Melissa Halliday’s Blog

And the surgeon wore shorts…

Yesterday (Tuesday) I followed Dr. David Abdulai in one of his clinics in Tamale. As I mentioned before, Dr. Abdulai is a Ghanaian doctor who runs two free clinics in the Tamale area. I worked at the Shekinah clinic yesterday. I was able to observe him while he performed several hernia operations. I was really impressed with his efficiency! He did 7 inguinal hernia repairs (one of which was the largest inguinal hernia I’ve ever seen…I think there was more bowel in the hernia than in the abdomen!) and 1 hydrocele repair in just over 3 hours! I was also able to see his wards and patient care areas which was interesting as well. All of the workers at this clinic donate their time and all of the supplies are donated. The care is completely free unless the patient desires to give a donation. It was great to see the work they did!

The reason for the title is, when I arrived at the theater, a scrub nurse showed me where I would change into scrubs. In the states I’m used to wearing the scrub pants and a top. Here I had a thin sleeveless dress that fell just below my knees and flip-flops to wear! The surgeon and his scrub tech were both wearing shorts and a scrub top! (And these were more like 1970s basketball shorts… ) There was air conditioning in the theater, which meant I was FREEZING in my little dress….apparently they were fine in their shorts, but it still looked funny to me.

It was actually a fairly short day following Dr. Abdulai but that was OK because I haven’t been feeling well for the past few days. On Monday, Bob and I ate lunch at a restaurant in downtown Tamale and I think I might have picked something up there because over the last two days I have been feeling worse and worse. I started my Cipro and some Flagyl this morning so hopefully I won’t have to deal with all of this on the flights back home. If anything else, it makes me grateful that for the most part, it is a rare occurrence to pick something up via food or water at home. Here it happens every day!

In Tamale I have been staying with Dr. William and Dr. Patricia Turner. They are physicians who originally trained in the UK, although Bill is originally a Ghanaian. It has been great staying with them. They are so friendly and hospitable and have such great stories! It’s been great to be able to relax some this week before I head back home on Friday.

Tomorrow, as long as Antrak (the in country airline) flies I will fly from Tamale to Accra and then on Friday evening I will fly out of Accra for the first flight on my trip home. My time here in Ghana has been amazing and I’m sure I’ll be processing all I’ve seen and learned for a long time after I get home. Once I’ve had a few days to think about it all and process it some more, I’ll post a final post on here. Thank you all for all of your love, support, and prayers. I couldn’t have done any of this without all of you!

See you soon!! :)

Melissa

“Mercy, Peace, and Love be yours in abundance”–Jude 2