So I had a patient today, very tragic, young man with a head trauma. He already has logged 3 weeks in the hospital with no end in sight. It was however, the coolest thing I've seen so far. They had to remove a large piece of his skull, I'd say about 6 inches by 3 inches, to do surgery and allow the brain room to swell without doing further damage. We need our skulls though, if you haven't heard they're kind of a big deal. So while they wait for the swelling to go down enough that they can replace the piece, what do you do with it? Freeze it, put it in some sort of preservative? Newp... That puppy is right there in his abdomen. Apparently the blood flow there is sufficient to keep it nice and healthy for a couple of months, and there's none of that annoying freezer burn. Now I just need to use this to convince Denise that the best place for all of the steaks in our freezer is in mah belly!
This whole procedure is something that wasn't possible even 10 years ago, but now may very well be responsible for saving this young mans life. This is why I'm going into nursing.
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