I feel like I should explain a few things before I tell you
about Baby Tuesday.
1.
I’m the daughter of an ER doc who believes in
experiencing things for yourself. He once removed an ingrown toe nail in our
kitchen with all of the children present. He taught my organ dissection labs.
He has taken us on tours of the Simulation Center and let us mess around on the
simulators. Intubating, poisoning, and rescuing the pretend people to our
heart’s content. ER docs get some crazy patients, so often at the dinner table
he would tell us some truly revolting stories. But I didn’t find them revolting,
more like hilarious/ very interesting. I think his efforts to familiarize me
with the medical world really helped the past few weeks.
2.
Now let’s talk about scrubs. I know everyone
loves them because they’re just like pajamas and super practical and convenient
and come in festive patterns. I love them for all of those reasons too. But
allow me to add yet another wonderful facet about scrubs. The pants. At Tenwek
girls have to wear a longish skirt almost everywhere. This is ok for the most
part, but it is highly inconvenient when one is shadowing at the hospital.
Mostly because Doctors walk fast and the floors are constantly being cleaned.
Wearing a maxi skirt and trying to keep up with doctors and keeping it out of
puddles just is not worth it. So when someone lent me a pair of scrubs I was
absolutely delighted. Scrubs: feel like pajamas, very handy pockets, come in
festive patterns, don’t drag in cleaners or make it hard to keep up with
doctors.
3.
At one of our training weeks before we left for
Kenya we met the Many family. Mr. Many is a Surgeon and Mrs. Many is an
Obstetrician/Gynecologist. They’re from Tennessee and have 2 girls Reese and
Mary Taylor. We like the Manys.
4.
Our missions organization has a branch called
VIAs. (Yeah, like the instant Starbucks)
They are usually college students who come for a few months to a WGM
ministry and help out. Alex is a VIA from Georgia who at language school for a
while then she came to Tenwek. She helps out with the kids here and shadows at
the hospital. We hang out, workout, rant at the unreasonable attractiveness of
actors etc. She’s a huge help to the families here; everybody loves Alex.
OK, I think we’re ready now.
While we are here at Tenwek I shadow Angela Many on
Tuesdays. I love it! I follow her around
during rounds, watch her do surgeries, and hang out in the delivery ward. Great
fun! So far I’ve sat in on a C-section (they do a lot of those here), A hysterectomy
(removal of a uterus) seen a few babies be delivered, and a few other surgeries.
The first Tuesday I watched her do a C-section. Tenwek
hospital allows students to observe in certain areas of the hospital. So, as
long as I keep my mask and surgical cap on and don’t tough anything sterile I
can watch the surgeries. Dr. Many is wonderful about explaining what she’s
doing and what layer she just cut through and when interesting stuff is about
to happen.
The C-section I saw was the patient’s 5th
C-section; all the previous babies were girls which, in Kenya, is
disappointing. This lady was praying for a son.
There’s no AC in the
hospital so the OR was already a bit warm. They wrapped Dr. Many in a rubber
apron, and a warmed gown so she was quite toasty. I was feeling overheated just
from the mask I was wearing so I can’t imagine how hot she was.
The whole procedure I found
fascinating but won’t describe most of it. First they prayed (The doctors pray
when the go on rounds, before they talk to a patient about treatment options,
before surgeries or procedures of any kind, etc. I particularly love that about
Tenwek.) This baby was a breech baby, so not head down like it should be but
feet down instead. So the doctors had a bit of a time getting the head out, but
when they did it was amazing. To see internal organs is normal (well normal for
me. Come on guys we all took anatomy. We’ve all read the Magic School Bus. Miss
Frizzle introduced us to pretty much every organ in existence) but to see among
all those normal things a real actual baby! That was amazing. They told her the
exciting news that the baby was a boy (!!!! She said she was going to spend the
rest of her surgery planning a party), finished sewing her up and then Dr. Many
and I went to go check on the baby. His name is Ishmael and he is absolutely
precious. The mama is doing fine, baby is fine, daddy is elated J
Alex and I both shadowed the OB
department on Tuesday 2. We went on
rounds, watched a few surgeries, and then sat in the delivery ward and
observed. This observing time yielded some
unexpected experiences. Somebody thought I was a doctor and asked me to come
help with a lady who had just delivered her baby. I quickly clarified that I
have NO medical training whatsoever. (Le scrubs were a bit misleading I guessJ) One lady’s waters broke and she was so
startled that she threw her flip flop at Alex. We watched a lady have her 8th
baby and a lady have her first. All in all a marvelous day.
When we got back to the
apartment this exchange kinda defined our frame of mind.
Meredith: Hey guys, guess what’s
gross.
Helen: Uh James?
Alex: Afterbirth.
Helen: Uh James?
Alex: Afterbirth.
Tuesday number 3 Alex and I both
learned about fibroids. Apparently, they are non-cancerous tumors that grow on
the uterus muscle. In the states they are usually noticed pretty quickly and
dealt with. But in Kenya you don’t go to the hospital unless something is
seriously wrong. So when we came into the Operating Room I thought the wrong
lady was on the table. She looked 5 months pregnant. But, in reality, she had a
massive collection of fibroids that were causing all sorts of problems. So we
watched as they removed her uterus (which was gigantic). Unfortunately both
Alex and I felt pretty unwell and had to go home after that. But next week,
hopefully, we’ll make it the whole day J
.JPG)
(Everybody say eeeeeew and then coooooool)
Shout out to Alex for the pictures and Dr. Many for allowing us to follow her around and ask questions.
