Steady Hands: The World Through a Scalpel

To the well trained eye, it seems primitive and routine. Never mind the fact that the procedure I am alluding to can take 3-4 hours, assuming there are no complications, and requires an advanced team of cardiothoracic surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, and perfusionists to complete successfully. Technically speaking, Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting, or "CABG", which is pronounced as the food "cabbage", is an open-heart surgery in which a portion of a blood vessel is grafted from the aorta to the coronary artery in order to bypass the blocked section of the coronary artery and improve the blood supply to the heart. Having had the great honor of performing it on an already deceased pig heart a few times before at Stanford University, I can somewhat vouch for those who acknowledge the fact that this procedure is not merely a cut here, few sutures there, then done. Still, only a qualified MD truly understands what is mentally and physically involved when evaluating ...

The infamous television show Grey’s Anatomy has aired for roughly twelve years now. Every want-to-be-surgeon in America has at least heard of it, if not seen each season over a million times (myself included). The series follows the fictional lives of surgical interns, residents, and attending physicians as they manage their affairs both inside and outside of the Seattle hospital operating rooms. For aspiring surgeons looking for an easily accessible, simplistic sneak peak into the life they dream of living, what could be any better? I will be the first to admit that Grey’s Anatomy is most defiantly my favorite series to binge watch; the enticing medical drama seems to never end and based on my knowledge of surgical procedures, the social hierarchy within a hospital, and logistics of what occurs in the OR, Grey’s is fairly legitimate… fairly. Now, to a certain extent, yes, this show does illustrate what life could be like as a full time cardiothoracic or neuro surgeon, but then a...

sur·ger·y ˈsərj(ə)rē/ noun noun: surgery ; plural noun: surgeries 1 . 
 the treatment of injuries or disorders of the body by incision or manipulation, especially with instruments. Every definition available through a twenty second online search will result in some variation of what is spelled out above; it’s the classic medical interpretation right out of a MCAT textbook; it’s what everyone imagines when they hear a term like “scalpel” or phrase such as “going under.” Sure, let Google and Merriam-Webster call it what they please, but beneath that shiny surface of stereotypes and technical terminology, there is a hidden reality that is not always so clear cut. While I very willingly admit I am not an expert, nor a MD or PhD, I like to think of myself as having a surgeon’s curious hands for the art- a gift that I will flatter myself with by saying is often not simply born merit that runs through everyone’s metacarpals and phalanges. At the age of six, I performed my f...