Surgical Summary

Standing in front of the surgical board where they post the cases for the day.


I spent this week in Surgery. Surgery at King Edward is divided into teams and they work on different days of the week in order to divide surgical time. There is always a team on in-take which means they handle 24 hours of emergency surgical care. Molly and I bounced around with different teams throughout the week in order to make the most of our short experience.

Monday: After finding our feet in a new department, we hooked up with the gyne team. The elevators weren't working until about 10 am, so surgeries were quite delayed. We observed a total abdominal hysterectomy. The procedure took about 3 hours and was extremely interesting. At the end of the day we popped in the labor ward to see if we could watch a childbirth. We were in luck. Molly and I both had the pleasure of viewing our first child birth. WOW. It was an unbelievable experience! I commend all mothers after having observed a normal vaginal delivery.

Tuesday: I observed a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy on a young girl, a zygomatic lift on a man who had sustained a fracture a month ago, and a laparoscopic cholecystectomy (which is the exact procedure I had two years ago). The most exciting procedure of the day was a soft tissue release and repair of a 4-year old who had a neglected club foot. The orthopedic surgeons were excellent teachers and explained the procedure thoroughly.

Wednesday: On the surgical menu for the day was a vaginal hysterectomy, genital wart cauterization, glenoid cavity fracture repair using a plate (the individual was shot, shattering his scapula and fracturing the glenoid cavity in half), mandibular fracture repair, and an open reduction internal fixation (ORIF) of a femur.

Thursday: I saw a femoral nail insertion which required a ridiculous amount of hammering! The nail is hammered down the shaft of the femur to secure the fracture. I also observed a right mastectomy on a woman with breast cancer.

Friday: Today a trauma patient involved in a road traffic accident came in to surgery. They repaired a tibial fracture and proceeded to repair a diaphragmatic hernia. After this lengthy procedure I observed an abdominal hernia repair.

This week was eventful in surgery! During our down time Molly and I would go check in on the kids in the pediatric ward, rock crying babies, and entertain the kids. It was a great week at King Edward. I am winding down to my last week in the program. I have to say I am looking forward to coming home!