Week 7 - Katie

This week I continued to work on analyzing the MR images previously gathered by my lab. They generally take MRIs before and after surgery, and 2 weeks, 1 month, 5 months and 8 months out. With 10 rats on average in an experiment, this can make for a lot of button pushing.

In analyzing all this data, I am starting to notice patterns in our experiments as well as the inconsistencies of the imaging technique. Small differences in the positioning of the rat in the MR machine can give dramatically different values as comparisons of the same healthy disc over multiple months attests. Quantitative analysis may not be the best way to judge these discs.

Dr. Hartl left on Tuesday for another conference in South America. Although he is a professor and involved with research, I am surprised by how much he and other doctors travel. My impression when I was younger was that doctors were almost always at home and on call if they were needed by their patients. Only after being in a hospital for 7 weeks have I realized how wide and varied the medical field truly is.

Also on Tuesday, I attended a cardio-thoracic surgery where the patient was put on a full bypass system so that the heart could be repaired without the interference of beating or flowing blood. I arrived just at the resident had finished cracking the patient’s sternum to gain access to the chest area. I was surprised by the lack of blood in the chest cavity and by the way the surgeon cooled the heart: he packed what looked like slushy ice around it as the bypass machine was turned on and the heart slowly stopped beating. There was a sense of controlled urgency as the core of the surgery began. The surgeon was repairing a ventricular septal defect. The longest part of the surgery was actually reintroducing the patient’s blood to the heart and getting the heart to reestablish a normal blood pressure. The heart started beating again but the blood pressure took about 45 minutes to be reestablished.

On Thursday I attended a cesarean section. The surgery was over quickly and the most surprising part was the pressure used by the surgeon to force the baby up and out. The baby started out purple but soon turned pink as she started to cry. It was an uplifting experience and it was a great way to end the summer.