Simon Sez

An amusing thought occurred to me today while standing in the OR; my role in the procedure is strikingly similar to being a participant in "Simon Says". Simon, of course, would be the attending surgeon and I, the student, try like mad to move with the right commands. No movement or speech is welcomed unless Dr. Simon says to. I entered the room today and stood motionless until I was instructed to scrub; once scrubbed and gowned I was waved to the table where my hands were directed to rest on the sterile drapes, not to venture from the area unless commanded. Dr. Simon speaks and I move; to hold a retractor, to steady the foot, to let go of the retractor, to move the foot forward, to suction. I don't dare make a move without his instruction. And much like Simon Says, it is relatively easy to stay sharp and with the right moves in the first 15 minutes or so of the game, but I can just imagine that 2 hours into the game (surgery) I could easily find myself daydreaming between commands, and oh, the agony of a wrong move.

Yesterday I played Simon Says to a metatarsal amputation. It was originally meant to be a transmetatarsal amputation but Dr. Simon realized while digging around in the foot that more of it was salvageable than he originally thought. Taking off a big toe is not too dissimilar to pulling a tooth, plus or minus a few tool and skin folds. Dr. Simon remarked during the procedure while yanking around to disarticulate the bone that "it's as though the body doesn't want to lose it." And he has something there, naturally. The framework of bodies was created to be more durable than a Nalgene bottle; the fine craftmanship of the various materials working together to synergistically mobilize a person is fine indeed and impossible (thus far) to duplicate. The most durable man-made heart valves are guaranteed for no longer than 15 years.

I'm feeling the short end of the stick as my colleagues have spent the week holding bellies open for AAA repairs and putting in vein grafts while I watch a guillotined toe, but such is the nature of medical education these days. Hopefully something thrilling will come around soon.