Bloody start...

Last week was a bit slow, but I am optimistic that things will pick up soon. During the first few days I was sent to all corners of the hospital and medical college to get my ID/badges/scrubs so that I can have access to, well, everything: my physician’s office, my lab, and the OR. I managed to get everything by the end of the week, so I’m ready to get things rolling.

I’m currently in the process of ordering materials that I need for my summer project, which is determining how a pressurized environment affects co-cultured vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells. For those of you who didn’t notice, I had to drag a 50 pound “pressure chamber” (a.k.a. metal box) from Ithaca. The lab manager here was supposed to help me with the ordering, but unfortunately she was on vacation for the week. I needed to contact another person to help me set up an incubator, but he never picked up his phone. Hopefully by next week I’ll be able to cross a few things off my “to do” list.

I was able to observed one surgery on Friday. The patient had restenosis of a stent graft in his left thigh. My surgeon and her team first inserted a catheter into his right thigh. Aided by x-rays they managed to feed the wires into the left thigh through the bifurcation and were able to re-stent the artery. There was some sort of complication with a newly formed blood clot after the re-stenting but it was dissolved using tPA. I watched the entire procedure on a computer screen behind glass windows which was nice because I didn’t want to get in anyone’s way, have blood squirt on me, or put on the lead aprons.

I was surprised that the patient wasn’t put under—I would be pretty weirded out if I had a metal wire coming out of my leg. I noticed that Dr. Vouyouka was a little irritated with the patient. I believe it was because he didn’t watch his diet and continued to smoke heavily after his first stent procedure. I mean, when you have to get two stents before the age of 50, you’re doing something wrong.

Other than getting lost in the hospital, I’ve been getting lost in the city. I’m thinking of making a Google map of all the places I’ve been to for memory’s sake. If anyone wants to explore NYC let me know. I’m always game for random adventures and especially good eats. Happy birthday Zoe!