Surgery with Cruz Roja

      While I am still writing about my travels throughout Guatemala (which I will post later this week) I wanted to post about a very neat surgery I got to see two weeks ago while volunteering at Cruz Roja.

Outside of Red Cross

       Every Tuesday and Friday afternoon I volunteer in Cruz Roja (Red Cross).  Every afternoon Dr. Hernandez comes in to do consultations with walk-in patients.  While examining a patient with pain in her leg, he received a phone call from another doctor saying there was a surgery at Hospital El Angel.  He quickly turned to Jessica (another student in the program) and I and asked us if we would like to go and see the surgery.  We of course jumped on the opportunity to see a surgery and learn as much as possible.  We luckily got a ride from another doctor that works in Cruz Roja in the morning and didn’t have to take the bus.  The whole way there we were wondering what type of surgery it was going to be.  We thought maybe it had something to do with a femur fracture that got infected but boy were we surprised when we scrubbed in and walked into the operating room and saw a man lying there with burns all throughout his body from being electrocuted.  I had never seen anything like this before and I first didn’t think he was real. 

Operating Room at Cruz Roja

       We were told that he had been working construction on the second story of a house and had somehow accidentally grabbed an electrical wire.  He was severely electrocuted and during it he had fallen from the second story to the ground and fractured his leg.  He had originally gone to the general hospital where he wasn’t seen right away and a greater infection started to develop.  The doctors at the general hospital had amputated his right arm below the shoulder but when he came to the private hospital (where we were at), the infection had spread even further.  One doctor then amputated above his elbow to make sure all the infection was gotten rid of.  Dr. Hernandez examined his fractured leg.  As soon as he opened up the stitches there was a horrible stench that filled the room.  He began looking at the tissues and muscles, which were all black and clearly dead.  The doctors together made the decision that they would have to amputate his leg above the knee. 

Ambulance

            They cauterized the skin around his leg and then cauterized his muscles, exposing the nerve and bone.  They had wrapped the bottom half of the leg in a black bag so they could take it to pathology when it was completely cut off.  It was pretty creepy when they started cutting the nerve because his foot started twitching and was a very weird thing to see.  They then had only the bone left to cut.  They drilled four holes into the femur to make it more brittle and easier to break.  As he was drilling one hole, blood sprayed everywhere onto the ceiling and into the doctor’s eyes. (Yes its pretty gross that the doctors don’t wear eye protection here).  They then used a chisel and a hammer to break the femur and a file to smooth out the rough end.  They then began stitching up his muscles and skin, so only a stump was left over.  It seemed so surreal at times.  The procedure seemed to be very quick and easy but I couldn’t help but to constantly think about the poor man who would wake up missing his leg and more of his arm.  Although surgery is very fascinating I don’t think it is for me.  I’m definitely not a blood and guts type of girl and I see myself working more in a clinic where I can see patients regularly and can build a rapport with them. I am really glad though that working at Cruz Roja in Guatemala has given me the opportunity to experience different things that I would never have been able to in the US.   

Jess and I at the Nurse's Station