Dame Tus Ojos

Wow! What a wild 48 hours it's been. This week there is a team of ophthamologists and their nurses and surgical techs that are in the parish doing cataract removals all week. As students, we have the opportunity to assist primarily in the pre-op and post-op areas. Although the days are long and the legs are sore, the amount of learning that has taken place has been tremendous. We are so grateful for the challenge that's been presented to us and look forward to putting all our knew knowledge to use!

Patients here in Peru that are eligible for surgery were examined prior to their surgery days to confirm the surgery is necessary. On the day of operation, the patients present to us in the operating clinic for everything to be done. It's a tedious process prepping their eye(s) for surgery, but a great one to be a part of! The majority of these patients are incredibly grateful for the service they're receiving and are incredibly patient as we apply droplets, poke, prod, and massage their eyeballs before the first cut. It got me thinking about their lives and where they're all at currently. I would say that the majority of the patients we've seen the last two days have been at least 65 years old. These people have been through a lot, seen plenty, but then lost the ability to see more. Many of the cataracts that have been removed are so large and/or opaque that the person was literally blind before operation (in one eye or sometimes both). They have likely been living with minimal vision or none at all for years and years, and the surgeons here have the ability to restore that. It's absolutely incredible and the mission the surgeons have to serve is inspiring!!

Here are a few photos we've collected in our 26 hours of surgery the last two days. :) Five of us helped out Monday and Tuesday, while the other five will go tomorrow and Thursday.

The entrance to our pre-op/OR/post-op stations. This is where we gowned the patients up, prayed, and said goodbye to families!

Kerry pep-talking a patient before surgery.

Some patients waiting in pre-op after their retrobulbar anesthesia shots.

Lauren and Kerry waiting in pre-op.

Dr. Kirk and Anna prepping a patient for surgery.

Dr. Tommy and Dr. Jesse prepping a patient with anesthesia.

Anna and me waiting for patients after their retrobulbar injections.

A layout of the operating room. Three surgeries were usually going on at a time, but some obviously took more or less time than others. 

Dr. Mila working on a cataract.

Dr. Kirk suturing an eye.

Here's a picture of most of the cataracts that were removed on Monday. It's incredible (and annoying) how that small material can block total vision!

And, we all know that surgeons are wicked smart, right? Well...they like to play, too! :) Here's Dr. Tommy, Dr. Jesse, and Dr. Langley waiting for their next operations by playing video games in the OR- HA!

Nothing can get done without surgical packs! Here we are putting together surgical packages of the items required to complete one surgery. Lots of organization required!

And this is what you may find when the power goes partially out.... :) It came back on, thank goodness!

Because of our long hours in the OR the last two days, we have not had much time to catch up with our other counterparts. However, here are a couple photos they've shared with me for the blog!

Genevieve fitting right in at the hospital! She was sick this past weekend and wore a mask at clinical as a precaution.

Sarah passing on a baby after its first bath! :)

Thanks for tagging along with us today!! We thank you again for your continued prayers and well-wishes for successful days, joyful hearts, and clear minds. We love you all; all our families, friends, classmates, etc...thank you, thank you, thank you! We'd go nowhere without your guidance and support.

Sending laughter and love,

Alex & the gang

PS: working with the basically blind people this week has reminded me of a song that I adore. It's by Brandon Heath called "Give Me Your Eyes," a song that sings of a man longing for the eyes of Jesus and to see how He sees. Without walking by faith, we may as well be walking through life with blinding cataracts. Enjoy!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P5AkNqLuVgY