SHE just can’t help crying. For 56-year-old Rafina Deepan, they’re tears of joy, having successfully undergone major back surgery.In medical parlance, it’s called lumbar surgery, and it was done right here in Guyana at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).Rafina, who lives at Zeelugt, on the East Bank of Essequibo, told the Guyana Chronicle last Wednesday that she was so overcome with joy after successfully coming out of surgery, that for days she kept quietly rejoicing and giving thanks to God, the medical team that saw her through it all, and the hospital administration as well.

ETERNALLY GRATEFUL
It was a medical intervention for which the mother of one will be eternally grateful, especially given that she has no formal job, and her husband does only cash-crop farming on a small scale.
What this means, she said, is that she doesn’t have the means of acquiring the money to have the highly technical surgery done at a private institution.
The intervention was spearheaded by orthopaedic surgeon and head of the XI Chinese Medical Brigade here, Dr. Wang Yongxiang. He was ably assisted by local surgeon, Dr. Kirton Hestick. It was done at no expense to the patient.
Asked how much such an operation would have cost were it done at a private institution, Dr. Wang said that in China, it would have been about US$10,000. But at the GPHC, Rufina paid nothing.
And asked how she now feels physically, Rufina replied: “I feel much better. Everything was successful, because [before the surgery] I had a lot of pain in my body… “And my two feet, they were swollen; I couldn’t move them. But right now, I could move my feet; I turning both sides,” Rufina said, visibly trying to come to terms with the reality of the situation.

HORRIBLE ACCIDENT
Four years ago, Rufina was injured in a horrible accident on the East Bank Public Road in the vicinity of the Demerara Harbour Bridge, and hadn’t a clue she had suffered spinal injury.
She recalled that she was heading to Grove, on the East Bank, to see her sister who was ill.She was about to cross the road to catch a bus to Grove and was opposite M&M Snackette when a sand truck ploughed into her, hurling her into the air.
She was picked up by a kind-hearted man on the scene and rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where she spent quite some time.
She recalled that when she landed on the road, the people witnessing the accident began to “holler out,” which is what prevented the truck from rolling with her, she said.
But over time, after her discharge, she continued experiencing pains, and eventually numbness in her lower back and both feet.
“Then, as I grew older, I began to walk funny, canting from side to side. I would walk a bit, then have to sit down… Sit, walk, sit, walk,” Rufina said.

Having been operated on one week ago, her recovery has been classified as favourable, according to her doctor. She is expected to be discharged soon.
By Shirley Thomas