See one, do one

Dr. Kohl and his students: two pre-med visitors touring the hospital and moi

One of the experiences I value the most from Shyira has been working in the OR. Dr. Kohl worked in surgery in Niger for three years, and he graciously taught me in the bleached surgery room of this rural Rwandan hospital. I have been able to watch/assist/perform tubal ligations, hysterectomies, hernia repair, a lymph node removal for biopsy, a circumcision, amputations, a skin graft, and C-sections.

Last week I watched Dr. Kohl do a finger amputation of a lady with leprosy. She had lost feeling in her hand, injured it, and it had gotten badly infected. So, when a man presented this week needing a finger amputation Dr. Kohl let me practice what I had seen. This man had an injury several years prior. His index finger had not been kept in extension while healing, and the tendons healed so that his finger was curled. He did not use it much, and when it became infected from a second injury he came to the hospital. After a week he agreed to have the procedure.

Before and After