More Common Surgical Procedure Abbreviations

In one of my earlier posts, Common Surgical Procedure Abbreviations I referenced a few commonly used surgical procedure abbreviations.

Now....da da dah.....here are a few more!

LEEP: Loop Electrosurgical Excision Procedure

FESS: Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery

CABG: Coronary Artery Bypass Graft

D and C: Dilatation and Currettage

ORIF: Open Reduction Internal Fixation

T and A: get your mind out of the gutter!! This stands for Tonsils and Adenoids

So there you go....a few more little abbreviations for common surgical procedures.

Hemorrhoid Surgery

When my brother died back in January, I asked one of my aunts that were at the wake where my cousin (her son) was. Now remember, I live in a Southern city, so my aunt in her “southern drawl” said, “Oh, he’s got the hemorrhoids so bad he couldn’t come. In fact, he’s having surgery tomorrow for them.” At that moment, even through my grief, I had to laugh inside thinking my cousin would be mortified if he knew his mom was out in public discussing his, ummm, delicate situation.

What exactly is a hemorrhoid? According to medlineplus.gov, “Hemorrhoids are swollen, inflamed veins around the anus or lower rectum. They are either inside the anus or under the skin around the anus. They often result from straining to have a bowel movement. Other factors include pregnancy, aging and chronic constipation or diarrhea.
Hemorrhoids are very common in both men and women. About half of all people have hemorrhoids by age 50. The most common symptom of hemorrhoids inside the anus is bright red blood covering the stool, on toilet paper or in the toilet bowl. Symptoms usually go away within a few days.”

I do not personally have hemorrhoids, so I don’t know how they feel, but from what I hear, they can be quite bothersome. As a surgical nurse, I have seen hemorrhoid surgery, though, and believe me, it is not a pretty site. A patient has to be in the prone (on stomach) position, with their bottom exposed. The buttocks usually have to be separated with some kind of tape to hold them apart so the surgeon can get to the area without fighting through fleshy butts! Sometimes, the surgeon just pushes them back in, or other times they actually cut off the offending item, sew it up, and put a dressing on.

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Or a Baseball Bat

Our Recovery Room is one huge room with privacy curtains with separate monitors to accomodate about 20 patients arriving from surgery.

My patient that we had just wheeled out was waking up from anesthesia, the patient behind the curtain next to him was making growling noises as he was waking up. The nurse of the growling patient, in an effort to help his apparent pain tried to get him to reposition himself. As he moaned and growled, the nurse said, "Sir, what you need is some pain medicine...."

and my patient, an apparent jokester even when not fully conscious, mumbled through his oxygen mask, "or a baseball bat"...!!!

Now, whether my patient was having empathy pains and felt like he himself needed a baseball bat, or that his fellow patient needed one so he would be quiet, I'm not sure...but we all got a good laugh!

Scared of the Dark

I don't know about you, but I have always had a fear of the dark.....if I'm in a dark room or outside in the dark, I have to hold my breath and walk very quickly, praying the whole time until I get to a light source! Even though I know God is with me, there's just something eerie about the dark.

The same goes for a dark operating room. In the evening, when most surgeries are over, part of my duty is to restock rooms with supplies. All the rooms have 2 entrances and most of the rooms have a light switch on both sides of the room. But there are a couple that don't. If I go into one of the rooms with just one light switch, I try to enter from the side with it....but if I come from the other side, I have to leave the door propped open or go around because it freaks me out....especially since I know that at least one person has died on the table in each of these rooms.

I hope to explore further the "eerie unknown" and "freakish occurrences" that have occurred in our operating rooms and area in future posts.