Reversing A Colostomy

After two and a half hours of surgery, we finally completed the reverse colostomy. It was a very dirty procedure, that would take too long to explain through a post, so I will spare all of you the details.

Although I had to leave the room a few times in the beginning to get some fresh air, I was bedside to the patient the whole entire time. I saw inside the body cavity with great detail as they cut the small intestine and re-stitched it all back. It is truly amazing how man-handled surgery is. Most think that precision and delicacy is used, when in reality a lot pulling and tugging is involved. Tissue is by no means weak, so you must use force when it comes to making incisions.

Throughout the procedure, Dr. Mwea would sometimes pause and lecture us on some anatomy. While doing this he by accidentally ripped some tissue surrounding the intestines, causing a blood bath. No worries though, it was nothing that couldn't be fixed by some simple stitching and sutchering.

After reattatching the bowel, in order to clean out the cavity of blood and other fluids, saline and iodine were dumped in and sucked out via a tube, similar to the ones you see at the dentist. All that was left was stitching up the two wounds. As a result, part of the colon was removed, since it had been expsed to the outside air for some time, and the patient awakened about 15 minutes after complete. It was truly remarkable. Oh, and I forgot to mention that this was all done with a broken anesthetic machine. By broken, I mean that there is a leak somewhere, making it impossible to tell how much of a certain drug is entering the patient. The hospital doesnt have enough money to fix it either. Procedures like this should not be done with such a risk anymore. Our technology is too advanced for this to happen. The doctors have told me that they have been trying to get a grant from anyone wealthy enough. On top of this, in most countries, surgical tools are thrown away after one use. This is because it is cheaper for them to buy new ones rather than clean them. Hospitals, in countries like Kenya, have been using the same tools ever since their oppening, while others are disposing the same tools after a single use! It doesnt taking a genious to realize that there is something wrong here.

Now that I have experienced my first surgery, it wont be long before my hands are inside a body cavity. Cesarean sections here we come!