Suturing Bananas

Actually, I never had the chance to suture any banana to practice my suturing skills in preparation for circumcision missions. Just stitched up pieces of tissue paper to imitate the skin which I found to be an extremely pathetic simulation.

Surgery has always been an appealing specialization to most of us. With all the drama in the OR, the lucrative compensation after a challenging procedure, and the “prestige” attached to surgeons who are thought to be first-rate and highly skilled, many of us dream to be one. And with our present number, there’s no denying the presence of heavy competition.

As of now, I want to be a surgeon, a neurosurgeon to be specific. The prime reason must have been my love for anatomy and the neurosciences plus the fact that in some ways, they loved me back. (Hehehe) But we’re just in our second year, things can change and who knows, when I enter the wards in my later years in med school, my passion would shift to somewhere else?

But since I’m all set up right now for surgery, I have always been excited to perform one myself. Scrubbing in and perhaps assisting in the OR once or twice would be a perfect gift for me (as I envy someone out there who has been in an open craniotomy twice last December as a Christmas present to him). But I don’t think Santa will be around this summertime so the most probable “surgical experience” that I could get would be the seasonal Tuli missions done by different orgs this April and May.

Before the summer break, that someone out there already taught me how to do the surgeon’s knot in a rather primitive way. We used yarn for the suture and my dissection instruments from our Anatomy class. I do hope that someday when I’m already a world-class brain surgeon, I’d remember this little funny fact: I started my career suturing paper.

Then, the surgical missions were all scheduled. I got a real suture kit from a friend (who is also obsessed in the field) for me to properly practice suturing. I thought of using bananas and even chicken or pork meat. Eventually, I failed to acquire any of those so on the eve of the mission, with my fellow future surgeons, we again stitched up tissue paper while looking up instructions in the net.

The big day came at last. Excited and thrilled, we watched a true doctor perform the simple procedure. He explained to us everything while he circumcised the first patient: from donning the sterile gloves, handling the instruments, administering the anaesthesia, clamping, cutting, suturing, and dressing the wound. He also gave us tips on some “crisis” management like when the patient begins to bleed profusely or when the anaesthesia wears out. Then, we were assigned to senior buddies whom we assisted doing the methods we just learned. Then, my buddy, Ate Trinee, finally asked me “Miguel, ready ka na ba?”

I donned my gloves slowly and perfectly. Had all the instruments ready in the kidney basin. Cleaned with antiseptic the whole pubic area. Asked Ate Trinee to serve me 5 cc of Lidociane. Warned my patient that the injection will really be painful. Inserted the whole needle just above the base and just below the pubic bones. Successfully infiltrated with anaesthesia the area of the internal pudendal nerve although my hands were shaking since my patient was crying. Clamped the foreskin to check whether pain perception was already gone. Clamped the skin up to a desired length then slowly cut it along the mark the clamp left. Blood started flowing. With my heart racing, asked Ate Trinee for OS to clear my suturing field. Sutured one, two, three, four then five points of the cut. Cleaned once again the area. Dressed the wound with gauze and antibiotic cream. Advised the patient to take antibiotics for seven days and to clean the wound twice a day. Then, God, I’ve finished my first surgery!

Okay, it was a simple surgery, very simple they even allow us to do it all alone. But still, the experience was worth it. After all those suturing using yarn and paper, I’ve actually sutured live human skin! And now, I can see them all coming. After doing circumcisions, I’d be scrubbing in in appendectomies, watching open heart surgeries, and assisting in craniotomies! And in the not so far future, I will be holding the scalpel myself as interns and residents stay at my side, while I'm saving a patient’s precious life. Whew!

And in that future, I can never deny that everything started with me suturing pieces of paper and, as I have imagined but failed to do, suturing bananas.