Jon+G

= The Liver = In my project I researched the liver and also was fortunate enough to observe a surgery where a tumor was taken out. toc

Goals:
When I started this project, I did not have any idea about the liver so my main goal was to learn more about this amazing organ. I also wanted to learn in a different way, and this was by actually being in the operating room so I could see the important parts of the liver. I was also very lucky that the doctor, was willing to point out the necessary and important parts. In the operating room I was not sure what to expect, and to tell you the truth, but one thing I definitely expected was that I would get queasy. I also expected the room to be smaller and the technology to be greater. They has many screens and scans but much of the surgery had to do with scissors and thick string. When they used high technological equipment thats when unfortunate things happened. The operating room was extremely interesting and was very complex. I also wanted to learn a lot more about any surgery, about how it works, the different jobs in the OR along with what happens when something un-expected happens. After sitting in on a surgery, you realize that going under the knife can always be potentially

Discoveries:
I learned several different things about the liver and surgery and general. I never realized that the liver is the biggest organ in the body and weighs about 3 pounds. Also, it has so many crucial functions that if it were to fail, you die. Most of the discoveries I made were in the operating room. I walked into a large room that was cut into several parts. On the right side, there was a huge table covered with many different sterile instruments. The most important thing in the OR is being sterile and making sure that everything that goes into the patient is clean so he or she does not get any bacteria inside of them. There is one person in the OR, the runner, who is not sterile who goes and gets whatever is not in the room such as more towels. I also learned the about pre-cautionary steps that the surgeons take when they are in the operating room. Some of the measures consisted of making sure the patient is the right one, see if the tumor is able to be cut through by ultra-sound, seeing where they need to cut the tumor by CT scans and then testing different pieces of the liver to find out what is healthy and what is not healthy. Once the tumor was cut out I was given an unbelievable experience and that was to watch the doctor cut this gross, yellowish ball. When the tumor was open the cancer gushed out and it seemed to be a normal tumor and nothing that was terrible harmful except that it was on the liver. Finally, I discovered that surgery should not be taken lightly and even an easy operation can have things go wrong. When I was in the OR a simple instrument which staples closed a pathway of blood then cuts it, jammed and could have been potentially life threatening. It could have cut the artery without stapling it, so they team prepared for the worst and more surgeons came to scrub in to make sure all went well, which it did. Although this doesn't happen a lot, I learned that every surgery can be potentially dangerous.

Challenges:
I did not encounter many challenges while doing this project. One main challenge, was that doctors are very bad at responding to e-mails because you are not a high priority so you need to keep reminding them. For instance, Dr. Pomfret sent me the pictures the night before the project was do, which was very stressful and something I do not recommend. The only other challenge was that during the surgery, at times, it was hard to see inside the body because hands were working in the small area.

Looking Back:
If I were to do this project again I would definitely try to observe the surgery before I turned in the paper. This was not possible because of the scheduling of the surgeries. It would have been much more helpful to write the paper if I was able to learn up close interactively. I would also not wait until the last night to do everything. If you get work done during March break that would also help a great deal.