Over the summer, I witnessed a patient's leg sawed off before my own eyes. Personally, it was one of the most unexpected events to ever see; no one wakes up to eagerly watch a person lose half of his or her limb. Hip replacement, hernia removal, and knee replacement surgeries were already a very fascinating yet devastating operation to see. But to observe a right leg amputation? That's just on another level.

It all started like this: I was escorted to the surgical department, changed into scrubs, and wore gloves for precautionary measures. It took an eternity because I was deciding which sized shirt and pants to wear. The small sizes made my chest look swole, but made my rear-end as big as Kim Kardashian's. However, the medium sizes made me look like I was Baymax from Big Hero 6. After all of those miscellaneous procedures were fulfilled, I could finally head into the operating rooms, right? Nah bro. As I was waiting, I scanned the monitors to see what operations were expecting to begin. It looked something like this: something-something-something-something-something-RIGHT LEG AMPUTATION-something-something. Wait, hold up. An amputation that is actually legal? Bet.

In the operating room, the staff consisted of a surgeon, O.R. nurse, medical instrument technician, anesthesiologist, and two surgical assistants. The anesthesiologist put a mask over the patient, and then in a split-second, the guy already passed out. My mind couldn't comprehend how quick that was; I was still wondering for a good minute or so why she was squeezing a teal balloon next to a large machine (HINT: It's used for sedation; NOT a stress ball). After unwrapping his foot, a thick, yellow liquid immediately oozed out of his foot, and it began to smell like McDonald's French fries. The nurse then started to scrub Povidone-Iodine over the wounds, cleaning the big laceration with antiseptics yet peeling his puss-filled skin like chicken wing skin. Gross.

The surgery started a few minutes later and ended in less than three hours.The surgeon first used a marker to draw the location in which they would cut his leg off. In order to save more of the patient's limb and prevent further infections, he would only amputate up to the calf area (instead of above the knee). For the next hour or so, the surgeon used a surgical knife to cut open the skin and a high temperature searer prevent blood loss from the blood vessels. At one point during the surgery, he showed me that muscles should retract when touched as a reflex. He touched the one in the calf area; it immediately retracted. However, the muscle closer to the shin didn't move, so he ripped it out. After all of the hacking and burning, he finally sawed his foot off.

I really thought that holding a recently amputated foot would be like holding my own foot, but with just more range of motion. I was completely wrong. When the surgeon handed me the foot, I felt like I was holding a large, heavy pig's foot. The tibia was sticking out, and I almost hit myself in the eye with it. A sudden epiphany emerged: I am literally holding a person's foot; a structure of the body that this patient had used his whole entire life until now. His life would never be the same after this procedure. The next hour or so was used to stitch up what was left of his leg, and then create a stub in place of the now non-existent foot. As the surgery ended, the nurse and I carried his foot to the Pathology department for examination.

That was pretty much it. If this was an unboxing video or United Airlines, I would give it a 10/10 because it certainly "blew" me away (Get it?). I hope that with this experience of observing such a procedure, I can share it with others for them to hear an interesting aspect of a weird, yet peculiar story. Find your passion. I guess mine would be observing surgeries that would be illegal if I performed it.