Surgery
Yesterday morning I did my first surgical observation. The four of us taking Animation II this semester decided to go in and witness first hand a cataract surgery in preparation for the animation we are creating. It was pretty amazing. There was a lot of prep and making sure that everything was in order. The patient was nerve blocked, but fully conscious the entire time. I couldn’t help wondering what that all could possibly have looked like from his perspective. All in all, I think the surgery went on about an hour. They used a Leica system for viewing. I had the opportunity to look through the lens myself, and you can really see just amazing detail through the microscope. After the lens was emulsified, vacuumed out, and replaced, they used tiny stitches to close the incisions, and wrapped the eye in gauze. When they were done, the patient just said “thank you” and they wheeled him out. We wanted to ask the patient about his experience, but he was taken away too quickly. So last night I called my grandmother, who has been through the same surgery herself. In her case, she said she was given some kind of sedative, though she was awake. As for her view of the procedure while being worked on, she described it as mostly a blur of twinkling lights. I can’t say as I’m anxious to be the one on the table any time soon, but it was fascinating to witness surgery from the OR like that.
*image is taken from Karkhanis Super Specialty Hospital