last day in surgery! can’t believe it. we brought in the end of our supplies as well. it has been so wonderful to be able to bring in supplies each day we work, distributing everything where we see the need. I’ve said it many times before, but thank you again to everyone who contributed!! mt. meru hospital and the staff and patients here, are all so grateful!! and amy, thu and I cannot thank you more for your help and support!!
the O.R. was fairly eventful today and I was jumping from minor to major theater and back again to make sure I didn’t miss a case. I entered dr. lee’s theater just as he was starting an operation. it was one of those moments where I walked in too late to ask about the procedure, and all I could tell was that there was a growth on the back of the patient’s head. because I wasn’t sure if it was a growth, or something else, I opted to remain back, though I could have easily approached the table for a better look. this turned out to be a wise decision. a few cuts in and there was an explosion of pus that shot across the room. it was a sebaceous cyst. moral of the story: if you see something that looks like it might be under high pressure it’s best to be cautious.
next was what the schedule identified to be a ‘cystic mass at R clavicle’. that was an interesting procedure to watch and for once I felt comfortable that the doc knew what he was doing. he used a lot of blunt dissection as he was very near an area with critical veins, arteries and nerves. his caution around such delicate anatomy was not something I have seen here, and I appreciated that he shared with the large group observing the reason he was being so careful – some teaching in the O.R.! wonderful!
we watched dr. lee remove a calcium deposit from the distal part of the fifth metatarsal. from what I understood it had maybe formed after trauma to the area. he attempted to numb the hand by injecting lignocaine around the brachial plexus, unfortunately for the patient he wasn’t very successful and the poor guy was grimacing in pain through much of the procedure.
next was one of the cancelled amputations from tuesday – the 70 year old man with a gangrenous leg. it was dreadful! the smell was horrid and this poor man was so old and weak. apparently back in may he had been hit by a bicycle and it seems that the site of injury has been getting worse from that day forward. he had a gapping, oozing wound in his upper left thigh. the leg and foot were hypertrophied and shriveled. there was no bone, it had essentially rotted away and yet again we were watching this gumby leg get manipulated before our wide-eyed gaze. I was jumping between this procedure and what the schedule said was an exploratory laparotomy to check for a gastric ulcer (the schedule is handwritten and nearly illegible) – I think. basically they had the patient’s entire abdomen open and a vast majority of the guts, yup, im calling them guts, were pulled out of his body as various hands worked their way along the intestine checking for any perforations. these two procedures were quite overwhelming to watch and we called it a day once they were done. did I mention the power kept flickering out throughout the day? things I won’t miss about this place…
talk about going out with a bang! what a day to have as our final day in surgery. can’t believe we only have tomorrow in the hospital and then we’ll take off on safari. we’re very excited!! wish us many rare and wild animals :) and no rabid bats.
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