We had breakfast before morning prayer and then went on
morning rounds. Immediately after rounds, Dr. Muralidar drained the man’s cheek
that has been massively swollen all week. He administered local anesthetic
before making a small puncture with a needle and opening the hole with blunt
dissection and a scalpel. The fluid was a thick mixture of pus and blood that
Dr. Muralidar proceeded to drain for several minutes, making sure to disrupt
all of the pockets. It was quite gross to watch, but the man looked much better
after.
After, Annalisa and I worked with Dr. Clement, who is a very
interesting person and a great teacher. He does primary care but as an
orthopedic surgeon by training, he definitely sees more imaging than Dr. M. Some
of the cases we saw were benign prostatic hypertrophy, vertebral cerebellar
insufficiency with spondylitis, pneumoperitoneum, and a supracondylar fracture.
Later in the day, we went with him to clean the foot of a man who had lost two
toes to diabetic gangrene. It should have been incredibly painful even for the
daily cleaning, but the neuropathy was his only analgesic. Dr. Clement reminds
us that as the foot heals, he will also regain sensation.
In the afternoon, we took tea before returning to Dr.
Clement at 4pm. After seeing a couple of patients, Claudia came in with news
that the surgeon would be around for a ruptured appendix removal, so I left to
prep for that around 5. It was a very quick laparoscopic procedure, maybe a
half hour, that Samir, Emily, Vickie, and I watched on the monitor. The surgeon
quizzed us the whole time and seemed kind of eccentric, talking loudly and
managing another emergent case all while probing for the appendix. He spoke
with us more post-op, remembering Christine and last year’s group of Rush
students, and telling us about the medical training process in India. It is
interesting to hear about the variations in these health systems and health
training, even while the actual practice is largely the same. It is a product
of patient needs, historical legacy, and a highly diversified demographic.
After the surgery, we walked up the hill to see the sunset,
which is always colorful. Abhishek’s family arrived to drop him off: he will be
staying at Bethany for two months while he waits to start medical school. Their
family was very nice, and offered that we visit the school for children with
special needs that they run in Kerala.
No comments:
Post a Comment