Surgery Week - Day 3

Day 3 – Surgery Week

On Wednesday, we had the opportunity to observe in the OR, watching the surgery process and children’s lives transform before our eyes.  This was Karina and Century’s first time in the OR and my third.  Each time, the expertise and drive of surgeons, nurses, and anesthesiologists never ceases to amaze me.

We changed into our brightly colored scrubs and animal print scrub hats.  Donna Trent, the Child Life Therapist, had made some fun scrub hats for the team and Karina, Century, and I chose the animal print. Perfect for the OR when you’re in Kenya!  We saw some other cool scrubs, including an Obama scrub hat worn by quite a few of the Kenyan volunteers.

Once changed, the Clinical Coordinator, Donna Franklin, showed us around the OR, so we could see the schedule, the five surgery tables, and best practices in observing. I must say that Donna is a truly amazing woman and clinical coordinator.  Never once did I see her stop and rest throughout the week.  Her role is to coordinate the surgery schedule and make sure everything runs as scheduled.  She would retrieve patients from child life, when they were up next for surgery.  Her beautiful smile and warm heart, always kept the patients at ease as they left their family members to walk into the OR for surgery. 

We were all a bit nervous to view a surgery, as there have been horror stories of people and students passing out in the OR.  I myself almost passed out on my last mission in India, while in the OR. A student did too.  There were a few tips to try and avoid this: don’t lock your needs, don’t forget to breath, and step outside to set and get some fresh air if you start feeling the slightest bit off.  Karina and Century were initially cautious about getting to close, but in a short time they were accustomed to the OR and watchig surgeries as they happened, right along side the medical volunteers.  The surgeons and other volunteers were very engaging and welcoming to us and happy to share their knowledge and the surgery process with the students.  I was able to capture some photos of their incredible work.

I have only been on three Operation Smile medical missions, and out of those three, this mission has the most burn patients, by a lot.  In previous OR visits, I have viewed cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries, which are truly a work of art by the surgeons.  This time, there were quite a few burn patients on the schedule, so I was intrigued to try and watch the process. 

One burn surgery was on a young girl named Debra.  Since the first time I met her during screening, her sweet smile and somewhat shy personality touched me.  She had been badly burned on her entire right arm, chest and some of her back.  Without the proper care, the skin will become contracted as it heals and can leave a previously mobile part of the body, immobile.  This was the case with Debra.  The skin had contracted and she could no longer flex or move her arm well at the elbow and under arm area.  Two dedicated Kenyan surgeons, Gome and Albert, worked together to adjust the skin in certain areas, so to correct the problem.  Since the skin had contracted so much, they also had to do a small skin graft, taking skin from her stomack and putting it on a small spot on her arm.

 Debra in Pre-Op the morning of her surgery

This is her burn scar, before surgery photo

The girls and I were hesitant to watch the second burn surgery.  The little girl’s story was painful enough, but to watch was even more heartbreaking but also uplifting knowing that Operation Smile volunteers were going to help her as much as we could.

Her name was Joyce and she was seven years old.  She had recently been burned over more than 25% of her body (all over her head and face, her back, her arms and hands, and her chest).  The burn had happened a month ago. Joyce and her family are refugees and lived in a refugee tent community.  One tent caught on fire, and with it being windy out, other tents quickly caught on fire too.  The tent that Joyce and her sister were in also caught on fire.  We came to learn that Joyce’s older sister escaped the fire but returned to the tent to help get Joyce out.  Somehow, Joyce survived with the extreme burns, but sadly her sister did not. 

Not only did Joyce survive a devastating fire, but she lost her sister.  I myself have lost a sibling and know that words cannot describe how that alone can turn your world upside down.  I know I will continue to think of Joyce and hope that as her scars on the outside heal, that the scars left on the inside too will heal.  No doubt it will be extremely hard, but I have confidence that Joyce and her mother, who tried to remain calm and strong at the hospital, will be able to endure through this terrible tragedy.

It was difficult to watch the surgeons unwrap her bandages.  Though a month had passed, the burns on her forehead and forearms seemed fresh.  In hopes that her burns would heal better, Dr. Robert Russell, a surgeon who I later found out has been volunteering for 23 years, and Resident Surgeon, Ryan, worked together along with many others, to take skin grafts from her thigh and fix them to the worst burned areas (forearms and forehead). Because her entire face had been burned, as it healed, the skin around her eyes had contracted to the point where she was not able to close them.  They also created new eyelids for her. Once you removed yourself from the emotions and Joyce’s life situation, it made it easier to just watch in amazement, the work of the medical volunteers. 

I am grateful for the opportunity to be among such talented, compassionate individuals, and witness them working alongside one another in the OR to change lives.

We spent all morning in the OR.  Afterwards, we helped out in Child Life and Post Op and visited the patients in Pre-Op that had arrived to receive surgery the following day.  Later, we had the unique opportunity to accompany another Operation Smile staff, a few guest volunteers, and a previous Operation Smile world care patient, to a local Kenyan Museum, Hyrax Hill.

It is a pre-historic site near Nakuru that is considered one of Kenya's most important neolithic excavation sites. The museum was much different from our museum standards, but very interesting.  Hyrax Hill was an archealogical site, where they had found artifacts and other information about earlier peoples that had lived in the area dated as far back as 1500 B.C.  They were pastoral tribes that traveled around with livestock.  After we walked through the small museum (three rooms), we followed a path over Hyrax Hill to see some of the actual excavation sites.  It was an enjoyable experience.

Closing with another photo to SMILE about:

Debra the morning after her surgery!  I was able to visit her before she left and gave her a pillow made by a student volunteer in California:)