It’s hot, the air is still and it’s quite dim in the O.R. corridor as compared to the light airiness of the rest of the hospital.
To one side of the corridor there’s the recovery area. Three metal hospital beds occupy the space. The windows are curtained in a heavy, off-white material. Across the sacred “green lined” authorized personnel-only hall are the surgical operating rooms – two surgeries and the sterilization room.
Today’s one and only patient suffers with a burn contracture that affects his head, neck and left arm. His is a large case, expected to take 3-5 hours. The surgeons will graft new skin to his neck area, thereby releasing the tightness that has constricted his head movement in one part of the surgery. In another, the tented skin at his elbow will also be released, allowing it and his hand new range of movement.
Dr. Einar Erikson
It’s a busy room – four surgeons, (Drs. Einar Erikson, Dr. Bill East, Dr. David Williamson and Dr. Adil Ladak), anesthesiologists, (Adrian Rosenberg and Gillian Moll), and nurses (Sheila Jenson, Lisa van den Brink and a couple of the hospital’s nursing staff). It’s an impressive collection of experts.
Dr. Einar Erikson is the head surgeon that everyone is here to work with today. Originally from Norway, he has lived in Ethiopia for the past 20 years. He is the only plastic surgeon specializing in burns in this country of 97,000,000. He has flown in especially for this case.
The patient is being bathed in iodine, while the sedation takes affect, as I arrive.
The surgeons will use a cauterizing pen to make the incisions that will release the flesh around his face, neck and arm. With each application of the foot pedal, a corresponding beep, a puff of smoke and the O.R. smells like burning hair. An incision has been made and surgery is underway.
The graft will be taken from the patients thigh using a new piece of equipment this year. This “meshing machine” will remove a thin layer of skin while puncturing it to create a webbed mesh. The mesh allows the patient’s new skin to grow through the gaps while allowing the skin to drain and prevents bubbling of fluids beneath the skin as is heals.
A piece of meshed skin graft
Freshly applied skin mesh
The surgery was successful and with the help of RESTOR International’s efforts, the patient will spend 3 weeks at the Gamby Hospital in recovery under the watchful eye of the local medical and nursing staff.
-Dina Kotler