So, I have a really bad cold, which I'm kind of whiny about, but other than that things are good.
Yesterday was "clinic day," so I got out of the hospital relatively early and went food shopping at the market with Gemma, Hanna and Gary. Since I'm living with the Mitchell's I've been pretty spoiled because they keep me fed, but I've been getting together to cook with the Irish/Swiss contingent as well. All that shopping was for naught, though, as the Ardills had me over for dinner.
Today I once again ventured out of general surgical territory into Urology. A woman had a blockage somewhere along her urinary system, but we have very little in the way of imaging (no CT, no x-rays during operations) and a very bad cystoscope (bladder camera) so Dr. Ardill had decided to do a surgical exploration. Luckily, this "maximally invasive" surgical approach was successful as she had a large stone in her ureter.
Surgery #2 for the day was a skin graft on a man's non-healing leg wound. In the US we have a machine called a dermatome for harvesting skin grafts, but here we harvest with a straight "weck" blade. I have never done this and so the senior resident offered to scrub in and help me. It rapidly became apparent that he had very little idea how to do a skin graft, and he admitted that he had never done one with the weck blade either. With a little help from a wonderful scrub nurse with the weck, I managed to do what I feel was a very nice skin graft... we'll see if it takes. I am very grateful today to the hours and hours that I have spent in the OR at UCSD with Dr. Potenza doing skin grafts... I learned from the best, and I tried to pass on a little bit of it to my Nigerian partner in crime today.
The man today was not a burn victim but we end up doing a fair number of skin grafts for burn victims, particularly children. In addition to the "normal" burn patterns of children pulling hot liquids off tables, etc, there are additional hazards in this culture. Most people heat up water by placing an electric heating coil in a bucket of water on the floor, into which children fall and get burnt. Electric wires are often exposed on the walls of homes. Young children are helping with work on cars and motorcycles. These all add up to a lot of childhood burns.
Adding to my difficulty in posting pictures of these things is the fact that I brought the USB cord that belongs to my old camera, not this one. To upload pics I have to borrow a camera, swap the card, and then pay to upload. So... please be patient (Allison.) :)
Yesterday was "clinic day," so I got out of the hospital relatively early and went food shopping at the market with Gemma, Hanna and Gary. Since I'm living with the Mitchell's I've been pretty spoiled because they keep me fed, but I've been getting together to cook with the Irish/Swiss contingent as well. All that shopping was for naught, though, as the Ardills had me over for dinner.
Today I once again ventured out of general surgical territory into Urology. A woman had a blockage somewhere along her urinary system, but we have very little in the way of imaging (no CT, no x-rays during operations) and a very bad cystoscope (bladder camera) so Dr. Ardill had decided to do a surgical exploration. Luckily, this "maximally invasive" surgical approach was successful as she had a large stone in her ureter.
Surgery #2 for the day was a skin graft on a man's non-healing leg wound. In the US we have a machine called a dermatome for harvesting skin grafts, but here we harvest with a straight "weck" blade. I have never done this and so the senior resident offered to scrub in and help me. It rapidly became apparent that he had very little idea how to do a skin graft, and he admitted that he had never done one with the weck blade either. With a little help from a wonderful scrub nurse with the weck, I managed to do what I feel was a very nice skin graft... we'll see if it takes. I am very grateful today to the hours and hours that I have spent in the OR at UCSD with Dr. Potenza doing skin grafts... I learned from the best, and I tried to pass on a little bit of it to my Nigerian partner in crime today.
The man today was not a burn victim but we end up doing a fair number of skin grafts for burn victims, particularly children. In addition to the "normal" burn patterns of children pulling hot liquids off tables, etc, there are additional hazards in this culture. Most people heat up water by placing an electric heating coil in a bucket of water on the floor, into which children fall and get burnt. Electric wires are often exposed on the walls of homes. Young children are helping with work on cars and motorcycles. These all add up to a lot of childhood burns.
Adding to my difficulty in posting pictures of these things is the fact that I brought the USB cord that belongs to my old camera, not this one. To upload pics I have to borrow a camera, swap the card, and then pay to upload. So... please be patient (Allison.) :)
4 comments:
Every time I read your blog, I am more and more thankful that I am lucky to live in the good ol' USA. We take our wonderful medical care for granted. Anyone who complains about it should be forced to read about the conditions the poor Nigerians have to deal with. Keep up the good work! They are lucky to have you! - Diana
How long will you be in Nigeria?
I'll be in Nigeria until the end of the month... then I go to Kenya/Tanzania to hike Kili. I'll be back in the US mid-november
don't you mean mid october??
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