31st May- Major Theatre & then Orphanage

On the way to the orphanage in Usa

Village of the orphanage, apparently it's REALLY dangerous at night.

Spent five hours in major theatre today watching FOUR surgeries.  Phew it was a looooong day standing and observing but so worth it.  Another volunteer, Ina from Germany, was with me for the first surgery but then I was on my own for the final three.

• Surgery 1:  C-section

      baby girl, LOTS of pressing and tugging, pushing on the belly to get the baby to pop out of the incision.  No clock on the wall to take the time of birth, good thing the doctors and nurses all had their phones on them...The baby was shown to the mum so she can see that it was a boy or girl so that later she can receive the correct baby because it was then taken straight to the maternity ward to be looked after.  The placenta was a lot smaller than I had envisioned.

• Surgery 2:  Cyst removal 

    Cyst above the eye of a young girl, about the size of a large marble and very hard.  The surgery was done in a 'room' just to the side of the main surgery room where it was still being cleaned from the C-section.  There was one big light overhead that was movable but to get better lighted, the doctors used either a hand torch or their iphone lights...very different from home I'd say.

• Surgery 3:  Cyst removal on woman's side...same procedure as before just the cyst was twice the size
• Surgery 4: Myomectomy

    Removal of two myomas in the woman's uterus, (fibroids) through a vertical incision and then she had her tubes tied.  I'm so glad to have seen it.  The stitches broke a couple times while the surgeon was putting them in when he was trying to make sure they were really tight. 

         The doctors were really good at answering my questions during the procedures if I had any and one even congratulated me for staying for all four surgeries and not passing out or fainting.  Little did he know that I did, surprisingly for me, get light headed a few times I don't know if it was because of lack of ventilation in the rooms and my face mask or if I was getting low blood sugar (by the time of the final surgery I hadn't eaten breakfast since 7:30 and it was after 1) but I had to get air a couple times so I could continue watching.
       One of the things that got me the most out of this day was that ALL of the doctors and nurses had their phones with them in the theatre and throughout the surgery, even sometimes answering them during.  One doctor even told me to get the phone out of his pocket, answer it and put it to his ear...meanwhile he is removing that second cyst from the side of the woman...he stopped suturing briefly and proceeded to talk for a few seconds--I was shocked!

Went to the orphanage that my housemate, a volunteer Ella from England, has been working at the last three months.  Me, another volunteer from the hospital and neighbor in Usa River, and Ella played with the kids outside, drew and coloured using stencils. They loved it! The kids loved having attention and from new people was amazing for them.  It was so fun seeing them so happy! The ages ranged from probably around 6-8 but none of them knew their age and neither did the nannies that stayed there.  It was hard to tell girl from boy though, they all shared their clothes and they all had shaved heads, soooo I had to constantly ask Ella who was who, once I got names it was easy :)  But by the end I was exhausted and the kids just wanted to keep going, by 6:30pm, I was hungry, tired and just pooped! Bring on tomorrow!!