friday, day 19

Initially I had planned on spending all my time in the main theatre today but Minor theatre was really busy so I spent most of the morning there. I had to go to the outpatient clinic to be able to dress Beatrice’s wounds. It was here that I encountered the first major efforts towards sterility since I have been in Kenya. The Matron, Margaret, went through step by step on how to properly dress a wound without cross-contaminating everything. Beatrice didn’t really like her though since she was such a tough cookie, but that Margaret sure knew her stuff. I returned to minor theatre and got to practice my suturing skills on a 25 year old guy who had been in a car accident and “degloved” his elbow and tore up the rest of it.

The highlight of the day was getting to see an orthopedic surgery on a fractured femur. Turns out orthopedic surgeons and carpenters are one in the same. The procedure required nails to be put in and a rod driven through the bone to restablize the fracture. The only complication was that there turned out to be two fractures and not one. I had the pleasure of wiping the sweat off the brows of these two very large German surgeons as they slaved away. Decidedly this is a job for the body builders. The surgeons were both great about explaining and describing what was happening. It was most startling that the patient was awake during the whole procedure because the noise of the drill is sure to make anyone’s hair stand on edge.

The big lesson from today is to take the opportunity to learn from all situations. I went into outpatient ready to just la dee daa my way in and dress Beatrice and leave but it turned out to be one of the most worthwhile moments of the day to just stop and listen to what the nurse had to say. 

the wound I sutured

gettin my suturin' on

The xray for the patient having surgery today

powertools

the procedure being done

The right side of the right leg, open to expose the bone