Lev's World
Life's crazyness wrapped in a wall of text
Tomorrowland 2010
It’s the first time I’ve ever been to a festival and boy, will I not forget Tomorrowland any time soon…
Tomorrowland 2010
Britain’s Got Talent
When Idols first premiered in The Netherlands, many people (including me) were hooked. For once you were able to see the artists progressing and battling each other for the first place. And we were given a chance to give our voice as well. Oh and let’s not forget the hilarious auditions either. It was a refreshing newcomer on TV albeit it was copied from the USA.
However, the enthusiasm didn’t last very long for me. There are a few reasons why I lost interest after pretty much just one season of Idols:
- The winners never appear to be anything special after their show ended. There were some cases where the number two actually had more success than the number one. Wasn’t the goal of such series to search for an extraordinary artist out of many, many people? I think I’m a bit naive here; it’s obviously about the TV ratings and they probably could care less about the finalists.
- The many spin-offs made the whole refreshing experience rotten. Spin-offs such as Dancing With the Stars, Dancing on Ice, Popstars, X-Factor…pretty much ruined it.
Britain’s Got Talent however, is quite an exception…
The Big Bang Theory
Our whole universe was in a hot dense state,
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started
Wait
Blog Overhaul!
The Mandigo theme has lasted for almost two years now so it was high time to change themes. This theme, Monochrome, was one of the first of possible picks. There were no other themes like it. Some features that helped me picking this theme were:
- Simplicity
I’ve always picked designs that were really heavy on graphics. It’s not that I don’t like simplicity, on the contrary, but I like shiny graphics too and those get my attention alot faster than the simple ones that usually don’t stand out in thumbnail previews. I specifically made sure that I was looking at the simple designs instead of the pretty graphical ones this time. Monochrome is black and white with minor graphical changes. Perfect.
- Overview
No mess. One particular feature I liked was the date/category/tag/comments bar on the left side of each post. It gives a quick overview of what the post is about and when the post was posted.
Some problems might arise due to the layout change, such as large images that appear outside the right bar. Most of these are fixed, but you’re welcome to contact me if you find any others. Furthermore, the tags have been updated and will be more specific from now on.
I know that many others will use it (and I can’t blame them) but frankly, as long as it fits my blog I’m fine with it. I hope you like the new design; it has to last at least those two years the Mandigo theme lasted!
Ferrara Day 28: Liver Resection
Today was another exciting day in the OR! I would be seeing a liver resection and finally had the courage to take some amazing photos and videos. I found it awkward really, because people would see it as a violation of the patient’s rights in The Netherlands while here in Italy, they don’t seem to care a whole lot at all. Obviously, I made sure that our (amazing) surgeon, who has been guiding us through every surgery up until now, knew I’d be taking photos just in case he would be caught by surprise.
The patient was an older lady who had liver cancer. During the surgery, they saw that a tumor had attached to the diaphragm and therefore got very difficult to remove. It seems that they punctured the diaphragm in the process which took a lot of time to fix. After they fixed the diaphragm, another surgeon was called to do an echo. It was probably to make sure they had the right part of the liver and to see from where to where they had to cut. Our surgeon let us knew what he’d be removing by showing the parts on the pictures but in reality, it was a lot bigger. It sure looked like as if about 75% of the liver was removed. As said before, I was finally able to take some photos and it can be clearly seen there how big the dissected part was. After the resection, we were allowed to feel the liver and its tumors. It was amazing. Again, I made videos of that too. Last but not least, I was allowed to stand really, really close to him so I could take some photos from up close. He’s an example of how every surgeon should be: an expert in his field and one willing to teach others. The surgery took over 4.5-5 hours but it was worth every second of it.
Surgery was never a field I had a particular interest in (nor a disinterest), but after seeing these surgeries, I must say that it has grown on me. Who knows…
WARNING: The videos and photos are not for the faint of heart.
Ferrara Day 28: Liver Resection
Ferrara Day 28: Liver Resection 2
Ferrara Day 28: Liver Resection 3
Gallery is after the break.
Ferrara Day 25: Soccer
I first had a little blog written for this post but decided to post these two videos instead:
Ferrara Day 24: Storm
Nothing much happened throughout the day. We were pretty much waiting for the house party of the man who is organizing Ferrara Maastricht Academic Medical Exchange (F.A.M.E.) at 17:30. Just as we were about to leave with the group and a couple of cars, all of a sudden a sand storm caught our attention. Boy had we no idea of what was to come. It began to rain and the wind got a lot worse. It was something I’ve never seen before and it seems that it’s not something that has ever happened here according to our (Italian) drivers. Quite a unique experience, even though it was devastating for the complex. Many windows were broken by the wind and even the roof of part of the complex collapsed. Either it was a really poorly structured building or people just didn’t think this would ever happen. I tried to make some videos and photos of it.
The storm quickly resolved and we were able to go to the house party. I had something in mind (some kind of villa; I thought the man would probably be quite wealthy). I was close. Wow, that house was huge. And very beautiful. Especially the surroundings were breathtaking and very tranquil. The food we were offered: delicious, just delicious. Real, Italian food. Man, it was good. Do you mind if we come again, sir?
Videos:
Ferrara Day 24: Storm
Ferrara Day 24: Storm 2
Ferrara Day 24: Storm 3
Gallery is after the break.
Ferrara Day 23: Beach
It was about time we went to the beach. I mean, it’s been 30-35 degrees Celcius the first day we arrived! The weather forecast predicted 35 degrees Celcius for today so it was a perfect day to go to the beach. After packing our stuff, a 1.5 hour bus trip and some walking, we reached the beach. It was huge! In Italy, there is an area reserved for those that are willing to pay for a parasol and two beach chairs. We were kind of forced to pay for three pairs because we sat on them without knowing we had to pay for it. It was worth it though, because we really needed those parasols to stay out of the blazing sun. The water was just as dirty (or perhaps, a bit cleaner) as in The Netherlands but (obviously) very warm. A funny thing was that in The Netherlands, the further you go into the sea, the deeper the water gets but to our surprise the level of the water fluctuated and we could still stand from quite a significant distance away, here in the waters of Italy.
As for the sun…It was nice, but I managed to get first degree burns on my feet from walking on the sand (it was so hot that it actually hurt like hell! Literally.). Not to mention my burnt ankles and back when I got home…Unfortunately, I did not take any photos this day (didn’t want to bring the camera).
Ferrara Day 17: Surgery
This is it! This is one of my main reasons to come to Italy and attend a course: live surgery. You can’t get any closer: you’re literally watching over the surgeon’s shoulders. And today were my first of the many surgeries to follow! With much excitement, we entered the hospital and began our search for our surgeon’s office. It took a while, but finally did manage to find it. The assistant gave us clothes, caps and masks. Man, did we feel ‘doctory’ at the time, it was amazing. But the best part was yet to come: the actual surgery.
Our first surgery would be a cholecystectomie, the removal of the gallbladder. There was a patient lying on the surgery table and I thought it was the previous patient that was finished and being prepped for post-op. The patient was actually being prepped for the surgery we were about to see. I didn’t realise a pre-op would be so long (the patient did have a medical history though). Anyhow, after being prepped, the surgeon wanted to remove the gallbladder through a laporascopie but due to complications in the belly (the gas blown into the belly could not be regulated, which caused instability of the heart) the surgeon had to make a cut near the liver and remove the gallbladder ‘the classic way’. It took way longer than the surgeon had anticipated and we noticed he got a bit annoyed by that. Finally, the gallbladder was removed and he gave us the opportunity to feel the gallbladder (and its gallstones) with our hands. I was amazed by the precision and carefulness of the surgeon. I loved it.
The second surgery was a thyroidectomie, the removal of the thyroid. We had a lecture so we kind of entered during the latter part of the surgery. It probably was the most interesting part as well, so we were quite lucky. Again, with amazing precisions the surgeons had to cut away the thyroid without damaging the nearby nerve and trachea. After removing the thyroid, he showed the nodule in the thyroid which was the reason why it had to be removed. The tissue was then sent to the department of anatomy pathology for microscopic examination. Turns out it was a benign nodule.
The kind surgeon showed us how the surgery exactly went and what stuff had to be paid attention for in order to do a successful surgery post-op.
I can not wait for my next surgery…Which is tomorrow!
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- Inception http://is.gd/e12jd
- @ouxu How did you dry yourself? Or did you walk over the street whilst you were stunning everybody?
- Tomorrowland 2010 http://is.gd/dOOr5
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