So the next several pictures are taken from a surgery I assisted with on Saturday afternoon at the clinic. This picture is taken from the rooftop of the clinic, where I arrived (after being woken up at 8 am) at 8:45 am for a quick breakfast before scrubbing in on a cleft lip surgery. Now several things might strike you as strange with that sentence. Saturday morning? Clinic? Surgery? Add to that my having gone out dancing the night before and having only got to bed around 3 am, my being woken up by the neighbour's dog at 6:30 am (I could kill that dog!) and you're starting to get the whole picture. When my phone rang at 8 I thought Hey, I'm awake, why not? When I got there, ate and scrubbed in I thought What am I doing? I should be at home drinking water and sleeping, not making light conversation over a bloody lip (literally)! After we finished the cleft lip I sat outside, drank some much needed water and contemplated the meaning of life...then 20 minutes later, without any time for lunch (who am I kidding...I couldn't eat lunch!) we were back in the OR working on the fractured arm. The following pictures, as per usual, are graphic. This was the coolest surgery I helped out with this week, but honestly, they are not for the weak-stomached. And you'll be happy to know that everyone's moods were much better during this second operation ;)
Two fractures in one arm, between the wrist and the elbow. This is us trying to free up the two ends of the radius. Notice how white our gloves are at this point...
Working on the ulnar fracture.
This is our second surgery of the day. I left at 5 pm, after two people had separately commented on how tired I looked (hey, I got 3 hours sleep!). Dr. Ngiep scrubbed in for a third surgery after I left, which had him at the clinic for about 13 hours on his Saturday.
This is not normal.
Pretty in....purple? The top was purple too...it was a lot to look at when I wasn't scrubbed in. This surgery occurred at the clinic, because the patient could afford it. Most of the profits are turned around and invested into the Children's Surgical Centre, where I normally work.
Xray of the fracture we were working on. Dr. Ngiep was saying it was like a new joint had formed in the arm where the fracture had occurred (the fracture happened about 4 years ago). Certainly when we saw the patient in the consultation room I described his arm as having two wrists...
Notice how we've drilled aaaalll the way through! This brought back fond memories of breaking my own elbow, once upon a time. Wonder if they did something like this to me? Definetely had two pins in my elbow for a couple of weeks...
We used a drill to make a hole for the pin that would keep the ulna bone straight. Dr. Sy, the anaesthetist, in the background with his adorable shirt!
Plate being placed to keep the radius bone in place.
That's the radial nerve you can see over the plate. We were being sooo careful to this nerve, trying to keep it from being damaged, hopefully that effort paid off.
Harvesting bone from the hip to be used in a bone graft to fix this man's arm.
Pieces of bone to be used for the graft.
Taking the piece of bone and putting it in the arm, between the fractured ends of the bone.
Suturing it up, after four and a half hours of surgery. Afterwards, I gave Geni (our star photographer, who also had been out dancing but was smart enough to sleep!) a tour of the clinic and then we walked home, had a very-much-needed dinner and then I was off to my hammack (which needs repairs...again...sigh).

Two of you have asked whether I have some kind of permission to be posting pictures of the patients, the way I have been, and I thank you. In fact, I'm surprised more haven't voiced a similar concern. Anywho, the answer is yes, the patients consent to our taking pictures before, during and after the operations, and to having them published, so dontcha worry...Meghan isn't all bad. ;)