Apart from that, I saw really interesting things today. I started with an infant circumcision. It was different from what I’ve seen or experienced. The baby only required ONE nerve block. Whether it was effective or not, we’ll never know coz the baby cried anyway. They also had specialized equipment for it, a small plastic tube device, which allows the surgeon to just snip the foreskin off and not need any suturing at all. Maybe because it is an infant, but the procedure took less than 10mins. I do wonder sometimes, how it will feel or look like to have a foreskin after puberty. I do remember how it was like before my circumcision, but I guess I will never know. I also wonder how the boy would grow up not even knowing what having a foreskin feels like, and how he feel when he compares and finds out that he’s the odd one. Probably nothing, but that is just my curiosity.
After that, we went to the Albany Regional Prison. I saw another penis there. This time, it was a hypospadias. I’ve only seen minor penile abnormalities, but this hypospadias really span the entire shaft. If the shaft was shorter, and he had a smaller glans, I would really have mistaken it for a female vulva. I often have dreams of having an abnormal opening on my penis. It is just that weird feeling when you pee, and that you feel the urine on your side or clothes. It really made my hair stand, to see such deformities and somehow relate to it. But of course, I DON’T HAVE ANY ABNORMALITIES.
I ended my medical day with an actual vulva. She had 1st degree tears after giving birth to a huge baby with a squished nose. I was instantly reminded of coneheads and Chui Han’s story about how her head was deformed because of a forceps assisted delivery. After seeing the babies, I felt like I could become a GP obstetrician. When you get to know patients that way, I guess delivering their babies and managing them after really made me feel adequate, that I am doing something and seeing the results. I wondered whether my friends would let me manage their pregnancies though. It would be interesting.
Recreationally, Dr. deKlerk took me to the wind farm after the prison visit. The scenery there was spectacular. The windmills themselves were magnificent, towers of white standing tall in the sun. A dull humming, droning in the background as each blade sweeps pass amidst the cool breeze. Its shadow, equally big, eerily glide across the ground and bush, going round and round. It felt like if I could get a hold on one of the blades, I would be instantly tossed up in the air and I would glide into the air with much ease. Of course, if I let go at the wrong time, I would fall straight into the ground.
The sea view was also breathtaking. Torbay had a nice stretch of rocky beach near the wind farm. I was told that when the tide is low, there would be nice spots on the rocks for fishing. However right now, the tide was high but the waves were more than enough to satisfy my. The waves broke haphazardly, almost in a rhythmic song. The waves looked tall, forming the tunnels they’ve always shown on TV. I loved to see the luminous glow of the waves as they thin out before they break into a white mist. I felt that I could stay there for hours, just enjoying the view. I just wished that I could have shared it with somebody.
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