Narrative Essay On Open Heart Surgery

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One of the most significant days in my life so far was the day that I got to watch open heart

surgery in person. More specifically, a triple coronary artery bypass graft, also known as

“CABG”. Not only is this an intricate surgery, but it was being done on an 85 year old woman,

which substantially increases the risk of the surgery. I was doing a rotation at the Travis Air Force

Base hospital in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), when I overheard someone talking about the

surgery planned for the next day. I couldn't believe what I had heard. I knew that I wanted in on that

surgery because I had been at Travis for my hands-on training for a couple of weeks and really

hadn't seen or learned much. When I had first started my rotations at the hospital, I thought I …show more content…

I was tired of not learning more than I thought I should be and didn't

want to wait around anymore for knowledge to find me. I decided that I needed to take action and

that's exactly what I did.

I went to the ICU nurse that I had been shadowing that day and asked her if it would be

possible to sit in on the surgery. I explained that it would be an incredible experience and I would

do anything to be in that operating room. To my surprise she said that didn't she see why I shouldn't

be able to. I didn't actually know what a CABG surgery was until after she taught me. She taught

me so much about this procedure, from what to expect to why the patient needed it. It was amazing

how much I was learning just about this one surgery. The more she taught, the more questions I

asked. After learning about the procedure the nurse took me to the patient to meet and get

permission from her. The next day I could hardly wait to get to the hospital. The surgery lasted

seven hours, which was longer than planned, but I didn't mind. The whole surgery was amazing

from start to finish. The nurse put me right behind the head of the patient on a stool, so it was