Well this is what we came here for- operating Day One. It is now 11pm and we left the OR at 9:30 this evening. A long day in the OR. We started a little late after going to Surgery Rounds. Surgery is surgery everywhere. The resident was being pimped in front of everyone. And I saw the pit they were digging for him- I was thinking "Don't jump". It is so sad. They are like sharks as soon as a little blood is out- they circle around. Made me feel right at home...
Our first two surgeries were surprises in fact Dr Bellinger said in TWICE in ONE DAY "I have never seeen this before" . Truly some rare and surprising things, but then again some typical pediatric urology such as hypospadius and UDT. The kids are just a little older than we usually see. The OR staff is great-- we have two scrub nurses assigned to us all week, two CRNAs for the morning and Pam our PACU nurse is still here. Today was really busy with medical students, nursing students, and residents in the room all day. The first few surgeries took longer for the surprises but we managed to get thru the rest in good time. Our Ghanian lunch was welcome at about 2 in the afternoon since we had been working all day. Very good and spicy rice with chicken.
The OR room can get crowded with 2 tables and all of us around both- not to mention HOT. I managed to stuff cold towels down my clothes to stay cool. We also drink alot of bottle waterIN THE OR. The insanity of the OR is nothing comapred to the Wards. There is one big room, filled with beds and cribs- no dividers no seperate rooms, most of the time two kids in one bed. First you have to find your patient among the seventy kids in teh room and since we have only seen them twice and the room is packed with kids it gets a little crazy. We have cards that indentify the pateint and list thier medications (we give out the pain meds for the first night) and when the catheters come out. All the kids come in the night before and leave 2 days after for the small surgeries. There are no IVs in the floor- those are removed in PACU. All medications are oral. Tomorrow is our first big surgery- an extrophy in at 21 year old girl. We pretty much have one or two big procedures each day- and a list of smaller ones on the same day.
The parents, usually moms, wait in the hall on benches all day. Often in thier fine clothes in the heat, they sit first with thier child and then alone. They help bring thier child up to the wards with the nurse. They are truly a patient lot. They get no calls during the procedure, they are not seeing the doctor before hand, they just wait. And wait. And still at the end of teh day when we are leaving they say "Goodnight, Thank you, and God bless."
We fixed alot of kids today and on the rest, we started the reconstructive process. WE will do that again tomorrow and for teh next three days after then.
~Stephanya Shear
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