Hello Everyone,
A few days back, I had the rare privilege to enter an operating theatre. This in itself is rare as I am no medical personnel. As I write about my experience, I would like to ensure that none of you would misuse the information that I am giving here. Its for your eyes only and not for sharing. There will be sensitive information and I don't want any of that to be publicised. Please honour these wishes.
Many at times, i've been disgusted by the sight of blood. I have a phobia of sorts. It's not something that I cherish but I am sure many of you would have had the feeling where you have to look at blood and get grossed out. That funny feeling in one's stomach that will make you feel dizzy and make you faint. Well, that's me. I cannot stand blood unless its my own blood. How I endured this time in the theatre is beyond me. Only because of the prayer and mental preparation that I undertook, i guess. But above all, the support from church and family is what pushed me through in the end.
Early in the morning I got a call and dashed out of the house to go for an organ harvesting. The hospital I work with is the leading organ donation hospital in the country as far as I know and so we were rushing to get an organ (Not specifying for confidentiality reasons) for the patient. The donor, was no philanthropist. He was an accident case where the family had agreed to donate a few organs. This is what is termed a harvest. I know, it sounds very crude but that is the terminology. I work as a Social Worker for this hospital and am training under a transplant co-ordinator. This allowed me to enter the Operating Theatre (OT). This was quite a lovely idea at first but then I started to second guess myself. Am I going to faint? Don't I have to face my fear of blood. Mind you, my supervisor (Co-ordinator) already told me that it's a bloody affair; especially in the case of a harvest. I kept wondering, how bad will it be? Am I going to really be able to stand.
The first sign that the operation had started was the smell. Yes, I did say smell. It was the smell of a cutting device that helps the skin not to bleed when the cutting takes place. They don't use the traditional scapula anymore. Things have got “high-tech”. So it smells like burnt skin because that is pretty much what it does to the skin. Cut and burn it sealed from broken veins, capillaries and arteries. Once open, I simply stood there in shock or amazement at the thickness of the skin. Our skin is not that thin as we may assume. It's really Thick. A good inch in thickness. Once open, I could see the cavities in our bodies. The lungs expanding and contracting; the chest and other body parts shaking in rhythm as the heart pounded away like there was nothing wrong. Then they sawed open the chest cavity. Suddenly, the heart starts to become erratic. In a few short minutes, its back to being normal again. All the parts needed for transplants are checked and biopsy's are conducted so that they can harvest. The lungs are slightly damaged so they hand massage to see if it will fill up. When people say the lungs fill up like a balloon, that is exactly what it does. I just could not believe the similarity. Yet, it has no resemblance to a balloon. It just blows up and then deflates... I looked on and wondered how amazing all these parts and the functions of these parts were. God really knew what he was doing when he made us. Every part delicately woven together. Many times we say that the parts are not durable and not strong but when infections and damage occur, its able to overcome most of the issues. How is that even possible. I wondered if our striving for perfection is the problem. Any nut or bolt that is out of place means the machine does not work. Yet, for a body, a slight change and the body simply adapts. How amazing!!! This was new and definitely a life changing experience. Did you know that the liver can almost regenerate from 30% to 90% in just 60 days. That is crazy. What an organ! As this case was a road accident, there was a lot of internal damage to the organs. Therefore the organ that we needed was not taken because it was too damaged to use. We left it untouched.
My day had just begun but I felt that there was so much more in store. Life is not what we really think it is. Its got so many things to it. We need to live life and feel fulfilled in doing so. Money and fame and all those other things are nothing. There is so much more in life. Why can't we as humans see it. Are we so blinded by work and duty to see these wonders of God before our eyes. I feel pity for those that run after carnal things; temporary satisfactions of life. Things that this world offers in its current system brings no peace to us. It just makes us crave for more like an addiction. One that we cannot run out of. One that pulls us again and again into it, more and more, deeper and deeper it takes us into the chasm of death.
I hope that I have not bored anyone in this long write up but I thought I should share a few thoughts. We are all made to excel. If we do or not is completely up to us. I realise this.
With a heavy and burdened heart to share God's glory I write;
A friend / a loved one / a family member
