When surgeons perform a “36 hour operation” what exactly are they doing?

Question

What exactly are they doing the entirety of those hours? Are they literally just cutting and stitching and suctioning the entire time? Do they have breaks?

In: 4243

Answer 1

Am surgeon: If I am ever operating for 36 hours straight, a good portion of that will be cursing. Some personal pep talks. Mostly it’s the cursing though.