Eye hospital

Today, I met my friend and she said I was going to watch an eye surgery. COOL!

So we got there and I chatted with an optometrist. He showed me some of the equipment which was all donated. He is the only optometrist who works there and there is one full time ophthalmologist. Every couple weeks, they have a surgeon come in from Kathmandu and do a few surgeries. Today, there were 8 people scheduled to have cataracts surgery. I saw 7 of them. He said they have eye camps often, but not in the summer. It is the farming season, so if they set up a camp, few people will come. He said every other season the camps happen. CDRA runs a huge eye camp in October/November. They bring in foreign doctors and alert surrounding villages of the event. They do hundreds of eye surgeries and exams. I will have to come back for that some time.

Someone gave me scrubs, a mask, and a hair covering to put on. She pointed at a door to go through and I found my self in the OR. They were just finishing up on an elderly man. All of the patients were elderly, and he was the only man. There were 2 or 3 groups (I couldn't tell because everyone looks the same in scrubs) of 4 girls who looked like they were taking notes on the surgeries. They crowded really close to the doc and she didn't mind. So I did too.

The surgeries went quickly. I timed one from the first incision to patching up  the eye. It was about 7 minutes. At one point, some tall white guy in scrubs came in and asked if he could take photos. I figured if he could take photos, I could too.

When I took out my camera, so did one of the students.

The standards for cleanliness were very different. When I shadowed a vascular surgeon, he scrubbed in before every surgery, bed sheets were changed, tools came out of sealed plastic. Here, the the doc didn't change her gloves or clothes. I think the tools were soaked in alcohol. Shoes were optional, and if there were shoes, they were open-toed sandals. Not sure how unsanitary that part was, it just seemed weird to be doing surgery barefooted.

Bare feet in the OR.

One of the technicians left for a few surgeries. I had been watching her, so when she left I did some of her activities. The doc gave me the dressings to throw away, apply ointment, and then tape up the eye. The first time she asked for these things and I was kinda surprised when the students just stood there. Not really interesting jobs but it was nice to feel involved. Anyways, I'm hoping to work my way up the totem pole. Oh that's the other unsanitary thing. They used the same tube of ointment on every eye after every surgery. The tip definitely touched peoples' eyes. I guess if it was antibiotics it wouldn't matter too much.

It was really cool to watch the surgery. First, she'd clamp open the eye. Then she cut in to the top of the iris. She poked around in there with some fluid and a scalpel. I think she was getting the old lens loose. The patient's eyes started out milky in the center. As the old lens came loose, I could see the cloudiness move around under the cornea. Once the old lens was popped out, the center became black. The old lens was yellowish and sometimes came out in two or three blobs. The new lens was and clear with some clips on the side. It was inserted, twisted around, and then sealed back up using a cauterizing tool.

CDRA wants me to write something about the eye clinic. It's supposed to be either an article for a newsletter, or I'm making a newsletter. Not sure. They showed me one, and it looks like it's geared towards volunteers/donors. CDRA also wants me to record every field visit I go to - partially for myself, and partially for their records. That shouldn't be too bad because I'm basically doing that for this blog.

Tonight, I think I will go get some mangoes with my Irish friend, do some henna, and maybe show her some of Banepa. She seemed surprised when I said all the little cafes have wifi.