as said by Dr. Mitra.
A woman came into the operating theater on Thursday and her eyes wouldn't dilate pre-surgery. On that same woman, I witnessed an ophthalmologist's worst nightmare: instead of removng a cataract, it fell deeper into the eye and could not be fished out. The nucleus is still sitting at the bottom of the her eye, on her retina, as she waits for a vitreal specialist to arrive and do a second operation.
Essentially, the eye's lens is held in a sac (called the capsule), similar to two dinner plates staked on top of each other, the top plate upside down to create a space in the middle. This woman had so many hernias around the edge of the capsule, where it connects to the rest of the eye, that her posterior capsule was like a spiderweb trying to hold up the hardened lens. Doctors cannot see this complication before surgery -- it is always encountered durng the operation. The minute Dr. Mitra touched the woman's cataract with the phacoemulsification probe, the cataract sunk out of sight, through the vitreous humour, and settled on the retina. Everyone in the operating theater held their breath; the adrenaline started to race. Dr. Mitra's hands started to shake. John, a volunteer from UVA, contnued to chatter away and remained oblivious to the sunken nucleus. The woman is now on massive steroids so that the cataract does not elicit an inflammatory response that will destroy her entire eye.
That's excitement right there.
Also, there has been a lot of tension between doctors and volunteers for a number of reasons. One, the transparency of this organization is obfuscated by one cowardly doctor who refuses to listen to our concerns. Unite For Sight would be a much better organization if the Amerian office and Chennai doctors collaborated more frequently; there is a lot of miscommunication that leaves us volunteers in the middle. For example, we have to pay Rs. 200 for transportation to and from each camp. Why is it the same price for camps 5 minutes away and camps 90 minutes away? Why is this price said to cover our lunch, but Equitas (our partner organization) buys it for us? The coordinating doctor told us he believes we are spoiled brats who do not want to give up our money. Truth is, we are more than willing to dish out four bucks for transportation if only we knew how it is being used.
Lots of little things like that make UFS frustrating.
Which is why I cried yesterday. We were driven to a remote factory to perform our own surgery on a goat's eye (so cool!). The doctor who was supposed to teach us was too busy and sent a technician in his place. This technician spoke awful English. He gave me the tools and just said, "Go." When I screwed up my goat's eye on the second step, the technician stepped in and completed the dissection for me. Uh, excuse me, but I didn't pay to have someone else do it for me. Nor did I pay to not have supervision during the surgery. I called the busy docotor and asked if we (five of nine voluneers) can reschedule the goat's eye training for a later date when he could teach us instead. Said doctor started yelling at me because he "is not a hotel service available to cater to every volunteer's needs," and so on and so forth.
I hope the little things won't cloud my perception of this trip. I really have had a good time in the last FORTY-TWO DAYS (woah!) and have learned a lot about myself and the world.
Speaking about myself and the world, another volunteer started preaching the Gospel to me on Tuesday night when he discovered my views about religion. I did not come here to be converted.
Ten more days and I start traveling.
A woman came into the operating theater on Thursday and her eyes wouldn't dilate pre-surgery. On that same woman, I witnessed an ophthalmologist's worst nightmare: instead of removng a cataract, it fell deeper into the eye and could not be fished out. The nucleus is still sitting at the bottom of the her eye, on her retina, as she waits for a vitreal specialist to arrive and do a second operation.
Essentially, the eye's lens is held in a sac (called the capsule), similar to two dinner plates staked on top of each other, the top plate upside down to create a space in the middle. This woman had so many hernias around the edge of the capsule, where it connects to the rest of the eye, that her posterior capsule was like a spiderweb trying to hold up the hardened lens. Doctors cannot see this complication before surgery -- it is always encountered durng the operation. The minute Dr. Mitra touched the woman's cataract with the phacoemulsification probe, the cataract sunk out of sight, through the vitreous humour, and settled on the retina. Everyone in the operating theater held their breath; the adrenaline started to race. Dr. Mitra's hands started to shake. John, a volunteer from UVA, contnued to chatter away and remained oblivious to the sunken nucleus. The woman is now on massive steroids so that the cataract does not elicit an inflammatory response that will destroy her entire eye.
That's excitement right there.
Also, there has been a lot of tension between doctors and volunteers for a number of reasons. One, the transparency of this organization is obfuscated by one cowardly doctor who refuses to listen to our concerns. Unite For Sight would be a much better organization if the Amerian office and Chennai doctors collaborated more frequently; there is a lot of miscommunication that leaves us volunteers in the middle. For example, we have to pay Rs. 200 for transportation to and from each camp. Why is it the same price for camps 5 minutes away and camps 90 minutes away? Why is this price said to cover our lunch, but Equitas (our partner organization) buys it for us? The coordinating doctor told us he believes we are spoiled brats who do not want to give up our money. Truth is, we are more than willing to dish out four bucks for transportation if only we knew how it is being used.
Lots of little things like that make UFS frustrating.
Which is why I cried yesterday. We were driven to a remote factory to perform our own surgery on a goat's eye (so cool!). The doctor who was supposed to teach us was too busy and sent a technician in his place. This technician spoke awful English. He gave me the tools and just said, "Go." When I screwed up my goat's eye on the second step, the technician stepped in and completed the dissection for me. Uh, excuse me, but I didn't pay to have someone else do it for me. Nor did I pay to not have supervision during the surgery. I called the busy docotor and asked if we (five of nine voluneers) can reschedule the goat's eye training for a later date when he could teach us instead. Said doctor started yelling at me because he "is not a hotel service available to cater to every volunteer's needs," and so on and so forth.
I hope the little things won't cloud my perception of this trip. I really have had a good time in the last FORTY-TWO DAYS (woah!) and have learned a lot about myself and the world.
Speaking about myself and the world, another volunteer started preaching the Gospel to me on Tuesday night when he discovered my views about religion. I did not come here to be converted.
Ten more days and I start traveling.
