I observed open brain surgery today!

I had the coolest day today in the operating theatre observing a craniotomy, where neurosurgeons opened up the skull so they could operate on the brain to remove a patient's tumour. Normally, I am one of those people that hates the sight of blood and gore. However, I was surprised to find myself really interested in the brain surgery and not even experienced dry heaving or dizziness once. So after shaving away a strip of hair, cutting through the layer of skin and muscle, and pulling the skin & muscle apart to reveal the skull. The surgeons drilled two 1cm diametre holes about 8cm apart (think width of a rice bowl). Then they used a tool similar to that of a jigsaw cutter and starting from one of the holes, cut all the way around through the other hole and around ending up cutting a circular plate out of the skull. Exposed underneath the skull is the dura layer, slice that four ways, peel it back to reveal the brain tissue. To put it simply, they just made a small slit in the brain, and went in with some tools to cut and suck out the blood and matter. Four hours later, they complete by sewing it all back up, putting the plate of bone back in place, securing it with titanium clips and then sewing up the muscle and skin. Best day ever in a long while!