Chopstork

I got to go into an OR and watch a total knee replacement surgery today. It pretty much looked like in the video. Going into it I was a little a scared I might need to pass out or puke—people kept telling me it’s not uncommon for someone watching for the first time. Turned out to be no problem though … just like watching a piece of a satellite being worked on in the old lab. Except with a lot more drilling and sawing and blood and guts knee-parts flying everywhere. The only remotely gross part was when he’d hammer the implant down onto the bone and humanly juices (definitely not the sexual kind) would ooze and drip out of the cut bone. That and the smell of the cement they use. I think a couple times I smelled something kind of tasty in the OR … and then I realized it was probably from the cauterizer…as in burning human flesh. If I knew how to spell a starting-to-puke sound, I would right now.