Scoliosis

Our biggest surgery on the medical mission was a 10 level spinal fusion from T4-L1 in a young teenage girl with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. She had worn a brace for years with little improvement and was incredibly motivated to get the surgery. However, we had to be sure we could do it. Even small things we take for granted here in the states aren't readily available in Guatemala. For example, our operating bed was not designed for prone cases, that is cases where patients are positioned on their stomach. Working with our nurses and techs, we fashioned a prone operating table that would relieve pressure on her vital organs during this long 8 hour surgery. We did not have invasive arterial blood pressure monitoring. We had to confirm our access to a blood bank and ability to get blood for transfusion. We inquired about access to blood tests and the turnaround time; we ended up sending our blood draws by taxi to the nearest lab. We hammered out a plan for post-operative pain because a surgery this large was going to hurt. And in the end, we decided to proceed.

With all our preparation, the surgery went incredibly smoothly. Although it was a grueling 7-8 hours, we worked together as an amazing team. The surgeons worked incredibly efficiently, the nurses coordinated smoothly, and the Guatemalan physicians and staff assisted us with getting blood and sending our CBC tests. The result was so incredibly lifting for me. We tided the patient through her post-operative pain, and by the end of the week, she was walking down the hallway. All of us were so inspired to see the change we made in her life.

Image shown under GNU Free Documentation License, from Wikipedia.