Christmas

I’m going to take a break from talking about the subject of medicine to talk about Christmas.

            I freaking love Christmas. No, not just because of the presents; although those are nice. Part of it is the family, but the other part is just the whole atmosphere. The Christmas feel, ya know? The decorations, food, music, and everyone’s Christmas “cheer”, or excitement. The fact that we don’t have any snow doesn’t really help, though. It’s actually making me really mad. I don’t like green Christmases.

            Anyway, I get three Christmases all in a row. I go to one side of my grandparents on Christmas Eve, and celebrate with my extended family that night. I have Christmas morning with my immediate family, and go to the other side of my grandparents Christmas afternoon. We usually do that later in the week so it’s more spread out, but we had to do it Christmas day because of family conflicts. It’ll be weird to have three Christmases all within twenty four hours of each other.

            This next part is going to be very opinionated. But if people aren’t religious, and more specifically Christian, and they celebrate Christmas specifically, that’s weird. Christmas is Jesus’ birthday. Its okay to celebrate the holidays, but don’t call it Christmas unless you believe that Christmas is in fact Jesus’ birthday.

            The whole Christmas break is full of never ending celebrations. Yes, I do get sad when Christmas is over. But then there’s New Years! My friend is having a kick ass party. I’m nervous though because it’s a somewhat fancy party, and usually I’m okay with that because I love dressing up. But I’m worried I won’t find not only the right outfit, but the right outfit in time for the party. It always works out in the end, though.

            I’m pretty much just watching movies in my classes. People say they’d rather be at home than do that, but I’d be doing the same thing at home, so why not at least come to school and enjoy it with your friends? I actually kind of like school. The teachers are nice and most of them by this point are pretty laid back because it’s the Christmas season.

            Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Suturing Walk-Through

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9qvDXnWOeA

 

Above I have attached a link leading to a procedure in which a forearm laceration is being sutured. I’ll warn you: it’s pretty graphic. It was a high tech camera and you can clearly see what’s going on; every intricate detail. I’m going to give a walk through about what’s happening in the video, as well as explain each step.

                This person has a laceration wound. It could be from multiple things: An electrical wire, a knife, ect. In this particular case, a woman walked into a non-active table saw. You can see it’s been open for more than it should have because of the fat and tissue gathering around the edges. This doesn’t necessarily mean it’s infected, but it’s not a good thing either.

The doctor starts by numbing the wound in multiple areas. They use a certain kind of anesthetic (there are many) and inject it through a syringe. The wound can’t just be numbed on the outside, but on the inside as well. He numbs the skin around the laceration, as well as actually sticking the needle inside the cut and numbing there.

Next, he cleans the wound by washing it out with a bacteria-killing fluid. It also makes it easier to see inside the wound because a lot of the blood is cleared away. After the wound is somewhat clean, the doctor dresses the wound. He does this by putting a sterilized sheet over the patient’s arm with a hole cut out around the area of the wound. This is done so the procedure can be as healthy and bacteria free as possible.

When the wound is ready to be operated on, the doctor gets a needle and medical thread. Medical thread is thicker and sturdier, and won’t infect the body. Some medical thread is self-dissolving, but that’s usually used for internal wounds. In this case, the thread will be cut out in a week or two. The doctor doesn’t have direct hand-to-needle contact while suturing; he uses scissors to hold it. This is so he can see and operate more easily without his hand getting in the way.

 Suturing is not the same as sewing. The doctors don’t just go back and forth with the needle; multiple knots need to be tied with each thread so it stays shut. Multiple layers of the skin and tissue need to be sutured shut. He starts with the inside of the wound: the tissue and fat. Then he moves to the outside and closes the skin up.

This is the end of the procedure.