Day 9

Day 9

I started today out today in Main Theatre where all of the major surgeries take place in the hospital. It was just as amazing to be in the operating room as it always is. An exploratory surgery was taking place to see whether or not esophageal cancer could be treated. Unfortunately, the issue could not be resolved and the surgeon basically opened and closed right after. Still, seeing the inside of the human body could never be uninteresting. I then went down to Minor theatre where I had my first encounter with Spina Bifida. This precious baby was just 3 days old and was brought in to have his dressings redone. I’m not sure how this is treated in the states but I had an awful nudging feeling that more could be done as I handed him back to his mama. A man came in with a crushed foot and I had the pleasure of seeing all of his foot bones (tarsels? Haha) and watch the redressing of that wound. I fortunately found a good teacher in James and became proficient in catheterization as well today. Learning this skill was not wholly pleasant but I did have a good experience when I finished up with my first patient and he rambled off in Swahili to James about what a good job I did and how it didn’t hurt at all. He said the last student Mzungu (foreigner) tried to kill him and he can tell that I am going to be a great doctor some day. It was an interesting compliment, but I appreciated the affirmation no less. The take-away from today is that even things that don’t seem that significant to me can be used to help ease a patient’s pain and I should take full advantage of the “small things”. I plan to stay in minor theatre for the rest of the week and hopefully get a handle on suturing, removing stitches, etc. but it going to be tough for me to stay out of the Main theatre.

In other news: I washed my own clothes by hand and have never had such sore hamstrings. Let’s just say the experience made me more sensitive to the “human condition”. I also had the pleasure of taking a jog down to the beach today and it turns out that the Indian Ocean is quite warm and seaweedy. Plans for tomorrow include hospital shift and open air market. Warning: gruesome pictures from today shall be entered below.