Watching surgery

Feb 15
Kalinga Eye Hospital

My first day in surgery is over! I think I’m exhausted but I can’t tell through the satisfaction. It’s been a long day – 3 hour OT in the morning (Operating Theatre, i.e. what the surgery sessions are called), and a 5.5 hour OT in the evening going until 11pm. Quite the initiation. I was by no means locked into staying the whole time but felt like staying. For the morning session I didn’t really do anything, just stood in the corner and watched, trying not to touch anything or breathe. Maybe that explains the bit of lightheadedness I got for the first half-hour (at least I didn’t faint… that would have caused some problems since there’s not really any extra space; I probably would have fallen onto a patient or a syringe or something). But I’d also been feeling nauseous that morning anyways – not great timing for your first surgery observation. However, once I started watching from up close rather than from the corner, I got really interested in the surgery and kicked the lightheadedness. True, it’s still an eyeball staring up at you (probably the most ‘human’ organ – it doesn’t let you forget it’s a person under that sheet), but the surgery is quick, routine, non-bloody, and it’s so damn satisfying to see the cataract come out.

During the morning session I also watched and tried to learn the basics of the whole OT procedure. It’s a well-oiled machine. Two patient beds, one expert surgeon swinging from patient to patient in under 10 minutes, two senior nurses doing direct assistance, one junior nurse doing prep and cleanup, two junior nurses doing all the non-sterile stuff, and me standing off to the side opening the lens packaging at the precise moment in the surgery. This got tedious pretty quickly so I tried to figure out the exact roles and timing of the two junior nurses. In the evening I was rewarded when I stepped up to fill some roles while one nurse was held up with paperwork in the corner. They definitely don’t OFFER to let you help, so I had to be speedily aggressive at the right moment. Apparently they thought I did well; for the rest of the evening I got to help with various stages – supplying acetone for the surgeon in between patients, moving the foot pedal of the cauterizing machine, opening the lens, taping the final bandage, and removing dirty cover sheets. However, this gets pretty monotonous too (and so much standing is tiring, especially when you are in flip flops – or worse, bare feet for 5.5 hours). The satisfaction comes from knowing you are doing a meticulous, efficient job, and also staying alert and sensitive to the needs of the other nurses or surgeon. I call it an exercise in concentration in the midst of monotony. And if you ever get truly bored, you can just go stand beside the surgeon and imagine yourself with the scalpel in hand – that’s enough to inspire anyone. But I didn’t get bored. I loved it.