Cirugías

Last week, the volunteers at the clinic had the opportunity to assist in a few surgeries. It was special because it was the first time the clinic has offered such a major surgery using Peruvian doctors. Our newest doctor Gabriela was to perform a hernia surgery on a 50-year-old man who had been suffering the symptoms of the hernia for about 5 years. His abdominal muscles had completely atrophied, allowing his intestines to be fully hanging out of his abdominal cavity, forming what looked like an enormous, lopsided beer-gut. He also had a few lesions on his stomach where the intestines had fused with the skin, and were threatening to protrude to the outside like a colostomy.

After scrambling all day to collect the necessary meds and equipment and to sterilize all the instruments, we were finally ready for the surgery. Gabby cut him open and found that the peritoneum was fused to the skin with thick layers of fibrosis. She spent most of the time separating the two layers with scapels, scissors, and an electric scalpel that essentially burned its way through the tissue. She then let all his intestines flop out onto his lap. After checking to make sure it was all there and separated, she sewed two pieces of mesh into his abdominal wall to contain the intestines, taking the place of the muscles. She then cut off a piece of skin and began to stitch him up, which took over a half hour. He woke up and we popped him into a taxi to Pisac for him to recouperate for the evening.

The following day we assisted on a vericose vein surgery on a local woman. The anesthesiologist gave her an epidural and she remained conscious during the surgery. Gabby made an incision in the upper groin area, and one near her knee. She tied off the vein, made an incision, and inserted a long metal cable. She attached a ball-like knob to the end, told us to stand back, and yanked it from below, completely removing the vein. She repeated this a few times to remove other vericose veins, and the surgery was over.

Next weekend we have a plastic surgery campaign coming from Portland (OHSU actually!). We are all really excited to see the surgeries that the medical team will perform. They repair a lot of cleft lips here, along with repairing burns and other injuries. This week will be a lot of work preparing for the team, while the following 10 days will probably be crazy long hours with lots of work. Can´t wait.