Monday I had an opportunity to go on a private tour of our hospital with Courtney and Chandler to see how it all works behind the scenes! It was so cool and makes me remember the days when I really wanted to work in the medical field... then I see how long and hard they all work and I'm glad things worked out that way they did :) I am on a committee to raise friends and awareness for a new hospital. Stanford Hospital was built in the 70's- state of the art when I was born there in 1978!

But it has gotten very small for being such a hub of discovery and innovation... and kind of old. Look- the same wall as when I was born! Just like everything else :)

I am a huge fan of Stanford- a lot of people like other hospitals for the guarantee of a private room after you have a baby but I had such great experiences for both of my babies (a c section and a "normal" delivery) and even had a private room both times for most of my stay in maternity- a new hospital would have a fancy delivery suite! It's a great hospital with a fantastic staff of doctors, nurses and nice people :) So support Stanford and the building of a new Hospital!

In the LifeFlight helicopter with the Flight Nurses - they were hard core :)

Listening to the heartbeat and chest sounds on a REAL dummy! It was breathing and had a pulse and all the machines beeped just like a real patient. The doctors had a control room behind a secret mirror and could control the patient and environment for residents to practice.

and we got to practice our hand eye coordination with the laprascopic instruments in a game they have new surgeons try - moving the little triangles from one post to the next. It was pretty tricky. They said people who play video games are really good at this and that doctors who have an easy time with these skills right off the bat usually end up making the most adept surgeons.

Courtney trying her hands at it- as long as it didn't look like real blood!

Then I got to take out a simulated gallbladder. The instruments were virtual inside the "patient" but you felt resistance against the tissues and organs, amazing. I snipped the main artery to the gallbladder and the patient bled out. I just wanted to see what would happen :)