Preop Clinic Sunday and Surgery Monday; School is in Session

Preop Clinic on Sunday and Surgery on Monday; School is in Session

On Sunday we held our preop clinic at the hospital. I saw 19 patients who had been prescreened by the local doctors and felt that 9 of them would be good surgical candidates. The patients, who are from Southern Nepal, speak Thauru but not Nepali, so I asked my questions to one of the nurses who speaks English and Nepali, and then she interpreted to Nepali my question to the daughter of one of the patients who speaks Nepali and Thauru who then spoke to the patient in Thauru. With each of the patient's answers it was back around the translation chain again, so I could understand her responses. One of the patients was having a problem with very heavy periods and had an enlarged uterus, the other patients had prolapse symptoms. We scheduled 4 patients for surgery on Monday. I got a call from the hospital on Sunday evening that the patient who had been having abnormal uterine bleeding was severely anemic with a hemoglobin of 7.2! (normal is 12). We gave her a blood transfusion over night to prepare her for surgery.

On Monday we performed 4 surgeries. A volunteer Ob/Gyn from Germany sponsored by Rotary assisted me in the first 2 cases. I also saw 7 new patients. 6 of whom are surgical candidates.

Brian began his service in the school on Sunday, as Sunday is a regular school day here. The children are adorable. They wear uniforms with light blue shirts and ties. Brian is working with the science teacher. He shared the photos of home with the kids; their favorite was the one from pack meeting where Brian has an albino python around his neck. He also taught the kids the game "Duck, Duck, Goose" and the song "Old McDonald Had a Farm."