Surgery

I was able to observe multiple surgeries up close and personal the other day. I am still in shock at what wonderful work they do and what amazing miracles are done in those rooms. They don't just repair their physical brokenness, and remove disfigurements. In doing these surgeries, they lift spirits and help in repairing hearts.

I met in the OR office with my scrubs on and was taken to my first room. I went to an OR where Dr. Gary was operating on a 6 year old boy who had a cleft pallet. I've never actually seen a cleft pallet in person before coming here, because this is something that's fixed very quickly in the states. Dr. Gary explained to me what he was doing, let me stand right next to him and see what he was working on and kindly explained everything. Many times cleft pallet surgeries are done when they are babies. When they are done later in life this can cause more serious issues. This sweet boy, because he never had surgery, hasn't been able to really speak. Another problem with cleft pallet is the increase of hearing issues. Children have ear problems and infections and things like that, but children with cleft pallet have it much more often, causing loss of hearing over time. They look somewhat disfigured, have speaking problems, slowly go deaf and are pushed further and further out of society. This surgery will change that. Now he'll go through therapy and relearn how to speak and be able to live a better life than before. 

The second room I went into was the eye room. I was able to watch the removal or Ptyerigyums. Ptyerigyums are a growth of pink, fleshy tissue on the white of the eye. It is a noncancerous lesion that usually grows slowly throughout life. A pterygium can continue growing until it covers the pupil of the eye and interferes with vision. The environment here (sun, sand, dust) increase the risk for this to happen. I was about too look under a microscope to cut/sand off (using a tool made from diamonds) the growth, and then cut out tissue from the healthy part of the eye and basically sew it onto the area where the growth had been renewed. This was a relatively short procedure and I was shocked to know the patients are completely awake during this. They just numb the area. The procedures were quick and fascinating to watch. Another common procedure here is cataract removal which is done very quickly. They've even created their own method especially for procedures here on ship that's even quicker than the normal method. People come in blind or nearly blind and leave being able to see. 

The last procedure I was able to see was a tumor removal. This woman had a mass larger than a grapefruit near her right ear and cheek/jaw line. Again, this is something that would have been removed in the states early on. I came into the room while the  tumor was still attached and watched the removal process. Before I knew it the large mass was removed, sitting on a table, and her cheek was being stitched up. I was amazed that something so large could be removed and repaired in such a short amount of time. I can only image what it would be like for her to wake up and no longer feel the very thing that brought her embarrassment and shame, and for her to look in the mirror and no longer feel it there, and see just herself. Praise God for amazing medical staff to carry these operations out.