Friday

The final two hours of my senior project were the most important, as I saw one of the most difficult procedures to execute; Dr Demarco performed a double ballon dialysis on the woman from the interesting case yesterday. He essentially went through the most narrow area of the colon (theascending colon) to get to the area of constricted ness; the colon actually gets so narrow that two gallons inflate while inside the colon to create more room for the scope to continue. After using the push/pull method for almost an hour, Dr. Demarco finally got to the constricted area, where he inserted a tube that dilated and expanded the area to reestablish the flow of digested materials. The tube expanded so much that it blocked her colon from allowing gas excretion, causing her to aspirated at an alarming level of noise; the anesthesiologist had to quickly remove all of the backed up gas by sucking it out of her throat with a device similar to a vacuum cleaner. After removing the gas the opposite way it should exit the body, the dilation tube was removed and her bowels were flowing fine. The moment when the aspiration occurred was the most exciting aspect of my week, because the patient could have died, but didn't because of the quick acting of Dr. Demarco, the nurse and the anesthesiologist. 

This week has had an impact on me that I never would have imagined; when I agreed to follow Dr. Demarco, I was excited for the chance to follow a doctor in general, but not one that sticks a scope up people's butts and throats all day. This feeling quickly changed after I was able to get accustomed to viewing the procedures, which switched from being unwatchable to interesting. Saying this now still is odd to me, but in the scientific realm such things become part of a daily routine and are necessary for the treatment of all patients. After following Dr. Demarco for a week, I have a newfound appreciation for the practice of gastroenterology which I never had before.