Pediatric Surgery!

Maureen and I

More adventures in the National Hospital in Chimaltenago! Observing surgery was not what Maureen (my site leader) and I expected to be doing when we went to the hospital today… But observe we did :) This was up close and personal surgery. The first surgery was a good warm up for the second. I don’t have pictures of the first one but you may wish I did instead of the ones I do have of the second. Proceed with caution!

A girl of eight lay on the gurney with her eyes open. She’s Sophia’s age. She looks tall, lying out like that. Is Sophie that big? Is she asleep yet? She blinked and looked around but didn’t seem frightened. The surgeon and nurses moved her to the operating table. She was still calm and compliant. The nurse began deliver a medication through her iv. The girl turned her head and looked at her arm curiously. Very slowly, she lifted both arms and touched her forearm where near the iv. “The medicine burns,” Maureen explained. Poor girl. Her eyes stopped scanning the room. An oxygen tube was placed in her mouth. A sheet with a square hole cut in it was draped over her with the hole centered on her inguinal area. The girl became a square of skin with a problem hidden beneath. Layer by layer, the metal tools searched for, found, and repaired the hernia. Layer by layer, the needle and thread sutured the flesh back together. A bandage covered the incision. The sheet was removed. The little girl’s face surprised me. I had forgotten who that patch of skin belonged to.

Pelvis and ribs jutted out. I couldn’t tell if the wide eyes and smile of the young man on the table was a result of fear or if he was actually happy about having a major surgery on his 17^th birthday…The surgeon imitated a mariachi band for him and we wished him happy birthday. He laughed and thanked us. He blessed us and asked for God’s protection. We reassured him that everything was going to be all right. His eyes closed. The oxygen tube went down. The catheter went in. A thick needle pierced his neck. I winced. “For more serious surgeries they need a central line directly to his heart in case of emergency,” Maureen explained. Ouch!!  The young man was thin – a malnourished 88 lbs. His intestines absorbed little due to infection and being riddled with holes that leaked all his nutrients out. A large scar from a past failed surgery ran down his midline. A bandage was removed from his belly button area. Fluid leapt up! The nurse leapt out of the way. The sheet with the hole focused my attention to gray fragile net of skin. This may be more involved than I thought it was going to be… An incision was made and the surgery was underway. The smell of burning flesh and fecal matter hung in the air. Suddenly, everything went black and quiet! No one dared to move. The nurse pumped the oxygen by hand. About ten seconds later, the lights flickered back on. The next time that happened half an hour later, the doctor was ready with a huge flashlight and continued the surgery without electricity. An hour and a half later, all the intestines had been taken out foot by foot through the 10 inch incision, examined, and all the holes were stitched up. Phase two was to cut out the length of intestine with the worst infection and sew the two healthy ends together. Maureen and I had to go so we did not see this surgery through to completion. 

Observing!