CABG

I ate cabbage for dinner last night in preparation, and it seemed to help me out because I was kind of nervous going into the surgery after all the warnings from the nurses to "sit down before I fall down" but I felt great the whole time! Watching the CABG was a really incredible experience. Some of the coolest parts were standing in there while they were doing all of the prep work on the body, watching them cut open the man, being able to peer into the body and watch the beating heart and working lungs, watching the perfusionist work to use the machine to take over for the heart and lungs, watching them shut off the heart from a basically just K injections and by dumping ice water into the cavity (!!! they literally dumped ice water- they called it "margarita cold"!!!), and then watching the surgeon's hand meticulously work to use the vein that they had basically noninvasively (another incredible technology) removed from the leg and stitching it to the heart. If any of you have a chance to see it, definitely do it...even if you have some reservations! Just be warned that there are some interesting smells, and try your hardest to breathe through your mouth rather than your nose! and be sure to "sit down before you fall down"

Another thing that I wanted to share was that I worked up a young (27 yr old) CF patient yesterday, and the dietitian that I am rotating with this week told me to use the formula from Krause. So if you ever have a CF patient, try the formula on p. 914 of our handy textbook. She wasnt eating very well becaues the hospital food wasn't matching her preferences, so I went in and talked to her about the kinds of things that she would be willing to eat and then I went in and added some of the foods to her meals, some of the supplements as snacks, and then some of the foods as snacks. It was really interesting because with her, I was just like "tell me ANYTHING that you will eat and we will get it to you!"...kind of different for her than for most patients.

And lastly, I went to a group diet session for women with breast cancer yesterday and I have the handouts and everything, so if any of you are interested in the kind of information that they gave to these women then let me know! I'm in oncology next week, and I found that the class was hard for me to sit through- its a very emotional experience for these women (and Rachael knows that I tear up just watching the Today show many mornings) so just prepare yourself if you are going to have an experience in something that you may find sensitive! I definitely think that comfortability comes with time, so I am looking forward to having the experience of oncology next week!

Elizabeth