Endoscopies

Today was rather slow at King Edwards. We pretty much searched all morning for something to do since surgery was only doing pre-op check-in’s today. We finally found something in endoscopies. We watched two of them, and that was the extent of our excitement today; like I said, pretty slow. The first procedure was a very sickly rail thin old man. He had esophageal cancer, and wasn’t taking good care of himself at all, plus I think his sickness was progressing. The scope had a little ‘clamp’ on the end that was collecting tissue samples, a biopsy, of the cancerous cells. It was pretty cool to see the inside anatomy, especially because of his particular sickness. First of all, the cancer was clearly visible as black spots in his throat; very neat to see. And then, because of the type of his cancer, he coughed very often, and it was so cool to see the throat contract in and out from the inside. This must be a good field for me if I think such things are cool haha. The second patient, a woman, was believed to have internal bleeding. The endoscopy was simply to figure out where it was stemming from and if there is a non evasive way to fix the problem. Medicine is amazing in how advanced it has gotten. But, South Africa is lagging behind just a bit; the endoscopy was supposed to be in color, but was functioning in black and white for some odd reason, and was also glitching just enough that the doctor stopped to procedure until the machine could get fixed or another one became available. The problem in the hospitals here, as I have observed and heard all of the doctors complain about, is the lack of supplies. This is in regards to medicinal availability, equipment availability and reliability, and access to a solution to these problems. There were only two scopes in the whole hospital, one of which was functioning below standards. There were no other machines available for use any were in the surrounding area, and no guarantee that somebody could be found to fix the malfunctioning one. There is also lack of medicinal stock and availability; if a drug runs out, it will not be in stock again for about an average of four month. That simply astounds me. The availability of these drugs, medical supplies and equipment in the hospitals is already severely low, but then to have to deny patients care for up to four months because something runs out is mind blowing. It most certainly bothers the doctors working here, as I have observed and been told. It bothers me too, and I’m not even a doctor yet. I don’t think I could work in a place with such limited resources; I wouldn’t be able to handle denying patients needed care because of the poorly funded conditions of the hospital I work in. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to work in the United States where something like that is unthinkable. The two endoscopy patients weren’t sedated—they were only given a spray to the back of the throat with a numbing agent to help reduce the feeling. But, this really isn’t very effective; the woman was gagging the whole time the doctor was trying the procedure. I remember when I got an endoscopy done a few years ago to try to figure out what was going on with my stomach, and I was terrified! I can’t even imagine having to be awake, watch and feel the procedure taking place down my throat and further into my body. I’m also so grateful for the resources that are available to patients in the United States, and that I was able to be knocked out for that one! As I am here in South Africa working in some of the ‘better’ off facilities and witnessing atrocities of some form all day, I realize how blessed I am for the smallest things that would rarely cross my mind on usual occasions in my regular life. I truly think it is a blessing that I was able to come out here to see all of this and have my eyes opened and my heart humbled. As hard as it may be, it is showing and teaching me invaluable lessons on top of an experience that I will take with me for the rest of my life.