Day 5 — radiology and rehab

Hey travel journal,
The day started with Sam getting me breaky while I took my time getting ready which was so awesome. Mornings are a real struggle so taking my time and just sitting with a cup of tea was a much better way to start the day then the usual rush. Then we were off to the hospital. Today was radiology and rehabilitation day at the hospital. It was very cool. We had an introduction lecture on the radiology department, then we went through each of the different sections of the department. First we went into the angiography centre where they talked us through the process of image and dye injection, which is done through a cannular through the femoral artery. And showed us some processed images and let us play with an 18g and the guide wire, which fits perfectly inside the 18g. It's pretty cool. Then we went down and checked out the fluroscopy scanner which has a table that people lay on and it tilts up 180% so that the patient is practically standing up. The scans are soo cool because they are in real time. So the patient drinks barium and then the entire time the progress of the barium can be monitored and followed in real time while a difference monitor takes still images off the real time screen. While in the room they gave us all barium to drink so just see what it tastes like. It's like chalky toothpaste, it's so weird. I couldn't imagine drinking like 250ml for a scan. Yuck! While there I leant over the desk to look at the screen and my student card got scanned by one of the computers, which came up with an error, woops. We just closed the window on the computer and walked away lol. Then we checked out xray, where they have three machines. One room for general radiographs, one for emergencies and one for paediatrics. Then we looked at the CT machine which they apparently use quite a bit, as it's good for diagnostics and really quick to complete a scan. Then we looked through the windows at the MRI machine, which was being used to scan a patient who had had a stroke before moving back to angioscopy as they had a procedure under way that they let us watch. The patient was in his 20s and had been in a road traffic crash and they were worried about internal bleeding in his neck. They sedated and intubated him and placed the catheter through his femoral artery, up through his head and into his carotid artery. You can see in real time the catheter being moved through the vasculature and the progress of the dye during injection. They looked at both sides of his neck and jaw independently and all of his vasculature was intact, so yay, all external injuries. After that we headed out to lunch. Today Sophie and I tried a new vendor. I got seseme noodles and she got won't on soup. Neither of us were really impressed with our lunches so we won't go there are again. Then we all just sat around and played cards until it was time for rehabilitation. Rehab was so interesting we went through the different sections of the department including physiotherapy where they have a massive room with loads of different types exercise stations and they have patients including injury recovery, elderly and neurological deficits such as cereal palsy. The patient to physiotherapist ratio is either one to one or one to two depending on the patient and situation. They also have a separate section for paediatrics. They so have a hydrotherapy room and an electrotherapy room (where they use lots of tens machines). And the final room is the occupational therapy room, that has a number of exercises and therapists. One of the patients we met was a 20 year old who had been in a car accident over 12 months ago and although has now been discharged and lives as home she is still undergoing intensive therapy as she is unable to complete a number of routine tasks. Today she was working on dexterity and using a pair of little tongs to pick up little twisty blocks and move them from one bowl to the other. She needed to use both hands but she was doing really well. She struggled when she was given a spoon and a bowl of marbals though. We also met another patient who has severe burns and a 7 skin graphs over her entire left arm, shoulder and side of face. She has most of her movement back, just struggles with grip strength and will probably never regain full feeling of her skin. They put a brace on my left wrist that extended to my second knuckles. And then had springs with loops for the fingers that stops patients hands from being pulled into a claw. Keeping all fingers and wrist straight. Then they played with moulding casts and we were done for the day. Everyone had different ideas of what to do for the night, so we ended up in a couple of different groups. Salami, sharing, Andy and Tony went to anime Central and explored the shops and had KFC for dinner and had a nice night out. The rest of us caught the MRT into the city and ended up at a whisky bar, then Sophie, Sara, sam and I left pretty much straight away and headed back on the MRT and walked the food markets, found the most amazing juice and got fried rice for dinner, sat around and chatted for ages and then after the anime group got back we all got ready for bed and now it's time to sleep. Night xoRead more