In the Operating Room

Dr. Patey and I were invited into the operating room to witness some of the surgeries that take place. While I appreciated the invitation, I must admit that I wasn’t sure about witnessing first hand. However, I accepted and before I knew it I was in blue scrubs from head to toe with a mask across my face (yes - that's me in the scrubs in the photo above holding the boy's hand). Dr. Bransford was performing the surgeries that morning. We met him in the operating room as he reviewed the day’s caseload and prioritized each surgery. We were allowed to take photos, some of which I have posted here.

We went into a post-operation recovery area first (ironically) where children were having their bandages re-dressed. The surgeon has to take part in this process though so three children were brought into the room crying. The nurses were amazing at calming them down and getting them prepared to have their issues addressed.

The first girl whose bandages were re-done was the small Masi child who I told you about in a previous post who had her feet amputated after a fire. She was calm and really cute as the doctors removed the bandages and re-dressed her leg which really did look quite good in my non-medical opinion. The next child we attended to I actually got involved with. This young man suffered from a fairly serious burn that affected half of his face, shoulders, and arm and had been at Bethany for over two weeks so this re-dressing was another of many that have taken place in between. As Dr. Bransford cleaned the boy and prepared him for another bandage, he started to move around because of the discomfort. Dr. Bransford asked me to come over and hold the boy’s hand as he continued. The boy gripped tightly onto my hand and I rubbed his wrist with my thumb as they worked on him. I talked to him as best I could while Dr. Bransford worked, but I don’t know if he only spoke Swahili because he didn’t respond. He did, however, calm down and relaxed enough to allow the doctors to finish his new bandages. As he was treating the boy, Dr. Bransford told us a story of a man and another boy from Nairobi who was in Bethany recently. The boy had suffered a similar burn from a fire but he had gone without any medical treatment of any kind for 6 weeks before he arrived at Bethany. While this may seem neglectful, the man simply could not afford to take his child to the hospital because he didn’t have any money. Eventually he heard about the work being done here at Bethany. He took whatever money he could and brought him in to the hospital. This is such a foreign concept to us in Ontario with our health care coverage. There is health care here in Kenya for as little as $5 a month for situations requiring hospital stays, but even that is out of reach for many people.

The third child we attended to was a young girl from Mogadishu in Somalia. She was having her leg cast removed so it could be re-treated and then re-cast. The doctors were able to remove some of the damage to her leg that had been caused by a missile in the Somali capital. We had met her and her father the day before. They are the ones in the photo with me that I posted yesterday.

Dr. Patey and I then followed Dr. Bransford into the operating room. The surgery we would witness was on a young infant girl with spina bifida. I had never witnessed a surgery before first hand and saw all of the prep that goes into preparing for such work. The girl had a growth on her lower back from spina bifida which the surgeons were going to work on. I could go into more detail about the specifics of what they had to do, but suffice to say the result was incredible. The growth was quite large when the child was wheeled in but by the time the surgeons were finished, it was reduced significantly to the point where besides the stitching, it would be barely noticable.

Spina bifia does sometimes also mean neurological difficulties because of the swelling on the spine and all of the nerves that run to our brain go up the spine. However, when treated early, while spina bifida cannot be ‘cured’, the surgery can prevent it from getting any worse and progressing any more. In most of these cases, the child can go on to lead normal lives with minimal disruption and discomfort. I don’t know how the child who we witnessed today would work out, but from what I saw and from what Dr. Bransford suggested, it was a successful surgery.

I didn’t anticipate getting the opportunity to witness surgeries and get into that part of the hospital but I am grateful for having done so. It really put a perspective on what the surgeons do for the children. I was grateful for the perspective on the wards with Mercy, but seeing the doctors at work really put the whole experience in perspective. I had the chance to visit with many children and parents on the ward to get to know them personally, then also had the privilege of witnessing how the doctors do their work.

Obviously getting into the operating room was a huge privilege (Dr. Patey said he never gets into the OR at the hospital he works at in Kingston!) and the invitation was extended because the doctors were so moved by the support and encouragement of the St. Vincent community. They send their thanks and best wishes!