Today I was second assist for a laparoscopy assisted vaginal hysterectomy (LAVH) with salpingectomy and periurethral sling. In case you don’t know, that means that we put the cameras and tools into the abdomen, cut through all the ligaments that hold the uterus in place, then removed the cervix, uterus, and Fallopian tubes through the vagina. Then we sewed the top of the vagina back together, and put in a mesh sling to hold up the urethra and reduce urinary incontinence.
It was a super cool surgery to see, but it was a bit complicated and ended up being about 5 hours long. I was holding retractors and sutures and clamps at about shoulder height for about 4.5 of that. Talk about an arm workout. Phew.
BUT since I was decently helpful and learned to anticipate what the doctor needed throughout the surgery, she let me do my first ever real sutures!! This is the same private doc that I’ve been following on a few cases, so she knows I’ve been practicing for it. It was just two simple interrupted sutures on a couple <1cm cuts, but I still put a suture on another living being and the doctor said it looked good! I don’t know if it’s just because it’s OB, but I’m enjoying surgery so much more than I thought I would.
