Hand-Eye Coordination

I assisted in a laparoscopic cholecystectomy today, in other words, key-hole gall bladder removal. It was my first time driving the laparoscope camera, and it showed. My hands were far from steady, not because I was nervous, but because of my unfamiliarity with the instrument and, apparently, my bad hand-eye coordination.

You know how when you cut your own hair with a pair of clippers, you use two mirrors, one hand-held and one on the wall; when you try to move the clippers while looking at the back of your head through two mirrors, they often go the opposite you want them to go? No? Am I the only one still cutting my own hair? Okay, maybe I'm the only one. But if you do, you'd know what I'm talking about. Handling the laparoscope camera was a bit like that. Every move I made was amplified on the TV screen, so the surgery started to take on a bit of the "Blair Witch Project" quality after a while. Well, maybe that's a bit exaggerated, but I don't think the surgeon was too impressed with my camera work.

Afterwards, I had a brief exchange with a junior surgeon:

Junior Surgeon:
Do you play video games?

Me:
No, not really.

Junior Surgeon:
I could tell.

Me:
Does Minesweeper count?

Junior Surgeon:
You know what I do? I play Flight Sim.

So video games is the solution! Oh, I so wish I could go back in time to junior high and tell my mother, "No, mom, I'm not 'just wasting my day playing video games,' I'm training for my future career as a surgeon!" Yes! guilt-free video game sessions! Now, where can I find Flight Sim?

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Speaking of gall bladders, I saw a news article about a brand new approach to removing it. Don't want scars? How about let's go through a natural orifice? Hmmm, how about the vagina? A team in France performed a transvaginal "no scar" cholecystectomy, and another team in New York did another one. What'll they think of next? Removing the appendix through the mouth? Wait, that's a possibility too! Crazy surgeons.