The C-Section

Iam doing my 2nd year in Bachelor of Physiotherapy,and have a wide variety of subjects to study this year,starting from human pathology to microbiology to pharmacology to general medicine,surgery,gynaecology and obstetrics etc,etc,etc(phew!).So now and then I make sure that Iam in touch with my subjects because,you tend to find every subject obscure if not read on time.I have always wanted to be a doctor,and love my subjects,particularly surgery.

I remember this one special day of my life,where I got to witness a surgery in the first semester of my course,when even MBBS students themselves are not allowed to enter the hospital.Fortunately we had a very good friend who was a house surgeon in our college.I had once told him how enthusiastic I was about watching a surgery,live,and how I had never got the chance to.Keeping this in mind,he messaged me on my cell one day, when me and my friend were having our lunch as fast as possible as we had to attend a lecture the next hour.His message said:"Iam assisting a surgery,come to the hospital NOW!".Me and my friend got so excited that we shut our lunch boxes,grabbed our aprons and fled!We ran as if we had to win a race or something!

We entered the hospital and were absolutely blank.We didnt know where to go,what to do,whom to ask.As we were gasping and holding our breaths,a security guard came up to us and asked "are you physiotherapy students?",I said "yes".He asked us to go to the 1st floor,and into the operation theatre where our friend was expecting us.

Outside the OT,man...we were nervous!We left our footwear outside,and stepped in.We saw a marble floored corridor with stark white walls,and two doors to the left and right each.The corridor led to a circular amphi-theatre like room which I guessed was the main operating room.I saw all green robed people walking around fast,with a mask on their head,and face,screaming out to the nurses.We just stood there not knowing what to do,when we spotted our friend.He came to us and spoke fast,"go into the second room there,the nurses will give you their gowns".We didnt understand what he was talkin about!Finally he took us to the dressing room,and asked two nurses to help us change.They gave us what looked like pink gowns,made of plastic.We changed immediately,put on our masks,and got out.It then hit me that we were going to watch the operation dressed as nurses!

Outside the room our friend was on the phone,everyone around was walkin briskly,and quickly,but we just stood there staring at nothin.It seemed like one of the head surgeons there noticed that we were new to the strange place,he came and asked us who we were.Damn!what do we tell him?..our friend hadn't told us what to say when asked who we were!After all,students were not allowed to the OT so soon!Me and my friend were tongue tied!We didn't speak a word,we were just stunned.He asked again"who are you people?".Silence."Are you people deaf?Or are you dumb?!!".Again silence."You don't have mouths to speak?!Iam asking you who you are,can't you tell me?how do you suppose you can watch the surgery withou telling me who you are?Are you donkeys?No wait!you two are making me feel like a donkey here not answerin my questions!!"From behind came a voice which sounded so angelic at that moment "Sir,they are second year MBBS students".It was our friend!He saved our lives!We were almost shivering with fear.

We entered the operation theatre.It was a circular room,with all sorts of electrical instruments arranged symmetrically.The room smelled strongly of medicines which could have made anyone sick.There was a stretcher in the middle,with a glucose bottle hanging to its left,and an ECG screen to the right.Here and there around it were small trays filled with scissors,scalpels,forceps,cotton,etc.On the stretcher was a person lying to the side.An anaesthetist,injected the patient on the spinal cord,and was then made to lie down ventrally.The first thing I noticedwas the huge tummy the patient had.I gasped with excitement.We were about to wintess child birth!A caesarean!

Surgeons surrounded the stretcher and faced the patient who was now oblivious of what was happening to her,all thanks to the anaethesia.The head surgeon,an aged woman,took lead,and began the process.Our friend was assisting her standing next to her.He rubbed the pregnant woman's abdomen with some violet liquid which we later got to know was iodide solution.The female surgeon,took a scalpel,and made a neat vertical incision on the abdomen.I was amazed.I just kept sayin "wow!" in my mind all the time.The abdomen was cut,scissors were used to tear the internal attachments to the uterus,to seperate the muscles.We could not see what was happenin inside the abdomen as we were made to stand at a distance.All we could hear were the sounds of scissors and scalpels clattering.The surgeons,kept cleaning the blood with sterilized cotton.

After what seemed like a few minutes,I saw my friend put his right hand inside the patient's abdomen,and pull a tiny little baby head out first,and then pulled out the entire infant's body.It was an amazing sight!I was left gaping at it!It was a cute baby girl!I wanted to start clapping!The surgeon held her upside down on her legs,an gave her a small slap on the butt.She instantly started crying.She was handed over to the nurse to carry on the post-delivery jobs.It then suddenly struck me that we had to attend a lecture.We thanked our friend,changed and ran outside.

On our way back to our class,I had so many thoughts running in my mind.How mothers gave birth,how they carried another life in their tummies for nine whole months,how they cared for their babies,pampered them.Imagine a world without mothers!To put it bluntly,there is no world without mothers,they are creating it.And not to forget the surgeons!man,hats off to them!They are facing the biggest challenges in life.The entire life of the patient they are operating is in their hands!What must be going on in their minds while operating is incomprehensible.I started respecting them like never before after watching the surgery.I suddenly was so proud to be a woman,and a part of the medical field.I walked back to the class beaming.The whole experience was wonderful,and most memorable.We were probably the youngest students in the campus to have witnessed a caesarean,"the C-Section!":D