Day 23: Craniotomy and Excision, Last Full Day

I woke up at 7:30am, when we were supposed to leave for the hospital. Fortunately, the van was running late, so we ended up leaving at 8:30am. When we arrived at the hospital, I first headed up to the Major Theater to make sure I could scrub into the sterile field for a surgery. They said I could scrub into the second surgery, so one of the students agreed to text me when the first surgery was over so I could attend the second. Until then, I planned on going to maternity to see some deliveries.

When I reached the maternity ward at around 10am, I managed to see two deliveries. The first was a blue baby, the second was healthy; both were girls. The doctors/nurses told me I could deliver the next baby, but after three hours, no more births took place. I got the text to return to Major Theater at around 12:45. When I got there, the surgeons decided to take a lunch break, so I ate lunch too (rice, meat, and spinach). Afterwards, we headed to Theater 4, where I would get to scrub into the sterile field for the first time.

Surgery #1
DX: Epicranial mass from metastasis of thyroid tumor
Operation: Craniotomy and excision


The Italian neurosurgeon resident showed me how to scrub in, which consisted of washing my hands and upper forearms, putting on a sterile apron, and putting on sterile surgical gloves. During the surgery, I used the manual vacuum aspirator, kept the wires for the various instruments from getting tangled, and squirted water with a syringe while the drill cut the cranium. I also got to stitch sutures under the skin and use the stapler for sutures on the outer part of the skin. It was interesting seeing a large extradural tumor being removed up close. The whole procedure took about 4 hours, so it ended up being very exhausting.

Me using the vacuum aspirator during neurosurgery!

We got a tuktuk back to the housing compound at a little after 6pm. Another barbecue dinner was prepared for us, since about six of us would be leaving the next day. With burgers, ribs, fish, and other food, it was a great way to celebrate our last night in Mombasa. Since one of the students brought a spare cannula back from the hospital, one of the UK medical school students let me try putting in my first cannula, since I didn't get a chance to at the hospital. After watching numerous cannula insertions at the hospital, I knew the general procedure, and to my surprise, I got it in! It felt good succeeding in what I considered the most difficult thing I would get to do in Mombasa. Eventually the excitement died down and I went to bed, knowing tomorrow I'll need to pack and depart on my 4:40pm flight back to the US.

Me putting a cannula in Sunny!