Babies and Surgery

There is quite a lot to be said for all the things that I've seen, learnt and experienced the last week, but I'll try to keep it short...

1) Not all babies are cute. Most babies are cute... but there are some ugly babies out there. Twins are almost always adorable. There is a pair of twins (a baby boy and girl) in the NICU who are the most adorable creatures around. They were hospitalised for prematurity (multiples are at a higher risk than singletons) and were initially placed in separate isolettes. Now, they are co-bedding in the same isolette right beside each other. Sometimes, you can even see them holding each others' hands! For those who are interested in the kind of diagnoses and treatments that go on in the NICU, do read this blog on premature twins from the perspective of their proud parents. They describe some of the common issues and concerns in neonates, such as PDAs, feeds, infections, ventilation, blood gases, bilirubin levels etc.

2) Surgery can be REALLY cool, but is not always as cool as they make it out to be in TV shows (i.e. Greys Anatomy). In many cases, the condition is a lot more interesting that the surgery itself. One case I observed was encepholocele (PG-rating for potentially gruesome) in an infant. The occurrence was somewhat bizzare and interesting. The surgery, however, was a relative simple procedure - a 1-hour process that involved craniotomy and excision of the cyst. The one really fascinating surgery that I watched was the robotic prostatectomy. There is a series of WCMC youtube videos (6 parts) that guides you through the surgery. If you are ever going for the surgery, you really should watch these. It is amazing how much robotic technology has progressed to the point where we can confidently control it with such precision and accuracy in surgery. But can the robot ever completely replace the surgeon?

Some other quick thoughts: In the past two weeks, I have gotten the impression that doctors are generally the ones who are more interested in "what" happens, whereas scientists are somewhat more interested in "why" something happens. Of course, this is not black and white; medicine and science are not distinct, and both questions often need to be addressed at the same time. What do you think?