Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I've been waiting for something interesting to happen. Well it finally has. This patient is a 25 year old Afghani female (we're guessing because she did not know how old she was). Last July she was hit in the belly by either a bullet or shrapnel. She had damage to her colon. So, a laparotomy was done, and to make a long story short, she ended up with a colostomy bag. Two weeks ago she came to the ANA hospital to get it reversed. The ANA general surgeon did not want to do the procedure. I'll leave the answer to the why out of the story. Anyway...we we're able to get her transported to the Role II hospital run by Spain, at Camp Arena (about 5 miles from here). Camp Arena has many countries taking part in this mission. Some of the folks I met were from Albania, Lithuania, Spain, Italy and Bulgaria. A very small US contingent is present. A Bulgarian surgical team took care of her. I was able to able to make arrangements with Colonel Paulino (US Army nurse) and the Bulgarian Surgeon to visit Role II and be with her during the procedure. She basically became my patient while at Camp Zafar.
Anyway...picture 1) The Surgeon (left), his assistant (middle) and the nurse (right). Very good team. The surgeon knew more English than I knew Bulgarian...so we chose to communicate using English. It was broken...but good enough.
Picture 2) This is the entrance to Role II hospital...nothing to write home about, (what?) but I thought you might like to see where I went. The entrance does not do the hospital justice...it's actually a very nice place...I was impressed, and actually wouldn't mind spending more time there.
Picture 3) This is the reanastamosis in action. In the surgeon's left forcep is the proximal colon. In his right forcep is the distal end. The posterior, or "back" side of the colon has already been sewn together, and the anterior, or "front" side will be next. They didn't wait for you to read this...it's already done.
She is recovering nicely and will now be able to poop in the normal fashion :)
Mike
Great post, she will forever be thankful for all of you. I'm even getting used to looking at the pictures!
ReplyDeleteHilarious ending! I was focused on all your professional language and then BAM...you throw in some humor at the end. Well done.
ReplyDeleteI sent your blog link to several new folks but didn't warn them about the pics - didn't want to spoil the surprise :-). The lady is lucky to have you guys there and so glad she will soon be back to normal.
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