Adventures in the Main Theatre

After only my first week in Nigeria, I have already gotten more medical experience than I expected. I got to observe my dad’s first surgery in the ECWA Evangel Hospital, and wound up doing a little more than observing. The first case was a restricted airway: a two year old girl with advanced papillomas who had been given a sedative as part of a normal pre-operation routine. As a result of the sedative she started to go into respiratory distress and had to be taken into the OR immediately. I was given the job of keeping her breathing while my dad located a working pulse oximeter. They found one, and the patient was successfully intubated at an oxygen saturation of 60%. I do not think I have prayed more intensely than during that half hour just before she was intubated. But the surgery was successful and, thankfully, two days later the little girl is eating and breathing well and looks healthy.

During the second surgery that day, I found myself in the operating room (or the “Main Theatre”) with two ENTs, an ENT resident, a physicians assistant, and a nurse anesthetist, all of whom were scrubbed except for the anesthetist. So, I wound up functioning as the circulating nurse. I learned to open sterile packets and distinguish between 4.0 and 6.0 sutures.

Today I got a different kind of medical experience at Gidan Bege, a ministry towards orphans and homeless. A nurse and a doctor took me and my mother to the Muslim street women’s clinic. The clinic offers help to street beggars who have no other means to obtain medical care. They were short on help, so once again we got to jump in and do more than we expected. After one practice round with the nurse, I spent an hour taking blood pressures while my mom handed out pharmaceuticals. We enjoyed practicing our Hausa with women who spoke very little English.

I am grateful for how much I have been able to get involved with medical opportunities here in Jos, and I am looking forward to new experiences in the year to come!

-Emily