DAY 346/347/348/349

Aug 13, 14, 15 & 16

1) I've been really busy at the start of the new week, and today (Aug 16th) only served to exemplify it even more. I had made an appointment to do an observership under Professor Arnold Hill, Professor and Chair of Surgery in RCSI. An observership is where you shadow a doctor Lesson learnt - Dundrum (where I live) to Beaumont (where he is based) is NOT close by any means. I'm very fortunate to have allocated 1.5 hours to arrive, as I began my journey from Dundrum and reached Beaumont Hospital with barely any time to spare.

2) I met up with Dr. Gozie Offiah (herself a Senior Clinical Lecturer at RCSI) at the RCSI Education and Research Centre, Beaumont Hospital. She introduced me to Bob, who brought me down to the Men's Changing Room so I could change into my scrubs (the outfit that hospital personnel wear). Then I was led into the operating theatre. My first experience ever of being in an operating theatre, and the experience was surreal.

3) 8-10 men/women crowded over one patient, whose head was covered and torso bare. Behind a plastic screen, an anaesthetist was sitting in front of a monitor, looking at the patient's vitals. At the corner of the room were two physician associates, who coincidentally had come in to observe the operation as well. Turns out the patient was having a mastectomy, which is removal of the entire breast (usually as a surgical method against breast cancer).

4) But that wasn't the whole story. There were actually two teams here - one was working on removing the breast, while the other was working on breast reconstruction. The method used for reconstruction is called a DIEP flap, a type of breast reconstruction in which blood vessels called deep inferior epigastric perforators (DIEP), as well as the skin and fat connected to them, are removed from the lower abdomen and transferred to the chest to reconstruct a breast after mastectomy without the sacrifice of any of the abdominal muscles. The procedure would ultimately take around 10 hours, which reflects its extreme complexity.

5) After around 1.5 hours, the first team had successfully removed the entire breast (along with the tumour). That left the plastic surgeon, Mr O'Sullivan, and his team to continue with his microsurgery to reconstruct the breast. My newfound friends and I watched as he deftly made the incisions, and at different stages of the operation he even found the time to explain what he was doing to us. Needless to say, it was a lot to take in.

6) We stayed on until around lunchtime. Went up to have lunch at the staff cafeteria, and then my friends had to leave for their clinic session. I returned to meet Dr. Offiah, explained to her that I'd like to return the following week if possible, and then grabbed my belongings before heading back to the library. It has indeed been a long day for me, but I've managed to see and experience a lot. I'll be back to work at Beaux Lane House from tomorrow onwards, so it's non-stop for me haha. Anyway, that's been my past couple of days, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Have a nice day, cheers!

Illustration of the DIEP flap breast reconstruction procedure

Scrubs, with cap and shoes

An illustration of the orientation/ layout in the operating theatre

RCSI Education and Research Centre

The motto is a quotation from the Latin poet, Virgil: "Miseris Succurrere Disco," which can be translated as "I learn (or endeavour) to succour the distressed" 

or more simply, "I learn to help those in need."

Pizza et frites, in the hospital cafeteria XD

Model of Beaumont Hospital

All the scrubs/outfits in the changing room

One of the many wings of the hospital