Surgery on steroids

Thursday we did two mastectomies, two hernias, a hydrocele, a lipoma, drained a neck abscess and I don't remember what else. Today we did a prostatectomy, two hernias, a tube ligation, sutured an eyelid, saw a kid eviscerated by a bycicle (seriously!) and put it back together, and sutured an arm that was hacked to pieces in a machette fight. Not to mention the consults. And rounds. 

I get to practice my subcutaneous sutures on every patient, my LPs while doing the spinal anaesthesia, and generally have a great time sticking my hands inside patients, looking for a prostate here, a fallopian tube there. To me, this is kinda like Disneyland: you stand around for hours but you have fun anyway. My legs and back are always killing me at the end of the day, I'm basically standing up from 8am-6pm straight.* No pause, no lunch, no bathroom break. And I love every second of it. I don't even remember I'm hungry until we finish the last case. Then my stomach wakes up and screams at me, demanding to be filled. 😂😂😂

We saw a baby with a meningocele on the lower back and hydrocephalus. He already had trouble opening his eyes. And there's nothing we can do. We sent them home. The baby will get worse and worse, without any way to relieve the pressure on his brain, and he'll die. There's no neurosurgeon here. No imaging (beyond ultrasound). No instruments or materials to insert a shunt. 

Neurosurgery is not an easy specialty to practice in Africa. At least, it seems impossible in Chad. Hence why Danae is trying to convince me to do OB just like Dr. Scott tried to convince me to do general surgery. But just touching that baby's soft spot, knowing his brain was right there, gave me a chill. I really don't think I'm gonna change my mind (although the only thing that could possibly do it, is cardio). 

We also saw a little one with a hemangioma on the left hand. We're going to operate on Monday. Should go well, but we might lose the little finger. Hopefully we can save it though. 

Anyway: lots and lots of work, every day, from morning 'till night. I'm not complaining. 😊😊😊

*I guess surgery rotations in the US are worse, you have to be there at 4-5am. We start rounds at 8am here and OR after that, usually around 10am, until 6pm and doing consults in between surgeries.

Mastectomy for advanced breast cancer. Non-curative, her lymph nodes were already involved, but hopefully this will give her more time.

Loosening a prostate with my fingers. There's no way to do transurethral prostatectomies here, so it's still done old school, through the bladder.

That was only the first half of the prostate!! 

Concentrating on my sutures! :)