Scalpel jockey at last...

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Today I took a giant step forward in my training. I had been watching, and even assisting with surgical cases in the operating room for years already, but today I actually did a case.
I performed surgery.
Open reduction, internal fixation. Case went smoothly, and boy was it a great feeling. I was coached through it, and supervised the entire time, but that didn't detract from the experience at all. In fact, it was exactly as I imagined it would be.
Incision. This was the first complete skin incision that I personally made on my own in the OR. I took a half second to acknowledge that before announcing "incision", and then promptly diving right in. Dissected down to bone, carefully avoiding surrounding neurovascular structures. And then there it was. Hematoma. Fracture. Boom. Just like in the textbooks.
So there's a fracture. Reduce it. Put a lag screw across the fracture site. Now a plate. X-ray to confirm. Cotton test. Syndesmotic screw. Bang. Done. Close it up.
It was a straightforward case. It was "bread and butter" orthopaedic surgery.
And it was the coolest thing I've ever done.

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