across major blood vessels, I tied them off and kept on cutting.
When I got to his femur, I started sawing away at the bone with a special wire with sharp teeth on it. I broke three of the saws before we realized the old guy had a metal rod in his femur from a previous surgery. I then switched to a special orthopedics saw. The sparks started flying as I sawed into the metal rod. I was praying that the sparks wouldn't catch me on fire. After finally getting through the femur and rod, we handed the leg over to one of the nurses and then closed the remainder of his leg up.
After the case, I removed my gloves and gown and found that the bottom of my scrubs was covered in blood. My shoe covers were soaked in blood and so were my shoes. I took my shoes off and my socks had blood on them too. I am afraid to look at my feet...
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4 comments:
... wow ... that is intense. Its amazing how some people are sitting at desks all day and other people are cutting off a leg in order to save a life. I have read a few other of your posts and all I can say is thanks for sharing ... from someone sitting behind a desk.
Daines.. what in the world. Your life sounds so fun! I love your blog.
Jenny Box Morphy
Steven: What do you do with the leg after you chop it off?
Sherry van
Did you wear those shoes in my house that night?
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