Mind-boggling Brains Operation Ouch!

He's Dr Chris.

He's Dr Xand.

And, yes, he's still got his beard.

And we're still identical twins.

Your body's amazing, and we're going to show you why.

We're head-to-head in Operation Takeover.

BOTH: Man overboard!

LOUD SIREN, THEY SCREAM

Ouch And About hits the wards.

What kind of ambulance did you get?

I didn't get an ambulance, I got a helicopter.

First Aid is back.

We do need to get Xand to hospital.

Meet our new, brilliant Ouch Patients.

Hello!

And our lab experiments..

..will blow...

..your...

..mind!

That is an amazing view.

Are you ready to join us?

It's lucky I was wearing my swimming trunks today.

-Coming up today...

-..on Operation Ouch!

Things are heating up...

That is extremely stressful.

We catch up with our Ouch Patients.

Hey, guys, it's Bolu again.

And I blow my own trumpet.

PARP!

But first...

Luckily, the team in the emergency department are super skilled.

Ooh, is it time for...

..Super-Xand!

No, it's never time for him.

Well, they'll need all their super skills for this first case.

Waiting in the emergency department with her mum is 12-year-old Jess.

Looks serious. Jess is inhaling gas and air, what happened?

My ankle, like, twisted and it really hurts.

Yep, her ankle's facing the wrong way.

That looks painful. Let's find out more.

The sun was shining and Jess was with her friend, Kenzie.

-What were they doing?

-They were jumping.

Jumping over buildings?

It wasn't parkour, Xand.

Oh. They could have been jumping in space.

They weren't astronauts,

they were jumping on two trampolines in Kenzie's garden.

Oh. Did the trampolines have safety nets?

Unfortunately not.

Ah, I think I know what's coming.

Yep, safety nets might have stopped Jess and Kenzie

-climbing on top of a fence...

-Oh, no!

..and jumping onto the same trampoline at the same time!

Uh-oh!

With Jess landing awkwardly on her ankle.

BOTH: Ouch!

What do you reckon, Jess?

Dislocated, I think.

Let's see if she's right.

Here to jump in is...

Better look at this ankle, then.

When she first came in, I could see it was dislocated.

The ankle was twisted off to the side.

You could see where the bone's pressing up against the skin.

We're going to have to get this ankle back into position,

so we've got the gas and air going now.

We'll give you some sprays up the nose,

try and get the pain under control.

The nasal spray will help relieve the discomfort Jess is experiencing.

Dr Tim cuts off Jess' leggings to manipulate her ankle

back into position.

Good girl. Big, deep breath.

Superstar. All right, well done.

Jess was pretty brave, she didn't complain at all.

We got it back into position, she coped with it really well.

Jess gets a temporary full-leg cast to make sure she can't

move her ankle at all while the docs assess if she's got any breaks.

Off she goes for x-rays.

OK, I think we're all finished, well done.

Dr Tim checks out the results.

When Jessica's dislocated her ankle, she's broken through the bone

on the inside which holds the ankle joint in place.

And that'll need an operation to fix it.

Dr Tim has to break the bad news.

Find out later how Jess gets on.

Did you know that your brain produces enough electricity

every hour of every day and night to power a light bulb?

And now to our lab.

It's time for some big body experiments.

Some of them gory...

This is a real pair of cows lungs.

..some extreme.

It's freezing!

We're ready, are you?

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

FAINT TALKING, MOVEMENT AND GUITAR PLAYING

Hi, Chris. You all right?

Yes. There seems to be something going on with your cupboard.

Get out of the way. I've got to get the samples for today's experiment.

Right, dance sample, out you come.

That's enough of that. Language sample, come on.

-Hola, me llamo Charlie...

-OK, all right, enough showing off.

And now, music sample.

LOUD CHORDS

SOUND CUTS Enough of THAT.

Xand, what is going on?

I'm so sorry, I forgot my manners, introductions.

Music sample, language sample and dance sample, meet Dr Chris.

Hi, Abby, Charlie and Elias.

-Hi, Chris.

-Hi, Chris.

My samples are all very talented at very different things,

as you can see.

But they do have one thing in common,

and it's something they have in common with you as well.

You just can't see it.

It's called...

And it's what enables you to learn everything you know.

You're right, Xand. Your brain is made up of billions of nerve cells,

or neurons, with billions of connections.

A bit like this.

You may have heard of your grey matter.

That's the surface of the brain, and it's the bit that does the thinking.

But parts of the grey matter

need to be connected to other parts using the white matter,

and that's represented by these fibre-optic cables here.

The fast connections between different parts of your brain.

And they allow you to do anything and everything.

But they aren't all set in stone.

In fact, every time you learn something like, say,

how to say something in Spanish...

Tengo 13 anos.

Or how to do a new dance move...

Your brain changes and makes new connections,

and this is neuroplasticity.

And it basically means your brain can kind of rewire itself.

Uh, hello, what about me?

I'm getting to you.

In fact, every time you try and play a new piece of music...

ROCKING GUITAR RIFF

Xand!

Ahem!

Every time you practise a piece of music,

your brain reinforces the connections

and it becomes easier than the last time.

And it's exactly the same as when I play my trumpet.

I've been practising all morning, so I should be really good at it.

TUNELESS PARPING

Let's get out of here, guys.

Xand.

I don't understand, Chris, I've been practising for literally minutes.

I mean, I should be pretty good, shouldn't I?

It's not that simple.

And to find out why it's not that simple, we need to go outside.

Come on, Xand. And come on, you.

Xand, this is my brain.

Looks more like a giant pile of sand.

Bear with me on this, Xand.

These channels that I've made

represent the connections in my brain.

And you are wearing a bottle

of information on your back, right there.

Now, why don't you pour the information

into the top of the brain?

And what you'll see is the information flows

through the existing channel in my pile-of-sand brain.

So what's happening is the channel gets deeper,

the water finds it easier to make its way through the sand.

This is just like information in your brain.

When you do something you've done before,

the information uses the same connections it's used in the past.

It picks the quickest and most effective route.

A bit like the channels in the sand.

So what would happen if you tried to learn a brand-new skill?

Well, Xand, why don't you start pouring information

into the top of the brain?

But this is new information, and it needs to take a new path.

So the information gradually starts to flow through,

but there's no good channel initially, it has to find a path.

And you can see, a channel is forming,

as Xand does more and more practice, but it's not very deep,

and information is taking a long time to get through.

And as Xand practices this new skill, the channel becomes deeper,

and the information can flow more efficiently.

So is this why I wasn't very good at the trumpet

after literally minutes of practice?

That's right, Xand, because it takes longer than a few minutes to improve

the speed of the connections between different parts of your brain.

In fact, it can take months or even years

to reach your full skill level.

But there's one more thing I can show you

on my amazing model brain made of sand.

Wow, what's that?

I can show you what would happen if your brain got an injury.

Put the shovel in there, the information now can't get through.

Xand, pour some information in the top of the brain.

That's amazing, what you can see now is the information gets stopped at

the site of injury and can't get past the shovel.

But this is where your brain is amazing.

As the information flows toward the shovel, gradually,

your brain is able to make new connections and find new pathways.

And sometimes this means your brain

can recover and regain function after even quite a severe injury.

So, we've shown you all about the connections in your brain

which enable you to do...everything!

It's called neuroplasticity.

And we've shown you that your brain is constantly making new connections

every time you learn something new.

It can even rewire itself if it gets damaged.

FLUENT TRUMPETING

I must say, Xand, that is sounding a lot better.

You must have really strengthened up those neural connections.

I'll let you get on with it.

TRUMPETING CONTINUES

Meet Kaden, Maisie, Bolu and Millie.

We're following them across the series as they let us know

what it's like to be a regular hospital outpatient.

They invite us into their lives, at home and as they undergo treatment.

Meet 12-year-old Bolu.

Hey, guys, it's Bolu again.

Bolu has a condition called...

This is where the body produces unusually shaped red blood cells,

which aren't very good at carrying oxygen.

This causes problems such as pain, tiredness and blood clots.

To make sure Bolu's blood is carrying enough oxygen,

she has to have it regularly tested at hospital.

-This is Debbie, she's taking my bloods today.

-Hi.

Hopefully, she'll be giving me loads.

No.

Debbie is going to collect a sample of Bolu's blood

using a finger-prick test.

It's not painful, but it's OK,

because I've been getting it every day of my life, really.

So it's kind of just a normal thing for me.

And how's Bolu's finger doing, Debbie?

Ten out of ten.

Ten out of ten, oh, yeah.

Yay, well done, Bolu's finger.

So we've got all them bloods off her today.

I'm so proud of my finger.

Look at my finger.

It's so cool.

These blood samples will be sent to the lab to be tested.

The doctors will then look at the results,

and if there's anything that they don't like,

then Bolu will be called in to speak to the doctor.

So now you know who's taking my bloods

and now you know where I take my bloods.

See you next time, guys, on Operation Ouch!

Back in the emergency department,

Jess needs surgery for her broken ankle.

If only there was some way we could find out what they're going to do.

There is, Xand! Come with me.

Earlier in the emergency department, Jess came in with an ankle in agony.

Jess and her friend Kenzie

were playing on trampolines in the garden.

They both climbed a fence,

jumped onto a trampoline at the same time...

-And Jess landed awkwardly on her ankle.

-BOTH: Ouch!

What's going on, Jess?

I've been here overnight,

and I'm waiting for my operation on my ankle.

Looks like Mum's been making her a balloon buddy.

Herbert the giraffe dog.

All right, Herbert? Smile for the camera.

I just love Herbert the dog.

So do I.

Jess leaves Herbert behind while she has a CT scan before her surgery.

This will give the doctors more detailed images of her ankle,

which they will use during the operation.

She heads off to theatre.

And, look, Herbert's gone along for the ride.

In charge of the operation is consultant...

First, he looks at the detailed CT scan, a 3-D picture of Jess' ankle.

He can see exactly where the breaks occurred.

He also notices a piece of cartilage has come loose.

That needs removing too.

In the operating theatre, we made a hole in the joint,

cleaned the loose fragments of bone and cartilage, which were removed.

Mr Cashman uses an x-ray camera to help guide him as he drills a hole.

And he sticks in a screw

which will hold Jess' broken ankle bone back together.

With Jess sewn up and surgery over, she has a new plaster cast fitted.

This will be on for four weeks.

What have you learned, Jess?

Do not jump on trampolines off of fences.

Good idea. And a net on the trampoline, please.

Time for Jess to head home.

Go on, then, off you go.

Oh! Oh, no!

There she goes.

-Bye.

-BOTH: Bye!

Still to come...

Ouch Patient Millie is back.

Hello!

And Cassidy spots wildlife.

So, is there a mummy giraffe?

Amazing people do lots of important jobs inside and outside hospitals

that help to keep you safe.

But what will happen when we have a go?

I feel a bit silly.

This is Operation Takeover.

Can you guess who today's hero is?

Well, I'll give you a clue - they like to wear these at work...

They sometimes use one of these...

And they get to work using one of these!

Actually, Xand, I was going to say they use a lot of this.

What?!

Brrrr!

Yep, you guessed it -

we're about to take over the jobs of today's heroes,

firefighters Andy and Gemma.

Fires can destroy homes and even lives if not attended to quickly.

Firefighters aren't just qualified to put out fires,

they're also medically trained to treat any casualties.

What sort of emergencies are you trained to respond to?

We go to small fires, big fires like buildings,

then we go to lots of car crashes.

We go to spillages of hazardous substances, floods,

all sorts of things where people need our help in the Fire Service.

Firefighters often treat people before the paramedics arrive.

This is Andy's medical kit.

This is what we call our trauma pack.

We have an AED, for people who have an heart attack.

It gives them an electric shock to hopefully

get their heart back into a normal rhythm.

We carry oxygen and masks in here

for people that have breathed in smoke.

In here is cling film, which is a perfect dressing

for somebody who has been burned.

And then bandages and tourniquets for bleeding.

Let's take on the challenge!

Are you ready, Xand?

I can't see a thing.

It's time for us to take over as firefighters.

So, behind you, you've got a burning building.

Your challenge is to get off the fire engine,

to get the correct equipment on,

get into that building, search for a casualty,

bring them out and treat them

using your first aid skills as appropriate.

I'm feeling a little nervous.

Before we get going,

firefighter Gemma reminds us what we're getting judged on.

First will be our arrival at the scene.

We anticipate that we will get to every house fire

within the West Midlands within five minutes.

So we have to get dressed,

get the vehicle to the house fire and be dressed and ready to go.

Second, how quickly we find the casualty.

It's really important when we go in that we stick together as a team.

Communication is an absolute must.

And never go any further than an arm's length away from each other.

It's dark and it's smoky,

and it could be really hot if there's a fire in there.

-So we may not be able to see.

-No.

And finally, how we treat the patient.

If somebody takes two breaths of smoke in a fire,

then they could become unconscious,

so it's a really, really dangerous environment.

Rescue of life is the most important.

Gear on, and the challenge starts.

Right, Xand, the most important thing about being a firefighter

is staying cool, calm and collected. Have you got that?

LOUD SIREN, THEY SCREAM

Time to go in, Chris. Let's see what you're made of.

I'm all over it, Xandy!

Good work. Chris arrives at the scene

and is out of the fire engine quickly.

Is that a house fire? Quickly as you can, now.

You've got it, Andy. Fireman Chris to the rescue.

There's a casualty in there, OK?

Stay low if it's hot.

Gemma leads Chris into the burning building,

and there's thermal infrared imaging to bring you the action.

Chris, are you listening to instructions?

Xand, I can't see anything in all this smoke.

You're not communicating much, Chris.

-Can you walk?

-Yeah, thank you.

There's the casualty,

time to get him out safely and treat his injuries.

-How are you feeling?

-I think I've broken my arm.

You think you've broken your arm?

-Do you know what day it is?

-Monday.

-Is it Monday?

-I think so.

You're more orientated than I am, anyway.

Come on, Chris, get with it.

All right, all right. Anyway, it's your turn.

Let's see how good you are.

Come on, hurry up, get off the fire engine.

Seriously, Xand, you've lost loads of time trying to find the door.

Follow Gemma in there.

Find that casualty for me and bring him or her out.

It's really difficult to see anything in the smoke.

You're not kidding, Xand.

Good communication skills, Xand.

All right, we've got you.

And you located the casualty quickly, well done.

OK, take him over to the casualty area, he'll need treatment.

Now, let's see how you treat his injuries.

The casualty has got burns on his hands.

Let's have a look at his sats first of all.

Oh, I didn't turn it on.

How's your hand feeling now?

Shall we get some cling film on that as well, then?

That is extremely stressful.

Challenge complete. It's time for the verdict.

First up, Andy judges our arrival at the scene.

Xand, there was a little bit of a delay

because you couldn't open the fire engine door.

-How long was that? Ten, 15 minutes?

-It was fine, I got out.

Gemma judges us on how quickly we found the casualty.

Chris, when we went inside,

you were a little bit rabbit in the headlights.

You were quite nervous, weren't sure what instructions to follow.

Rabbit in the headlights is never a good thing.

Finally, Andy judges us on how we treated the patient.

Once the casualty was out,

you were both equally good treating the casualty.

You'd make good doctors.

Well, that's relief, given we ARE doctors.

But who was the best firefighter?

-What's the verdict?

-The winner is...

-Chris.

-Chris, well done.

-Oh...

-What let Xand down?

-Not being able to get out of the fire engine.

-Right.

-Kind of like a basic firefighter skill,

to be able to open the door.

Well done. I may have beaten you,

but I think we've both learned that being a firefighter is not easy,

and I think it's probably best left to the professionals.

-We should hand back our helmets.

-Thank you very much.

It's time to visit our next Ouch Patient.

Hello.

Remember Millie? She has...

Millie's condition means she experiences pain in her joints.

Arthritis also makes my joints really stiff.

To help strengthen the muscles around her joints,

she has to do exercises at home.

I do this to strengthen my ankle.

She also has to go for regular physiotherapy lessons.

-This is my physiotherapist, Leona.

-Hi!

She gives me lots of exercises to help my joints,

and she makes me giggle.

Because Millie's arthritis affects different parts of her body,

Leona has lots of exercises for her to practice.

This strengthens the muscles around her joints,

so she can be more active and have less pain.

Wow, that looks fun!

When I'm older, I want to be a physio

so I can help other children that

have arthritis and other problems.

I love cycling.

Physio was really good, and I'm looking forward to coming next time.

How do you think Millie did, Leona?

I think that Millie's definitely...

You're definitely getting stronger, aren't you?

So, what we do need to do is add a few more to your next programme now

-to make it a bit harder.

-No!

Aw, never mind, Millie.

Come and see how I'm doing next time. Bye!

BOTH: Bye!

Your body is amazing, but sometimes it needs help.

All over the UK, there are special teams of professionals

trained to tackle medical mysteries.

We use our eyes all the time to see the world around us.

So when something goes wrong and you can't see properly,

it can be quite scary.

But don't worry, whatever your eye issue,

there are special types of doctors on hand

to help you see more clearly.

Chris, I think you'd better find out some more.

I'm on it, Xand.

I'm in the ophthalmology department,

and this is where you'll find...

Now, you don't have to be able to pronounce all that,

but you should know that they all work as a team, here,

so that if you have a problem with your eyes,

they can diagnose it and help to fix it.

This is...

And it's her job to help fix people's eyes.

Can you explain to me what an orthoptist is?

An orthoptist is part of the eye clinic,

and orthoptics deals with what we call disorders of binocular vision.

And that means, obviously, most of us,

our eyes move together and try and create the same picture.

But if one eye has a problem with it,

then it won't be seeing the same thing as the other.

And that's the whole basis behind it.

So, a common thing that you might see is a child,

where one eye is pointing in a different direction to the other.

-Yep.

-And rather than have double vision,

-the brain would just turn off the one eye.

-It does.

Your eyes work like a camera.

Light passes through the lens to the back of the eye, called the retina.

But because your lens is curved and light is straight,

the image gets turned upside down.

It's then transported to your brain through the optic nerve,

where it's flipped the right way up again.

Your brain combines these signals from each eye together

to create a 3-D image.

But when these signals aren't working properly,

you can get what's called a lazy eye.

Having a lazy eye is actually really common,

around one in 40 children will have one at some point.

And the main way of treating a lazy eye is using glasses,

and sometimes a patch.

And you put the patch over the good eye,

which forces the lazy eye to do a bit more work.

Hello, Cassidy.

Five-year-old Cassidy has had a lazy eye since she was one.

Well done.

She's had glasses and patches to treat it,

and has come in today to see Maureen for a check on her progress.

So, shall we see how clever this eye is and how clever this one is?

Yeah? Can I just pop a little cover over one eye, just for a minute?

Maureen does some quick tests to check if Cassidy's

using both her eyes equally.

I like your glasses, Cassidy.

Can you look hard and tell me what this shape is here?

Clever girl. And what's this one?

Wonderful.

Well done.

The strength of Cassidy's right eye acts as a guide for Maureen to

determine whether her lazy left eye has got any stronger.

Oops, I nearly ate him then!

So, is there a mummy giraffe?

And is there a baby giraffe?

-Yeah.

-And can you see the baby giraffe's eyelashes?

-Yeah.

-OK.

The difference between the two eyes now is negligible.

So Cassidy hasn't got a lazy eye now, she's fine.

That's great news!

We've seen how orthoptists can use glasses

to fix the vision in a lazy eye.

But if you have an eye problem, there are loads

of other eye specialists out there who can help you too.

I'm here in the studio with Dr Chris.

And, Dr Chris, I'm going to start the question

that is on everyone's mind today -

who is the next patient in A&E?

Well, Xand, I'm very glad you asked me that.

Let's go find out!

Yes, let's!

In the emergency department,

eight-year-old Chris is waiting with his mum and dad.

What's happened, fella?

My leg started hurting.

Oh, dear! Lets find out more.

It was a beautiful sunny day,

and Chris was in the playground, playing tag.

He was playing with bags?

He was playing tag, Xand.

Oh, right, flags.

Xand, he was playing tag!

Stags, right. Got it.

That does sound dangerous.

No, Xand, he was with his friends, playing tag!

OK, keep your hair on.

Righto, Chris was playing tag.

Yes! He was running really fast, when all of a sudden,

his knee twinged with pain and he had to stop.

BOTH: Ouch!

It hurts right there.

Under the kneecap.

Well, Chris, we'd better get that leg seen pronto.

Here's Dr Sarah Edwards to check out that painful pin.

Anywhere else hurting at all?

-No.

-So it's just your knee.

-Yeah.

-Fantastic.

Can you bend it for me?

Knee-sy does it, doc!

Now, can you straighten it for me?

-With pain.

-It hurts.

-And it's hurting just at the back, here?

-Yeah.

We'll get an x-ray of that knee area,

just to have a look, all right?

Chris hops off to x-ray,

where radiographer Catherine Barnett checks for breaks in that knee.

Keep that one nice and straight. That's it.

Done.

Oh, good old Dad's on hand to carry Chris.

Thanks, Dad!

What's the verdict, doc?

Looking at the x-ray,

there's no obvious breaks or anything that we can see.

It does look very swollen, that knee, though.

As the joint is enflamed, Chris will have to take painkillers.

High five? Awesome, thank you.

Have you got any advice for when I next play tag, Chris?

Be a bit careful and don't run that fast.

Sounds good. See you, fella.

Bye!

Next time on Operation Ouch!...

We're not so clever.

I've got some good advice...

You can blame it on Dr Xand.

And Xand put his feet up.

Wah!

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

Chris! Chris!

I missed the ending! Chris!

Actually, Xand, I was going to say they like to use a lot of this!

You didn't get any of it on me at all.

You'd be a terrible firefighter.

Sorry, that was really bad. I soaked the wall.

What are you doing?

You complete idiot!