Most ads are interactive -- click on them to visit the folks who make The Panama News possible

science, health & technology

Also in this section:
Getting the gall bladder yanked
Are there enough health care workers in the world?

Through the eye of the belly
by Malcolm Henderson

Last month I had my gall bladder yanked out at the Mae Lewis Clinic. Before the doctor told me thater was something wrong in side my vesicular biliar, I had not known where this organ lived, let alone its Spanish name.

I say "yanked out" because that is what they do these days. The surgeon drills four holes in your tummy, one of which is through your belly button. Through these he manipulates knives and scissors to separate the GB from where it is hung on the side of the liver. Having made the separation, he grips the top of the GB and hauls the whole thing up and out through your belly button. I know because I have watched the video replay.

I was in the hospital for 30 hours total. The first six hours nothing happened; the surgeon just wanted to be sure I didn't have a beer or hamburger before he did his stuff. The video shows the op took 20 minutes. The rest was recovery time. The following morning, I walked out and drove myself home.

The nurses were terrific. Response time to my call bell was never more than a minute and there was no rationing of the number of calls I made. The nurses smiled. (In the Florida hospital where I once spent a month recuperating from an infection, the nurses were not permitted to waste time and energy smiling, let alone fraternizing with the patients.)

The Mae Lewis nurses were so friendly they felt like primas (cousins) by the time of my leaving. The farewell breakfast of porridge, papaya, omelet, etc. was equal to the Hotel Nacional. We exchanged gifts. I gave them a box of chocolates and they gave me the video to keep.

I am sure I will be back to Mae Lewis when other parts need repair or removal.

One last thing, I never did like my old belly button. It had an unsightly mole on it. Now, at no extra cost, I have a perfect button, the match of Natalie Portman's. I would show it to you if I were not embarrassed by the folds of fat that surround it.

Malcolm Henderson is the author of "Don't Kill The Cow Too Quick," An Englishman's Adventures Homesteading in Panama

Also in this section:
Getting the gall bladder yanked
Are there enough health care workers in the world?