Episode 8 Operation Ouch!

-I'm Dr Chris.

-And I'm Dr Xand.

-We're identical twins.

-Twins!

Do you know your body does loads of amazing things every day

without you even realising it?

Welcome to my poo factory.

And we're going to show you how.

Smell my armpits!

We've got gobsmacking experiments...

Wow!

..mind-bending body tricks...

Wow!

..and real medical mysteries.

I've got a stone in my ear.

So, are you ready to see what YOU'RE made of?

High five!

-Coming up today...

-..on Operation Ouch!

We find out how babies grow.

It's absolutely awesome!

It's sweets-grabbing time in Mindbenders...

What did you do?

..and learn how the body gets fixed after a burn.

My little finger - it was actually welded on to this bit here.

But first...

The team in the Emergency Department thought they'd seen everything.

But they weren't expecting this!

Xand! What's happened?

In Sheffield Accident & Emergency,

ten-year-old Niamh has a dodgy ankle.

What happened?

I fell down some stairs.

Uh-oh! That's not good! Let's find out more.

Well, Niamh had just been in her maths class,

-and was heading for lunch.

-SCHOOL BELL

Ooh, I've got a great maths joke!

-Go on, then.

-Why was six afraid of seven?

I don't know, Xand. Why was six afraid of seven?

Because seven ATE nine!

Very good, Xand. Now, getting back to the story.

-Niamh was on her way to lunch after maths.

-Yes, Chris.

All of a sudden, she fell down some stairs and hurt her ankle.

Oh, no, Chris! That's no laughing matter.

Ouch!

How's that ankle feel now, Niamh?

Can't walk on it at all.

Well, never fear, as Dr Helen Newsome is here!

Oh, yeah, that is quite swollen, isn't it?

That'll be a yes, then.

-Is there any pain up here?

-Tss!

It starts to hurt really bad about there, doesn't it?

And can you wiggle your toes at all?

Oh, dear. Those toes don't seem to be wiggling.

What's the verdict, doc?

Worst case is that she's broken it,

and one of the things you can do with breaks is you can damage

some of the nerves or some of the blood vessels, and she might need to

go to theatre with the orthopaedic surgeon and have it fixed.

Best-case scenario is that she's sprained it.

So, it's off to X-ray to see what the damage is.

Dr Helen delivers the results.

You've managed to get a little break or fracture through this bit here,

and one through this bit here.

Ooh! Double break! So, what's the plan, Doc?

-We admit you for a couple of days.

-Right.

Put you up on the ward and elevate that foot.

It's really important that we get that swelling down.

So, what we need to do is we need to get her admitted for a couple of

days, just so we can make sure that leg is nicely kept up

in the air, make sure she doesn't develop any complications.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, is it?

As Niamh's ankle is so swollen, she's having a backslab cast.

She needs a cast to keep the fractured bone stable,

but it only goes halfway around, to allow for the swelling.

-Really heavy!

-It's heavy?

How's that ankle feeling now, Niamh?

Feels a little bit better with it on.

So, it's a thumbs up and off to the ward for a sleepover,

where Niamh will have to keep her leg up for a couple of days,

as it's important to get the swelling down on that ankle.

Find out later how she gets on!

-Ready to see some amazing stuff?

-Yes!

We're going to show you where you began.

Just don't try anything you see here at home.

In this lab, you'll see a very special human organ,

but it's not for the squeamish.

Today, we're looking at how babies grow.

Right, here you go, Chris.

You can get a nice close look at my belly button with that.

Whoa! I think I've missed something.

Why on earth would I, or anyone, want to look at your belly button?

Well, I thought we were looking at how babies grow.

Yes, but what's that got to do with your...ah, hold on.

I see where you're going with this.

Exactly!

Because, did you know that your belly button used to

be your mouth and your bum?

OK, yes, that's true, but we still don't need to look at your

belly button, Xand, because I've got something much more impressive.

Take a look at this.

Whoa!

That is much more impressive than my belly button,

because this is a real human

placenta and umbilical cord.

These amazing organs

are what keep a baby alive and able to grow inside its mum.

The placenta's job is to absorb oxygen and vital nutrients from

the mum's blood, and deliver them to the baby via the umbilical cord.

As well as this, the umbilical cord also carries waste products -

that's wee, poo and carbon dioxide -

away from the baby, down the umbilical cord

and through the placenta, into mum's body, for her to get rid of.

Now, once you're born, you don't need these any more, which is

why we have these to show you.

They've been kindly donated to us by a mum

who's given birth to her baby,

and she's happy for us to show them to YOU, which is pretty special.

This placenta is absolutely amazing.

But you know, I've always said that there's really only one thing

better than a real human placenta -

and that is a double human placenta, from twins.

Wow! This must have been what our placenta looked like

-when we were inside our mum.

-Absolutely!

'This has also kindly been donated by the mum of twins.'

So, what you can see here is two placentas, and two umbilical cords.

After you're born, the cord gets snipped off, leaving you

with your belly button - but until then, this cord is your lifeline.

But what does a baby look like when it's actually inside its mum?

We're going to show you.

And what we've got here is a real, live baby.

Xand, this isn't a baby.

This is Amelia, and she's a grown-up.

That's true. Thanks very much for coming into the lab, Amelia.

-Thanks, Amelia.

-But, actually, inside Amelia is a real, live baby.

-Ah!

-And, ordinarily, of course, we couldn't show you that baby,

but we have this ultrasound scanner.

So, Amelia, are you having a boy or a girl?

-A boy.

-A boy! Amelia, how many weeks pregnant are you?

29 weeks.

At this stage, a baby's organs are developed.

Just here, what you can see beating is Amelia's baby's heart.

Wow! Amazing!

The white things here are his bones, so that's his backbone.

Very clearly, you can see that there.

Surrounding the baby, these big black patches are liquid.

That's cos the baby's sitting in a thing called the amniotic sac.

So, it's sitting in a big sac full of fluid

that protects it from bumps and from infections.

At the moment, his eyes have started to work.

His heart and all his organs are working normally.

The one massive difference between being inside Amelia

and being out in the world, is that this little boy is breathing

entirely through his umbilical cord, through his belly button.

But what we really want to know is what does he look like?

So, we've been able to do a 4D scan.

4D scans provide an incredible lifelike image

of the baby inside the womb.

You can see his eyes, his nose and his little mouth.

Amelia, what do you think?

It's amazing! He looks like his dad, but with my nose.

And there's another really nice thing here.

He has found another use for his placenta, because as well as giving

him all his oxygen and nutrients, he's also using it as a pillow.

So I think you've got a very resourceful young man in there.

Amelia, thank you so much for letting us meet him.

-Thanks very much.

-No problem.

We've shown you the incredible organs that keep you alive

and enable you to grow, before you're born, inside your mum.

The placenta and the umbilical cord bring nutrients and oxygen,

and take away waste -

everything a baby needs.

So, the next time you're looking at your belly button, remember,

it used to be your mouth, and your bum.

And personally, I think it makes a rather good nose!

Since Amelia visited us, she's had

a baby boy called Antonio John.

Aw, cute! Congratulations, Amelia

and dad Damian!

We're on call with the West Midlands Ambulance Service,

showing you what it's really like on the front line, saving lives.

SIREN

On call with me is paramedic Jan Vann.

Jan alone can do 10 to 15 emergency callouts in a day,

and a new case is just in.

We've just received a call about a 75-year-old man,

who's fallen over and hurt his shoulder.

So, of course, we need to assess that shoulder injury.

We also need to work out, why did he fall?

I've got my Ouch-cam here. Eric, in the back, has his big camera,

and we're going to get you right up

so you can find out what it's like to be first on scene.

We quickly arrive and head inside to see Gerard, who's with his family.

My name's Jan. What's happened?

-He fell out of bed this morning.

-OK.

He was only let out of hospital yesterday.

-OK. You've landed on your shoulder.

-Yeah.

-Can I have a quick feel?

Is that OK?

-OK, no pain when I'm pressing down your back?

-No.

No? So your neck and your back are fine.

Can you bring your head and look over your shoulder for me?

So, Gerard's just come out of hospital,

so he really doesn't want to go back in.

One of the main valuable things that Jan can do here is assess Gerard,

make sure that he's safe, and, most importantly,

she's checking his nerves and his bones and his muscles,

to make sure that they're all working well after that fall.

-Are you able to move that shoulder?

-Yeah.

After Jan is happy that Gerard's shoulder's OK,

she does some tests to try and find out what caused his fall.

So, Jan's doing Gerard's observations, and these are

the really important numbers that tell us how sick or well someone is.

Temperature, blood pressure and pulse.

Well, I'll just double check your blood pressure

with you stood up, if that's OK.

He's got a history in the past of postural hypotension.

Postural hypotension is whenever you stand up,

your blood pressure drops, and it can cause you to pass out.

So, that drop in blood pressure can mean not enough blood

gets to the brain and he faints,

and you might have felt the same thing - if you've been

lying down very sleepily, and then you stand up quickly, you can feel

a bit dizzy, and in some older people,

that can be more of a problem.

So don't move. Just stand where you are.

That's good! Right then, sit down.

How was that, Jan?

-That's good. It's gone up to 162/84.

-So, that's all right.

Yeah, so that's fine.

'Jan's happy that Gerard's postural hypotension is under control,

'so he won't need to be admitted to hospital.'

You can stay here and I can leave him in your capable hands.

-Aw, thank you.

-Well, Gerard, thank you very, very much.

-OK.

-And I'm very pleased you get to stay out of hospital.

-Thank you.

In a sense, one of the most valuable things that Jan can do is

keep people out of hospital.

Yes, a lot of the time she fixes them up

ready for the ambulance to take them in and be properly treated,

but, actually, we've done an amazing thing here.

She's just made Gerard feel better, and he can stay at home

and enjoy an evening with his family.

Still to come, we show YOU how to win sweets...

-Go!

-How do you do that?

There's more cracking cases in the Ouch-mobile...

That's amazing!

And we find out what happened to Troy's hand.

And then I looked at my hands, like...

Remember Niamh and her broken ankle?

Let's hop over to the Emergency Department

-to see how she's getting on.

-We've never done that before.

BOING-BOING-BOING

We're back at Sheffield hospital with ten-year-old Niamh,

who has a broken ankle.

Niamh had just been in her maths class at school, and was

heading for lunch when she fell down some stairs and hurt her ankle.

She's spent the last two days in hospital,

waiting for the swelling to go down.

It's a bit better, my leg.

I can wiggle my toes.

Oh, yeah, that's definite wiggling.

Which is good news, as it means the swelling has gone down.

But before Niamh can go home, she has to be able to get about,

and there's one thing she's hoping for.

I'm looking forward to getting crutches.

Why's that?

Yeah, I can hit my brother with them!

I don't think that's what crutches are for, Niamh!

Time to bring in physios Louise and Helen.

They're here to help Niamh learn how to get around on one leg.

Niamh can't walk on her broken ankle for the next six weeks.

That's because a fracture can be delicate whilst it's healing.

If she puts weight on her ankle too soon, the broken bones could move

and take even longer to mend, or, worse, heal in the wrong position.

So, to make sure this doesn't happen,

she needs support from crutches or a walking frame

until she regains full movement and strength.

Let's do hopping. Are you good at hopping?

-So, keep that leg off the floor all the time.

-OK?

First the physios try Niamh with a walking frame,

and then it's on to the crutches.

They're a little bit more harder to use, so we'll see how you get on.

Niamh wants crutches,

but the physios have to be confident that she's safe on them.

Nice and slowly.

She's off. Crutches always look like fun, don't they, Xand?

Yes, Chris, but actually, they can be quite tricky to master.

So, it is going to be a walking frame or crutches?

We've decided that she's safer to go home with a walking frame

at the moment, just cos crutches are quite hard

when you're not allowed to put your weight through your leg.

No crutches, but Niamh doesn't seem to mind.

So, what have you learnt then, Niamh?

Not to run down any stairs.

You're not kidding!

DR XAND AND DR CHRIS: Bye!

-Now we're going to mess with your mind...

-It's weird.

..scramble your senses, and baffle your brain...

DR XAND AND DR CHRIS: ..in Mindbenders.

-Can I have a sweet?

-Ooh, no.

But you've got loads there! Surely you can spare me one?

Ordinarily, Chris, I'd love to, but these have got to last me

all the way to lunchtime.

To lunchtime? You're never going to eat all those before lunchtime.

-Go on, give me one.

-All right, I tell you what, you can have one.

-Brilliant.

-Ah-da-da-da-dah!

You can have one IF you can grab it before me.

Now, I'm going to give you a head start. Put your hand there.

Your hand's closer than mine,

and all you have to do is grab it when I say go.

Looks like I'm going to get my sweet after all.

Three, two, one - go!

That is an amazing trick! Do you think I could do it?

Ooh, I think so. It is an amazing trick, isn't it?

Great! I need to go and try it myself.

All right. Good luck!

Wait a minute - he only needs one sweet to do the trick!

What am I going to eat until lunch?

I've headed to a town centre to see how many sweets I can win.

Time to see if I'm as good at this as Dr Xand,

and bend some minds.

Now, do you reckon you can get the sweet before me,

-if we both go on "go"?

-Definitely.

-Are you sure of that?

-Yeah.

-Three, two, one...go!

HE LAUGHS

-Go!

-How do you do that?

-Go!

Aw!

What am I going to do with all my sweets? I keep winning every time.

Go!

Aw, what did you do then?

HE LAUGHS

Go! Miles away!

How did you get that?

Go! Oh, miles away! Go!

Oh!

Oh, miles away!

Go! What are you doing? Are you feeling all right?

-Yeah.

-Now, although all these people had quick reaction times,

they're not going to beat me,

and that's because there is a slight delay in the word "go"

leaving my mouth, getting into their ears,

being processed in their brain, and then their hand moving.

But in my brain, cos I've said it, my hand starts to move

immediately, without any delay, no matter how small.

Well, that's my mind bent. Is yours?

Now, did you know more than half of the bones in your body

are found in your hands and feet?

There are 27 in each hand, and 26 in each foot.

Wow!

Sometimes things don't always heal exactly as planned,

as our next patient found out.

We're at a theme park to solve your medical mysteries.

Xand is preparing the Ouch-mobile for his first patient.

And I'll also be out in the park, answering your burning questions.

That's amazing!

At the clinic, Xand is open for business.

Next patient, please.

First in is ten-year-old Anna, with a funny finger.

That's amazing!

It seems perfectly obvious why you've come to the Ouch-mobile.

That's nothing. Look at my little finger.

What's the diagnosis, Doc?

Looks to me like a case of...

-Wow!

-Tell me about your little finger, Anna.

It started when I was five years old.

My mum told me to open the door and the door just, like, hit it

-and it cracked.

-Painful.

-Mm-hm.

So, what happened then?

The doctor put this straight thing on me to make it, like,

stay straight, but it didn't work.

So, Anna, I want to have a closer look at your finger.

Can you open the eyelid on the Ouch-cam?

Brilliant! Now, get it as straight as you can.

-SHE GRUNTS That's all you can do, is it?

-Yeah.

So, the doctor used something called a splint,

and the splint is meant to hold a broken bone straight

until it mends, and, in your case, the splint didn't work.

It's nothing to worry about.

Does the finger work well for you,

or would you prefer to have it straightened out?

It doesn't bother me at all.

Yeah, that's really good.

Will I have to do an operation when I grow older?

In the future, if you started to get ache in the joints,

or you did a job where you needed to do something very precise with your

left hand, at that point, you might think about doing an operation,

and it certainly is possible to straighten out that finger.

Well, thank you very much for coming to the Ouch-mobile.

You're welcome.

Time to get out of the Ouch-mobile and into the park.

I want to see if anyone's got any questions for me.

Let's go Ouch & About.

Why does your belly rumble when you're hungry?

In fact, it can rumble at any time, but when you're eating,

you swallow bits of air, and when you're digesting food,

it actually makes gas, and the rumbling is the bubbles

bubbling up through the stuff you've eaten,

and the name is borborygmi, so the next time you're getting

rumbling, you can go, "Oh, I've just got a bit of borborygmi going on."

Back at the Ouch-mobile, the next case is in the waiting room.

Could I have the next patient, please?

It's 12-year-old Carnell with an extraordinary eye.

So, Carnell, what's brought you to the Ouch-mobile?

When I drink, my eye sort of wanders off.

What's the diagnosis, Doc?

Sounds to me like a case of...

I know what you mean.

Now, tell me more about that.

It's called...

Now, that is a very, very rare syndrome indeed.

So, in all the things ever published about medicine,

there are only 300 people reported to have had it.

Can you open the eye on the Ouch-cam?

Now, can you give us a demonstration of what happens?

I can't see it.

Now, can you try wiggling your jaw from side to side like that?

It's not easy to see,

but Carnell's eyelid is twitching from side to side.

That's because the bit of his brain that's making his jaw move is

also telling his eyelid to move.

And does it affect your life at all?

No, not really, cos not much people notice it.

As a doctor,

it is very interesting to see someone with a syndrome this rare.

Carnell, thank you very much for coming

and showing us your amazing eye in the Ouch-mobile.

That's OK. Thank you, Dr Xand.

Job done for today. Clinic closed.

Your body is amazing, but sometimes it needs fixing.

All over the UK, there are special teams of professionals

trained to tackle medical mysteries.

Skin. It's amazing, like a shield all over your body,

defending what's inside from what's outside. It may be tough,

but there's one thing in particular that can cause it a lot of trouble.

Heat.

Now, if you ever had a burn from something really hot,

like boiling water or a hot pan on the stove,

you'll know just how painful it can be.

Well, there are lots of ways to treat burns, and for serious cases,

there are some specialist medical professionals standing by.

Today, I've come to Broomfield hospital in Essex to meet

some of the patients getting help with their burns.

Today's first patient is 11-year-old Maria.

Can you tell me what happened?

Well, basically, I fell asleep, and I had my iPad on my leg, so...

-And I fell asleep on it.

-You had your iPad on your leg...

-Yeah, and I fell asleep on it.

-I see.

So, you had it plugged in,

and it was getting hot cos it was charging against you.

Yeah, but I didn't realise it.

Maria has a condition that reduces sensation in her legs.

That's why she didn't feel being burnt.

That was three months ago, and she's still being treated.

Today, she's seeing specialist burns nurse

Susan Boasman.

OK, Maria, I'm just going to take your dressing off, darling,

-all right?

-'It was a deep burn, so Maria needed special treatment.'

Look away now if you're squeamish.

So, Maria's had a skin-graft operation done,

so just a very thin layer of skin was just shaved off from here,

and then that was put over here, where the hole was,

and stitched round in place, wasn't it, round there?

And why do you need to do the skin graft?

Why can't you just let it heal

the way that you might let any other cut heal?

Small burns can heal up quite nicely on their own, but when you've got

a bigger and deeper burn like this, you need to give nature a little

bit of help, because otherwise it's very sore and it's more likely

to get an infection in it, and it'll take a very long time to heal over.

Over time, that'll go back completely to normal, will it?

-It will. It will flatten out a bit more.

-Yeah.

But there will probably always be a little mark.

We won't need to put any more dressings on it now,

because there's no raw skin.

So, no more dressings.

-Is that really good news?

-Yeah.

The next patient is Troy. He burnt his hand three years ago.

So, tell me what happened when you got your burn.

I was on the roof, helping my dad clear the gutter.

There was a cable right here, but I thought it was a railing,

so I put my hand on it and then I blacked out.

And what's the next thing you remember?

Well, I remember waking up, and then I looked at my hands, like...

And what had happened to your hand?

Well, at first, my little finger, it isn't there now,

but it was actually welded on to this bit here.

The electric burn from the live cable was so severe

that Troy's little finger had to be removed.

He's also had skin grafts from his leg and his foot.

How many operations have you had?

-12.

-12 operations?

-Yeah.

Does your left hand still do everything you need it to do?

Yeah.

Well, it still plays video games, so that's all I really need it to do!

That's a relief!

Today, Troy's seeing burns therapist Vicky Dudman.

So, Troy, how have you been?

-Oh, I've been OK.

-Can I have a look?

-OK.

-So, any problems?

-Nothing much.

Really, at this stage of the treatment,

it's just about keeping on with the moisturising and massage.

So, what's the massage doing when you're doing that?

It helps to break up the scar tissue and soften it up.

This is something Troy will need to keep doing at home himself.

So, Troy, from your experience,

what advice would you have for the people watching Operation Ouch?

That they should be really, really careful around electricity,

cos it's very dangerous.

Good advice from Troy, who continues well with his recovery.

Serious burns can be really scary, and Troy and Maria have done

a brilliant job dealing with their burns, and that's what's amazing.

Your body has an incredible ability to heal itself, with the right help.

Our next patient thought they were going to have another normal day.

-Normal day.

-But they ended up in the Accident & Emergency Department.

-Ah!

-Let's go meet them.

-Yes, let's!

In Sheffield Children's Hospital,

11-year-old Harvey is in with a bandaged bonce.

Is he a half-dressed Egyptian mummy?

No, Xand.

-I've got an open cut on my head...

-Ooh, nasty!

..by getting hit with a wooden cricket bat at school.

Ooh! And how did that happen?

I'm stumped!

Hmm.

It was a beautiful, sunny day, and Harvey was playing cricket.

Ooh, was he at Lords, playing in the Ashes?

Unfortunately not.

Was he in Barbados, on the beach, with the waves lapping at his feet?

No, he was in a concrete yard.

Oh!

Harvey was playing cricket with his class in PE.

There he is!

He was waiting in line for his turn to bat.

-He was up next.

-DUCK QUACKS

-I hope he doesn't get a duck!

-DUCK QUACKS

Batter was at the crease. The ball was bowled.

She swung hard, but missed, and hit Harvey's head.

Ouch!

And I touched my eye where it hurt, and I looked at my hand,

and there were blood, so I were quite surprised.

I bet you were!

Here's Dr Jen Worthy, to check out Harvey's head.

What's happened to you today?

Well, I got hit in the side of the head with a cricket bat.

The person who was batting missed the ball,

and followed through right into my eye.

Ouch! And they missed the ball, and hit your face?

What a rubbish shot!

Yes, it was a rubbish shot!

Dr Jen does a series of checks for any broken bones...

I'm just going to press down here. Is that all right?

..and tests Harvey's brain is functioning as normal.

Well, can you do this, like a chicken?

I'm going to try and push your arms down,

but you've got to keep the chicken pose, OK?

Do not stop being a chicken. Ah, that's good.

And puff your cheeks out like a hamster.

Chicken, hamster. This is turning into a zoo!

And then can you frown for me,

or look very angry, like someone hit you in the head with a cricket bat?

Good angry face, Harvey.

I would like just to do an X-ray of the bones in his face, just

because he's tender sort of here, when I was pressing just down there.

Could be a little fracture there.

-Then it'll be a case of sticking you back together.

-Uh-huh.

Harvey has had his head X-rayed.

Very still there, please!

And then Dr Jen assesses the results.

So, this is your face. So, this is where your eyes are.

-This bit that was sore is round here.

-Yep.

And I can't see any fractures there.

There's like a nice, smooth line.

We're looking right up Harvey's hooter.

But, it's worth checking,

because sometimes it can cause problems with your eyes.

With no bones broken, nurse Gina cleans Harvey's cut

and Steri-Strips his battered head.

Not too frustrating with all that round your eye? Good.

All patched up, it's time to go home.

So, what have you learnt, fella?

Make sure you know when to run or not,

cos you might get hit in the face with a cricket bat.

And we wouldn't want that, would we?

DR XAND AND DR CHRIS: Bye!

Next time on Operation Ouch!

we look back at some of our favourite bits so far,

find out what you cough up...

All these bacteria have grown into furry, yucky blooms.

..and amazing surgery changes this boy's life.

The tip of that drill is smaller than a grain of rice.

So, we'll see you next time, for more Operation Ouch!

HE SNORES

LAUGHING

I've never used this. That's really funny!

Hi!

LAUGHING

Oh, that's brilliant! I'm glad I did those.

Operation Ouch!