And they called it puppy love

Okay, fair warning. This is going to be a LONG post. I think it’s more for myself, to remember in the future what it was like. I went on my first observership today with my clinical skills facilitator.

So I got to the cath lab this morning (after the perilous trek through the snowstorm) nice and early at around 7:50 AM. The nurses showed me into the room where he would be, but warned me that hadn’t arrived yet, so perhaps I should go get some coffee. Of course, as nervous & excited (in other words, paranoid) as I was, I did not want to leave. What if he came and I was gone? And then he’d leave without me? So I decided to stay and wait. And I waited, and waited, and waited…

I thought a lot while I was there by myself. The cath lab is a cold and large, metallic room. It looked really unfriendly. I wondered what it would be like to a patient. I would have been really scared. I WAS really scared, intimidated and overwhelmed by the whole situation. I prayed that I would not cry… so I waited, and waited some more.

Finally, 9AM, and the doc walks in, sounding super-happy & energized: HI Stuff!!! How are you? Me to self - I’m cold, and scared, and I want my mom…

But he didn’t realize that because I’m a good actress, haha. After all the pleasantries, he began explaining what the first procedure would be – a diagnostic angiogram (where they thread up a catheter into a person’s heart, and inject dye to see if there are any blockages). He told me to stay behind the glass, and the tech nurse could explain stuff to me. I was slightly relieved.

For the next procedure, the doc suggested I get a pair of scrubs so that I could actually BE in the lab. EXCITEMENT ensued!! I was going to tell him that I already had said scrubs but before I could, they gave me a pair. In MEDIUM. Needless to say, the pants came down to my knees, and I had to roll them up three times. They were still too long. I digress…on top of the scrubs we had to wear these lead shields. They weighed at least 40 pounds. The one my facilitator had on made him look like a superhero. It was tight, black and had one sleeve. (Okay I admit it, I thought he looked hot, but don’t tell). Mine had flowers. He looked like Batman. I looked like Mrs. Doubtfire.

So we went in, and he showed me what he was doing. The femoral artery at the femoral head was located by aspirating and looking for pulsatile flow. He thread the catheter up, and he explained how they were looking for blockages within the RCA, LAD, etc, and testing for LV function. It was fascinating. I mean, they had a tube right in this guy’s heart! An image of the vessels came up on screen. It was strangely beautiful, like rivers cascading down.

I observed another 4 cases throughout the day. One case was particularly interesting. The patient had multiple lesions, in addition to a huge thrombus (clot) occluding one artery. They had to suction the clot out, and balloon the vessel multiple times. This patient needed 3 stents (wires that keep the vessels open)! They even performed a technique called “kissing-balloons.” How romantic!

The doc taught me a lot today. He was very patient with my questions (even the stupid ones), and he took a lot of time to explain the little details of everything. I admit, I am in a little awe of him. Okay, fine I have a huge crush on him.

So the day was really great. The only thing was that it lasted until 5 PM. I just didn’t know how to leave. Every time I was working my way to tell him, he’d start explaining the next case. So I sort of felt obligated to stay. But I don’t regret it, because he went over a lot of stuff at the very end.

The other thing was that the whole day, I had at the back of mind: Do not be the overly eager med student. Give him his space!! But I was following him around so much, I felt like a lost puppy. He’d go out, I’d go out. He’d sit down, I’d sit down next to him. I hung on every word he said. I was his shadow. But I think I got better at the end, but only because I was pretty exhausted at the end of the day.

Yeah, so I learned A LOT today. I’m very happy that I went. My facilitator is awesome. He is my new idol…but enough with that, I’ve written too much already. Now time for cardio assignment, boo…

P.S. Oh I forgot to mention, I had to skip out on class today to go on this observership. And as luck would have it, I met the doctor who was giving our lecture today. He discovered my delinquency! I apologized, but he was cool with it…

[N.B: Advice for other students – be careful not to be TOO eager that you step into the sterile field. Consequences maybe severe. Proceed at own risk.]