It was our first time to witness any type of eye surgery. Our first impression was that the instruments are CRAZY small! Also, there is no type of sedation involved here. The patients are fully awake and alert the whole time. A little different from abdominal and vaginal surgeries!
The first step is a pair of injections to numb the eye. One goes right underneath and the other goes right above. The needle actually goes back behind the eye and fills that cavity full of medicine. That part was a little creepy to watch. Normally, Americans have to be sedated for that step. Our Mayan patients just lie there. These people are TOUGH!
We won't get into the whole bit, because it sounds a lot creepier than it looks. The whole thing is done through a microscope, which the doctors were gracious enough to let us use to take peeks once in a while. This type of surgery (cataract surgery) is fascinating. Again, very, very different from abdominal and vaginal surgeries!
The first pic is of some of the OR team members before surgeries started this morning.
The second pic is of a fully draped patient, ready for her surgery.
The third is a shot of the crew during the surgery.
And the fourth is what a really bad cataract looks like when it comes out. (We showed the uterus pictures, we had to show the cataract!!!)
This afternoon, Heidi and Matt are going to Chichicastenango to operate with Dr. Hoak on a patient with a huge tumor on his back. We told you about him earlier this month and Dr. Hoak is going to do that case today.
Oh, and there's a huge festival going on in town this week. There may be a slight conflict (read: major conflict) with the use of our clinic room tonight. It tried to happen last night, but after seeing nearly 300 patients in one day, it really wasn't the best night for that. Please pray for everybody to work together and to try to understand both sides' points of view on this.
Note for future reference: when a team is scheduling a trip, we should try to avoid national holidays and town festivals on the calendar!!!!
2 comments:
I was with Grandma when she had her cataract surgery and they just kept numbing her eye with various drops until they took her for surgery, she was not "put under". Patient feels much better without that.
What miracles the Maine Team are performing. Do 300 patients in one day set a record?
We're praying for the man with the tumor.
God bless you all, Mom
Thank you for adding the pictures of the Maine Team. I am the wife of one of the techs and it has been very nice to be able to read about his days and see the pictures.
Kim (wife of Jim)
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