The Real Theater

On Thursday we went back to the Police Hospital and I got to shadow another doctor in the Theater. When I got there the second OR was being used to perform a C-section that I caught the last part of. I saw the doctor deliver the baby and then watched as they cut the umbilical cord. The baby had more hair than you could possibly imagine. I then got to watch the surgeon remove infected sebaceous cysts from a patient’s arm and abdomen. The one on his arm was so extensive that it took her about an hour and a half to remove. The last surgery was an epigastric hernia on an 11 year old girl. It is caused by abdominal wall muscles that do not fully form and cause protrusion through the umbilicus (belly button.) I have seen several epigastric hernias (or what could also be umbilical hernias) including one of the girls at the school. These are not necessarily medical emergencies and do not have to be repaired however you can imagine what a 5-6in protrusion from the belly button looks like. When the doctor was finished repairing the abdominal wall there was a lot of excess skin that was left and I do not think that any attempt will be made to cosmetically correct the little girl’s abdominal appearance. I have seen some pretty funky looking belly buttons in Ghana. After work we went for lunch and then walked to the National Theater in Ghana in order to try and find a schedule of events for the upcoming weeks. The theater is quite large and looks really nice but just like a lot of things it is somewhat of a façade. There was no receptionist and we had to stumble into a meeting or sorts in order to get directed to someone who could get us a calendar of events. When we finally found a woman in charge she informed us that the schedule was only completed up until July 9th and a more extensive calendar would be available next week. Surprise, surprise, hopefully we will be able to see a show there before we leave.

: Yes – that is Jeff – with an iron in hand!

: Jeff in front of the National Theater in Accra

: Thursday night we went to Champs for trivia. I met Ricky (the one in the pink) through the telederm project because he is also working on a telemedicine type project for Africa Aid, whcih was started by Elliot and Steve (the other two guys in this picture.)