Wow…

Because of a sort of an off week, with the American Independence Day being on Monday and then Armenian Constitution Day on Tuesday, it is Wednesday and it is only my third FULL day of my internship! Today started off a little shaky since I was SO tired and all, not to be helped by the power outage which forced me to take a shower in the dark! But I made it to my internship on time and was greeted by the same friendly faces that “made” me sit and have something to eat, along with a cup of “sovoragan soorj.” After some light chatting and gossip, we headed off to change into our scrubs and “inside” shoes. Most of the day was quiet with regular “housekeeping” chores to do…for example stocking, cleaning, filling out charts… and of course, giving each other massages… we work so hard and we deserve it! Hahahaha! We also took some pictures so that we could have something to remind us of the time we spend together… the “kooyrs” and I. (It’s only been 3 days but I feel like I have been working with them for ages). Toward the middle of the day I was allowed to go see another hemorrhoid removal surgery… which I never expected would be so different from the first! Later, I was invited to see a leg amputation. This was a really sad part of my day, and it sort of ended up depressing me. The elderly woman who was having the amputation done had diabetes which had caused one of her feet to become gangrenous. They amputated her leg at mid thigh and it was like nothing I have ever seen in my life. I have seen surgeries on TV (Discovery Channel), but it is so different when you are actually there… in the OR. When she first came in, moaning with pain, accompanied by the stench of rotten flesh… I felt so sad for her and wished there was something I could personally do to alleviate her pain. But she laid there for about 30 minutes until one of the anesthesiologists, Yoori, came and gave her a spinal epidural. I find it so funny that they use a cold wrench to see if the epidural has had its effect. They touch a wrench to the patient’s leg, stomach, and “bum,” to see if they have a cold sensation or a warm sensation… it just seems so odd to me! Hehehe… but I guess it serves its purpose! Once the patient was covered from head to toe, leaving only the amputation site open, she didn’t seem like a person anymore… it was just an operation… it was sort of “dehumanized”… I don’t know if that’s the right word or not… but I was able to detach myself from the fact that she was an actual person… I hate to go into gory details, but they cut through her thigh, cauterizing all the blood vessels on their way in, blood dripping onto the floor and all… then when they got to the femur (thigh bone)… the largest, longest, and strongest bone in the body… they just sawed right through it and cauterized the bone marrow…then they stitched her up and sent her on her way. One thing that did bother me was that some of the younger doctors were sitting around in the operating room making jokes and laughing… I though it was a tad bit tactless and uncalled for in such a situation where a poor woman is about to lose her leg… and I wanted to scold them! Ah, if only I knew how to scold and yell at people in Armenian! Someone want to teach me… it could come in handy! Anyway, I had imagined it to be SO MUCH WORSE than it actually was. Don’t get me wrong, it was still without a doubt not for the faint of heart, or for those who get wheezy around blood, but I had imagined something more like the Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It was more delicate and calculated and was most definitely quite an experience for me to see. I swear, I feel like I would never get this chance in the U.S.

Sorry if I grossed anyone out!

-Anahid