Episode 7 Operation Ouch!

He's Dr Chris.

-He's Dr Xand.

-And, yes, we're twins.

Do you know how brilliant your body really is?

My finger's got yellow pus in it.

Well, we're going to show you. Yay!

In this series we'll be pushing our bodies to their limits...

I like the sound of this!

..by doing extraordinary experiments on each other.

This is my sick.

To uncover what goes on inside.

Ah!

And out.

Wow, that's amazing!

From the bizarre...to the incredible.

So now I'm seeing things.

It's time to find out what you're made of.

Chris? Chris? Chris?

Coming up on...

Operation Ouch!

Courtney's ear needs flushing.

Xand does some painting with his wee.

And we meet some creepy crawlies that are a bit too

close for comfort.

Aww, it's moving!

Medical teams always expect the unexpected.

Let's see how they fix our first patient.

'In Accident and Emergency,

'nine-year-old Courtney has come in with

'her mum, her dad and something else.'

I've got a bit of a pencil stuck in my ear.

'You what?

'Did I ear that right?'

I was messing around with it and I put it in my ear.

'OK. I did. So what colour is it?'

It's a yellow pencil.

-'Never mind the colour, Xand.

-Well, how did it get there?'

Courtney was in her bedroom with her colouring pens and pencils.

One in particular caught her eye. It was the yellow one.

Ooh, is that her favourite colour, Chris?

The green one looks nice, or the blue one.

No, Xand, something about the yellow one appealed to her.

Anyway, she stared at it.

It stared back, wondering if it would be chosen.

"Colour in with me," it thought. I'll be your sun.

I'll be your sand. I'll be your rubber ducky.

Why would she want to draw a rubber ducky?

I couldn't think of anything else yellow.

-Just go with it.

-OK.

-"That might fit in my ear," Courtney thought.

-Oh, dear.

-I see where this is going.

-So did she.

Ouch!

'That crayon must be hiding. can you see it, dad?'

'Here's Dr Julian Warren to investigate.'

What colour's the crayon?

'Not you as well, doc.'

-Yellow.

-Is that your favourite colour?

-No.

-No. OK.

-'Tell us what is your favourite colour, Courtney?'

-Red.

'Red. Right. Glad we got that sorted.'

Shall we have a little look and see if we can get it out?

'First, Dr Warren needs to check exactly

'where the missing crayon's hiding.'

Yeah. We can see that quite clearly.

'Thank goodness he's found it. So where exactly is it?'

Your ears are divided into three parts, the inner, middle

and outer ear, connected by the ear canal.

The ear canal is roughly 2.5 centimetres long

and that's where Courtney's yellow crayon is stuck.

If it's left in there it could cause damage or infection.

Let's see if we can get that out, shall we?

'What's the plan then, doc?'

We'll take her through to the procedure room and we'll try

and see if we can get a little metal probe behind it

and hook it out, but hopefully we'll get it out today.

'In the treatment room, Doctor Warren goes crayon fishing

'with his special hook, but will he catch anything?'

It's a case of trying to see if we can get past it.

'The crayon just won't budge, so Dr Warren has to go to plan B.

'Find out later what on earth he's going to do with all that liquid.'

'And now to our lab. Oh!

'Where we do incredible experiments...'

Oh, it's disgusting.

'..to show you how your body works.

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

'Today's lab is all about fluorescence.'

Our teeth are going under ultra-violet light.

Oh, yours are blue. Are mine green?

No.

'So what's going on? Well, it's complicated, but...'

You see light in a spectrum from red through yellow, then blue,

then violet, and beyond violet is ultraviolet which we can't see.

But... in our bodies we have molecules that are absorbing the UV

light from these torches right now and doing something brilliant.

'The electrons and molecules in my teeth get all excited

'and when they calm down the release a special light that only

'shows up when these torches are on.

'This is called fluorescence.

'So, in normal light your teeth look like this, but if we lower

'the light they look like this and that's because the molecules in your

'teeth are admitting a fluorescent light that you can't normally see.'

'But something else in your body is fluorescent too.'

-Aww!

-Ugh!

'Yes, these are escaped splashes of wee.

'Not very hygienic, but useful for our experiment.

Best not to try this yourself. We're experts.

'Some of the waste molecules that come out in your pee also

'absorb the ultraviolet light and they become fluorescent too.'

Oh, my goodness, people are being careless.

Wait, Chris, haven't you been using this toilet all day?

Xand!

'So, if wee fluoresces under our UV torches, you know

'what this means, don't you?

-'What?

-That your body makes invisible ink.

'Wow, of course.'

We're going to do a very special experiment,

but we're under laboratory conditions.

Chris, we're in a toilet.

Look, all I'm saying is we can only do this because we're doctors,

we're a little bit silly and we're wearing protective gear.

KNOCK ON DOOR

'So, now that we've got

'Xand's wee, it's on with the invisible ink experiment.

'I'm going to ask Xand three body-related questions

'and he's going to write the answers in his wee.

'But we won't see what he's writing because we're about to prove

'that Xand's wee is invisible ink.

'It's quiz time.'

'It's a toughie, this one. Will doctor Xand get it right?'

I'm done.

'This is a good question. I know this one.'

-Are you done?

-I'm done now.

-Good.

'Hmm. The amount of wee you produce is very related to how much you

'drink in a day.

'That's the end of quiz time.'

It doesn't look like you've painted anything.

I have. It's there in my own wee. I did it.

I know, you've painted in your own urine. That's why we can't see it.

But if we turn on the ultraviolet light it'll reveal how many

Xand's got right.

-There you go.

-Yeah, look at that.

'Now you can see my answers.

'The molecules in the wee are fluorescing after absorbing

'UV light.'

So question one was, "What's the only part of the body that can't

"repair itself?"

-Teeth.

-Well, actually it's the enamel.

-I think we'll give you the point.

-Yes.

Question two. What is the body's largest organ?

-Skin?

-The skin is right.

Finally, how many litres of urine does the average human

produce in a day?

I put three.

Three is wrong.

The answer is 1.5.

-So I pee twice as much as an average person?

-That's right.

You probably drink twice as much as the average person.

Anyway, two out of three isn't bad.

Let's turn on the lights.

You can see the writing's disappeared now.

'So we've shown that molecules in your body fluoresce after

'absorbing UV light.

'You've actually got invisible ink inside your body.

'And this fact was discovered years ago.'

Urine used to be used by spies as invisible ink to write secret

messages that could go undetected by the enemy.

It's still a bit smelly though.

Xand.

Now who doesn't love a kick about in the park?

I know I do.

Me too, but football can also be a game of danger.

You could be in danger of pulling a hamstring.

Straining a side.

Or even tearing a ligament.

Ah! Ooh!

Which is why we always warm up first.

Do some gentle leg stretches.

Loosen that body up.

And make sure those muscles are warmed up a bit.

There we go.

I'm thoroughly warmed up and guaranteed to be injury free.

In fact I'm not just warmed up. I'm boiling.

Phew.

Don't need this any more.

-Oh, my eye!

-Oh, no. A minor injury.

'Put something cold on the eye until the pain is gone,

'but for no longer than ten minutes.'

But if you've got problems with your vision go to Accident and Emergency.

-How's that, Xand?

-That's much better.

I think I'm ready, but hold on.

PIRATE VOICE: Aargh, I'm going to play in the park with my ball

until my timbers are shivered.

Aargh!

-What are you doing, Xand?

-Just thought I'd try option B.

'So if you get a whack on your eye,

'put something cold on it for no longer than ten minutes.

'If you have problems with your vision,

'get an adult to take you to accident and emergency.'

Earlier, Courtney came to Accident and Emergency

after getting something lodged in her ear.

Let's see how she's getting on.

'Back in Sheffield Children's Hospital,

'nine-year-old Courtney has a crayon stuck in her ear.

'Courtney was in her bedroom with her colouring pens and pencils.

'She liked the look of the yellow one.

'"That might fit in my ear," she thought.

'Ouch.

'To remove it, first Doctor Warren tried to hook it out like a fish.

'But never caught a thing.

'So far the crayon just won't budge.

'Doctor Warren's decided to call in a colleague

'who's a dab hand at flushing things out with water.

-'Who's that then, Xand?

-You'll see.'

Have we got a towel?

'Yellow crayons watch out -

Sister Julie Morcombe's about.'

'Sister Morcombe's an expert at this procedure.'

'And don't worry, This isn't painful, it just feels weird.'

If you just put the fluid in under pressure, then what tends to happen,

the water flushes behind and pushes the foreign body closer to the

entrance to the ear canal and then it just comes out with a second go.

There you go. Out it comes. Pop!

All done.

'She came, she saw, she flushed it out.'

If there's nothing else in behind, then I'll leave you to it.

Fantastic. Thank you very much, Julie.

'Courtney's happy she's got her yellow crayon back.'

We've got it out now. She looks much more comfortable.

Watch what you put in your ears now.

'Especially yellow crayons.

-BOTH:

-'Bye.'

'Still to come...

'I learn how we talk.'

Buh.

'This girl's bumped her bonce.'

'And Xand's got guests.'

That just came out of my ear.

'That's amazing! And so is this.'

'An ordinary department store.

'With an ordinary mum buying some clothes for her daughter.

'But why's she buying four of everything?

'That seems a bit much.'

'Whoa, she's multiplied.'

'Meet Georgie, Jessica, Ellie and Holly,

'and as you might have guessed, they are identical quads, four of a kind.

When they were born, I couldn't tell them apart

so I drew their initials on their feet with a marker pen.

'Well that's one way to tell them apart.

'So what's it like being a quad?'

I like having my three sisters because I like to play with them

and have fun with them.

-'What do you think, Georgie?'

-I love it.

'Is it always good? is there a downside?'

They're great, but sometimes they're not.

'Holly?'

I can't believe that we had quads.

'Ellie, Jess, Holly and Georgie are genetically the same person,

'just like me and Chris, which means they have the same blood type,

'the same hair colour and even the same DNA.

'What do you think of that, Holly?

'But how did that happen?

'The quads all came along from the same egg.

'Normally, one egg grows into a baby,

'but with the quads the one egg split

'first into two and then those eggs

'split into four separate babies.

'But how does mum tell them apart?'

Their facial features are slightly different and as they develop

their personalities are slightly different.

'While Georgie likes eating all kind of different foods...

'Ellie is a dancer.

'..Jessica is always reading story books.

'And Holly is an artist.'

When other people get to meet them they don't see it straight away,

but once you get to know them

you can see that they are quite different.

'Now that's amazing.'

'Your body can need mending in all sorts of ways

'and we're going to meet some special teams that are trained to fix you.'

Speaking is one of most complicated things you can do, and while I bet

you know that your lips and tongue and voice box are all involved,

I bet you don't know what your soft palate does, or even where it is.

Well, open your mouth and SAY, "Aah."

Aah!

See that? It's where the dangly bit hangs from,

and most of us use it without even

thinking about it,

but today we're going to meet a patient who's learning to use hers.

'Nine-year-old Millie is in speech therapy after

'she was born with a cleft palate.

'This means she had a hole going

'through the roof of her mouth to her nose.

'She's had a series of operations to fix this.

'However, Millie still finds speaking a little bit difficult.'

There are some sounds that you find really easy

and some sounds that you find difficult.

I find the S words more difficult than other words.

-And that's the one you've been working on today, isn't it?

-Yes.

'When you make a speech sound

'like an S, the soft palate needs to lift up and make a seal with

'the back of the throat.

'In Millie's case she isn't able to do that,

'so when air comes up it isn't directed just into her mouth

'but also escapes down her nose as well.'

'To help her with that,

'she's working with speech therapist Jayne O'Connell.

'Today I've joined the class and Jayne's set us a challenge.'

Got to make up a sentence for each of these words.

I bet I'll be better than you.

I might use powerful adjectives as well.

-Oh, you might use powerful adjectives?

-Yes.

I don't think I know any powerful adjectives.

Saw.

My dad sawed the wood to make a door.

'My dad sawed the wood to make a door. Good sentence.

'Now it's my turn.'

I saw the sun shining in the sky.

No that's saw, what you saw with.

'Millie's having none of it.'

-So I can't say I saw the sun?

-No.

No, I meant like I saw the... No, that doesn't work, does it?

-Well, you tried.

-I think I need my homework more than Millie.

SHE LAUGHS

'There are other sounds that most of us take for granted,

'but again our bodies have to do more than you'd think.'

Make a "mm" sound for me.

Mm.

What happens if I hold your nose? Listen to what happens.

Buh. Oh, I can't do it.

What would normally happen is the air would come down your nose,

but because I'm holding your nose,

I'm blocking the air from coming down.

And it almost turns that sound into a "buh" sound.

So try that at home.

Make a "mm" sound, and the "mm" sound is a nasal sound where the

air does have to come out of your nose, and if you block your nose...

..you can't make the sound, so it becomes a "buh" as the air escapes.

'The really difficult thing that Millie's having to learn is

'to consciously control muscles that most people don't even know'

exist, like the muscles at the top and the back of your mouth.

So that is quite a skill to master.

'Before we finish, Millie's got her own speaking challenge for me.'

OK, so I've got to say, "Red lorry and yellow lorry."

-Say it fast.

-Fast.

Red lorry. Yellow lorry, Red worry. Lellow lorry. Red, oh...

I can't do it.

'Oh, no, she beat me again. Good luck, Millie.'

When you get injured, your body is brilliant at mending itself.

This next boy should know. He's always having accidents.

# If there's a bone to break he'll break it

# If there's a knee to graze he'll graze it

# If there's an ankle to sprain he'll sprain it

# He's the unluckiest kid. #

'Food that's gone off or hasn't been cooked correctly can contain

'harmful bacteria that attack your body.'

'But your body fights back.

'Immune cells in your tummy try to kill the bad bacteria.'

'Oh, watch out! Phew!

'Then friendly bacteria multiply and release toxins to stop them too.'

'Then your body gets you to eject them.

'Sometimes your stomach muscles contract to press them upwards.

'Or sometimes it's downwards.

'Your intestines don't absorb water when you have food poisoning,

'so when diarrhoea kicks in, a lot of liquid is flushed out

'and you're left feeling dehydrated.

'So keep drinking water, but not water with bugs in it.

'Oh, no. Not again.'

# He's the unluckiest kid. #

Coming up next, it's...

Coming up next it's...

-What are you doing?

-Nothing.

Coming up next, it's Investigation Ouch.

Gotcha.

'Now, this place may look like a hairdresser's, but it isn't.

'They're getting rid of lice.'

They're very common. I've had them, and no matter what anyone says,

they're not dangerous and they don't care if your hair's clean or dirty.

They just love to live in it.

'You can use special shampoos to get rid of these troublesome

'parasites, but this girl has come for the five-star treatment.

'Meet 11-year-old Courtney. What's it like to have lice?'

I've had them four times, and they're really irritating cos

you're always scratching your head in the middle of school lessons.

My mum's always told me not to worry,

cos you can always get rid of them.

'That's good advice from your mum. Lice are totally treatable.

'Before they go any further I'm going to have a look at what we're

'dealing with face to face.'

'Crikey! Now they may look icky, but lice are very common.

'Studies have shown that as many as one in three children are

'likely to get head lice during the year, so how do we get rid of them?

'Meet Justine Armitage.

'she's a head louse's worst nightmare

'and she's got a rather special technique.'

We'll hoover Courtney's hair with the specialist lice hoover.

'Did she say lice hoover?'

The specialist lice hoover.

'That's affirmative.'

For every live lice there is, we'll catch it in the filter

so we can count how many there are.

Is it quite fun doing it? Is it quite satisfying?

Yes, quite mouth-watering when you see lots.

THEY LAUGH

'Let's see what we can suck up.'

'Make sure you get into the corners.'

'After a thorough treatment, how's Courtney coping with being hoovered?'

It's nice.

'She likes.

'Time to see what Courtney's bonce has been keeping secret.

'So we've managed to catch several lice and you can see them

'crawling around in here.'

So why do lice love hair so much?

Well, it's warm, it's near a blood supply, your scalp, which is

what they feed on, and they can also anchor their eggs to hair

which means they're very safe and well protected.

Your hair is the perfect environment for head lice.

'Lice make you feel itchy because they poo on your head.

'Now that's disgusting but it isn't dangerous, and in fact it's quite

'useful because it's the itchiness that lets you know you've got them.'

'Now we've caught the adult lice, but the next step is to find the eggs.

'A special fine tooth comb is scraped

'through Courtney's hair to remove them.

'Let's see how many we've combed out.'

Oh! You've got loads.

'One louse can lay 100 eggs at a time.

'they're also called nits.

'A week later they'll all hatch into lice,

'and those lice just keep breeding,

'so at the end of the month one louse has become 1,000 head lice.

'Just as well we've got these guys out.'

-How are you feeling, Courtney?

-Fabulous.

-'Absolutely.'

So that's head lice.

They're not dangerous, but they are unpleasant,

but there are other things that live on your body.

Let's investigate.

'So, I've come to see entomologist Vince Smith

'from the Natural History Museum.'

So Vince, lice aren't the only things that live

harmlessly on our bodies, are they?

No, that's right.

We've also got this other parasite called a demodex mite, and with

these the older that you are, the more likely you are to have them.

So let's see if we can find some.

'Vince is scraping the skin around my eyes to try and collect

'enough gunk to test, but he doesn't get much, so we go into my ear.'

There's a good pile of gunk on there,

so let's see what we can find.

'I'm sort of hoping he doesn't find anything.

'Vince is looking through the microscope,

'and I can see everything he sees on this screen here.'

You're loaded!

Ugh, look at that! Ugh.

-Wow.

-It's moving.

-That's very good.

-That just came out of my ear.

That's fantastic.

'What does he mean, fantastic? Who is this guy?'

In the daytime, those mites are living inside the little

follicles of your hair cells and then during the night-time they

come out and they're moving around trying to find all their mates.

So every night there's a bit of a party in my ear.

So these mites are pretty disgusting,

but actually they're not doing me any harm.

In fact, they're useful because they help clean the gunk from your ear.

We're carrying around all of these passengers

and this is just the start.

There are many other human parasites that we've got too.

'But remember, don't worry.

'If you ever get lice, it's quite normal and treatable.

'I've had them.

'Plus, we all have other little creatures living on us,

'helping us out with things like the cleaning.

'Nice work.'

But they'd better not keep me up all night with their partying.

Our next patient's had a rather unusual accident.

Luckily, she's come to the right place.

-BOTH:

-Phew!

'Accident and Emergency, the place to come for treatment of serious

'injuries and terrible traumas and, hang on, this one looks all right.

'Looks can be deceiving, Xand.

'This is ten-year-old Shannon and she's, well, just listen.'

My friends was having a snowball fight.

-'Right.'

-And what I've done is I've backed away.

'OK.'

I've slipped on the ice.

'Well, ice is slippy.'

I've fell onto a...

'Onto a...? Hold on, let's get this story straight.'

'OK. So Shannon was playing in the snow with her friends.

'She was enjoying running about

'when the others started a snowball fight.'

'Oh, watch out.

'As the snowballs were flying, Shannon backed away,

'trying to avoid getting hit.

'Look out for the ice!

'Yeah, well she didn't, and she went flying,

'whacking her head onto a big telegraph pole behind her.

'Oh, so that's what it was. Ouch!'

'So let's see it then.

'Oh, that's snow joke.

'Here's doctor Shorav Munjal to sort you out.'

All right, Shannon. So what time did this happen?

'Hmm. Mum? Any ideas?'

It happened about an hour ago.

I'm just going to have a look in your eyes.

'Doctor Shorav needs to give Shannon a thorough examination,

'but if you're wondering why he's not looking at her cut, that's

'because the biggest worry after a blow to the head is concussion.'

'Inside your skull your brain is made up of soft tissue

'cushioned by blood and spinal fluid.'

'If your head hits something very hard,

'your brain suddenly shifts inside your skull

'and can knock against the skull's bony surface.'

'When the brain moves about like this it can cause temporary brain

'injury called concussion.'

'To find out if Shannon has got concussion the doctor tests

'how her brain is working

'by checking her eyes respond properly to light...

'..her muscles work normally.'

'And he checks her nerves and finally her balance.

'Luckily, it looks like Shannon doesn't have concussion which

'means now the doctor can check out that cut.'

Quite superficial.

It needs a bit of superglue to close it up.

'I'd just like to add

'this isn't the kind of glue you get at the local shop.

'It's not superglue. this is special skin glue.'

'But Shannon's not done yet.

'Wait till you see what the nurse does to fix that hole in her head.

'Shannon's own hair is being used as stitching thread.

'Tying it into knots brings the two sides together.

'Now that's what I call "using your head".

'Once the knots are in place, there's a dab of skin glue

'and it's all over. And someone's relieved.'

Pop your head up.

Are you feeling OK?

-Are you feeling all right?

-Yeah.

'Time to hit the road and head home, but maybe walking backwards

'is an idea you'll knock on the head in future, Shannon.'

I would never ever walk backwards, ever again.

'Best foot forward then, eh? Bye!'

'Next time on Operation Ouch...

'Open wide as we find out what it takes to straighten your teeth.'

She's not very talkative.

'See what me listening to music has to do with this.

'And we're mixing up a treat to show you how your stomach works.'

It looks disgusting.

Until then, that's all from...

Operation Ouch!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd