Operations, a little bit of work and Contra Dancing

So I was able to drop in to the OR this past week to see a few surgeries. The very first one I saw was a Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG --yes, pronounced cabbage). This surgery is required when the coronary arteries (the blood vessels that provide blood to your heart) build up so much plaque from poor diet and/or low activity levels, that they are simply rendered useless. When this happens, a vein from your leg and an artery from your chest are transposed to bypass the clogged areas of your coronary circulation so that your blood can still make it to the important spots of your heart. It was pretty wild! Open-heart surgery! Blood spurting! Heart stopping! Literally!

I'm not particularly squeamish, so I watched bright eyed for the whole event. Oddly enough... I'm missing a Junior Mint...

The next couple procedures I got to see were a lot more bloody, and a lot louder. I essentially got to see three total hip arthroplasties (total hip replacements) back to back. This is a pretty gruesome procedure, even by my standards. All the great tools are there! Saws, drills, graters, hammers, screws... what a wild ride! I'm sure if you check out YouTube, you'll be able to find some pretty gnarly footage of this one! Hip arthroplasties are typically needed when there is some sort of structural problem with your hip joint. This can be due to a fracture of your femoral head (potentially due to osteoporosis) or it can be due to arthritis.

Quick note! Poor diet and low levels of physical activity can also lead to both of these conditions!

All in all, my days in the OR were just the respite I needed to finish off the rest of my shifts for this bloody clinical. 360 hours of unpaid work for the province (of course we have to PAY Dalhousie to do it). I hate the way this system works.

I had a couple days off shortly after this stint to fester around, and boy did I ever fester! Had a couple drinks and supper, courtesy of my friend Jabes; ate an entire box of Mr Christies Choc-Chip Cookies in one sitting; rolled around on my futon for hours on end. It was a pretty good time! A new friend and I actually took my last night to explore what I consider a very hipsterish trend that's been circulating around the North End for the past 2+ years: Contra Dancing. This is virtually identical to line dancing, step dancing or square dancing. Some pics are below.

One of the major functions of Contra Dancing (according to the caller) was that through the contact and proximity of you and your partners during the dance, the concept of community is really fostered and promoted. Judging by the diversity of the crowd, I'm going to have to agree. There were young and old, tall and short, skinny and not so skinny. This is also the first place I've seen North-End hipsters hanging out with older adults that seemed to have careers. I will have to study this intermingling in greater detail at another Contra Dance in the future.

Other than that, work is going smoothly. I now have about 120 hours left. People are still breaking bones and requiring hospitalization. Arthritis is still going on and requiring treatment. People come in sick and leave... well they are usually still sick in some way, but I'd like to think slightly better than when they came in.

Circle of life.

Workshop and Biking to work

So my bike group --the Halifax Cycling Coalition-- threw a major workshop over the weekend. Pretty well attended by people from all over the province who are seriously interested in getting youth to be more active through cycling.

Pretty great to see some new faces interested in cycling! The major result was that more people want to see a social marketing spin used to get people to cycle. That's pretty awesome since I've been working on this sort of project for the past 6-7 months.

So we're on the right track, as far as public participation is concerned.

I've started my clinical rotation at the hospitals again. Last... one... ever! Thank God because I can't afford to take out another loan! Nothing too too crazy or funny to report yet. One thing that brightens my day is the sheer amount of bikes at the racks at work in the morning.

Other than that though, I feel as though I am a little overworked. Three days on and two days off, when you're working 12 hour shifts feels draining. Thank God I'm in love with this career-path I've carved out for myself.

Hoping to post later in the week. Holla!