The LOL in the ER had the following s/s: SOB, \/ CO, EJ of 15%, O2 of 85% on RA, and chest pain. The MD ordered a EKG, MONA tx, a CXR and recommended the pt for a CABG and a LVAD in the OR.
I bring this up because this week I watched a CABGx5: coronary artery bypass graft x5, in English: a quintuple bypass surgery! I requested to watch an open heart surgery on my OR day because I just really wanted to! I have taken care of lots of post-op patients that have had bypass surgery and now I can REALLY understand why they are in so much pain after. I won't share all the details, because you don't want to know but it was so amazing to watch. I saw a LIVE BEATING HUMAN HEART!!!! I felt this rush of adrenaline hit me as soon as he cut the pericardium (the sac around the heart). I have really loved working the heart this semester, seeing it in surgery, working with the patients that are post-op from heart surgeries, and I even loved watching the angiogram (they squirt dye into the heart to see the path and size and shape if the coronary arteries) I saw earlier in the semester. I know I still have two more semesters of new materials (Pediatrics/Labor and Delivery and ICU/ER) but specializing in cardiology is a definite possibility for me. :)
This is a diagram of a CABG x3In clinical this week we also had a nurse specialist come in and talk to us about about LVADs, Left ventricular assistive devices. These are for patients that are in left heart failure and are basically bad enough to be on the transplant list. It is a titanium pump that is implanted just below the heart. One end of the tube is inserted to the left ventricle (the last place in the heart that pumps the blood to the body) and so the blood fills the machine instead of the left ventricle and then it is pumped through the machine out into the exiting tube which is sewn into the aorta, the main vessel exiting the heart into the body. Patients receive these devices because the left side of their heart can't pump the blood by itself.
AMAZING!!!!!
AMAZING!!!!!
2 comments:
That's awesome. I'm jealous. I'd like to see an open heart surgery. Okay, here's my stab at your acronyms:
LOL:
ER: emergency room
s/s: signs/symptoms
SOB: shortness of breath
CO:
EJ:
O2: oxygen levels
RA:
MD: doctor (okay, medical doctor)
EKG: this one is a normal (not clinical only) abbreviation, so it doesn't count
MONA:
tx: treatment
CXR: chest x-ray
pt: patient
CABG: you already defined
OR: operating room
pretty good!
LOL: little old lady
\/CO: decreased cardiac output
EJ: Ejection fraction
RA: Room Air
EKG: colloquial term for ECG which stands for electrocardiogram
MONA: morphine, oxygen, nitroglycerin, aspirin
LVAD: left ventricular assistive device
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