observing open-heart surgery - amazing!

I got to observe open-heart surgery for a mitral valve replacement today. What an incredible thing! I had never really considered surgery as a career, but it is amazing that you can actually open up someone’s chest, stop their heart, cut it open, fix it, sew everything back up, and that they will be alive at the end of the operation.
These are the experiences that make med school worthwhile: how many people ever get to see someone’s heart beating in their chest?

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I got to observe open-heart surgery for a mitral valve replacement today. What an incredible thing! I had never really considered surgery as a career, but it is amazing that you can actually open up someone’s chest, stop their heart, cut it open, fix it, sew everything back up, and that they will be alive at the end of the operation.
These are the experiences that make med school worthwhile: how many people ever get to see someone’s heart beating in their chest?


Hi there,
Even more fun to have your hands in there. I remember repairing a dissecting thoracic aorta and having my hand inside the aorta after I opened the chest. It was hairy but I love to sew down grafts. Restarting the heart is pretty neat. Can’t say that I love heart surgery but the vessels that are attached are pretty neat!
Natalie