Vasectomy Haiti: Plenty of Vasectomy Procedures In Plaisance
August 30, 2015
Our vasectomy office was actually a two-story elementary school treacherously poised on the side of a steep mountain. We were given a small basement room to serve as our vasctomy procedure room. As we entered the room we were pleasantly surprised to find there were a large group of men anxiously waiting for their vasectomy procedures.
Many of the men had heard about the benefits of vasectomy. The word about the ease and effectiveness of vasectomy as a great method of permanent birth control had gotten around the town.
First surgical vasectomy travel blog is Vasectomy Haiti: No Reservations
We quickly went to work organizing our supplies and setting up our exam tables. All instruments were laid out and accounted for. Our exam tables, which were actually massage tables, were carefully positioned in the small room. Three doctors were prepared to perform non-stop no needle no scalpel vasectomy procedures in a room the size of an average American bathroom.
My first vasectomy procedure… the toughest of the entire mission trip!
I had the first patient of the day and as ‘luck’ would have it he was not an easy case..in fact he was one of the two most difficult vasectomy procedures of the entire mission trip.
He had the largest scrotum I had ever seen! It literally hung to his knee caps. His massively enlarged scrotum was the result of a chronic hydrocele (fluid collection around the testicles), which caused enlargement of his scrotum. He did have a surgical repair and this left him with redundant scrotal skin and significant scarring inside the scrotum.
To make matters worse his vas deferens were extremely thin and difficult to feel. I was able to recruit the assistance of our team leader, Dr. Stein, and the vasectomy procedure was performed without difficulty but took us four times as long as our average vasectomy procedure.
“Nothing can make you a better vasectomy provider than having to provide numerous vasectomy procedures in oppressive conditions while being eaten alive by biting insects. Nothing…”
– Haiti Vasectomy: No Reservations
Providing vasectomy in rhythm: It’s a mental thing!
I have this mental thing when it comes to vasectomy. Perhaps I am becoming superstitious but I feel the first procedure sets the tone for the remainder of the day. I was determined to get off to a good start and not ruin my trip. By requesting assistance, I was able to make the first case ‘easy peazy’. It takes a real man to ask for help.
Each member of the team pressed on performing vasectomy after vasectomy. The work was hard because there was no electricity or working air conditioner in the room where we were performing these vasectomies. Sweat pored down our backs during these procedures and the humidity combined with lack of airflow made the working conditions very difficult. Mosquitos were our assistants.
We took five minutes for a lunch of Spam sandwiches with cheese. All washed down with some sort of amazing tropical fruit juice. After a quick lunch, we continued working for the remainder of the day. As the sun rose overhead, the air became more hot and humid and the breeze ceased. Vasectomies became more difficult.
It seemed as soon as I got to a critical portion of the vasectomy procedure a mosquito would land on my arm and bite the hell out of me. It was impossible to stop in the middle of the procedure and swat them away. It was almost as if these little guys knew the best time to bite during a vasectomy and could take ready advantage of it. They knew the part where they could suck my blood and I was not in a position to swat them. It is kind of hard to stop a surgical procedure at a critical moment and kill a mosquito while wearing sterile gloves and still maintain surgical sterility. It became torture towards the last several cases.
Nothing can make you a better vasectomy provider than having to provide numerous vasectomy procedures in oppressive conditions while being eaten alive by biting insects. Nothing…
35 vasectomies in 4 hours!
By the end of the day, three working vasectomist completed 35 vasectomy procedures in about 4 hours. Some were quite difficult due to large scrotal hydroceles (some testicles were the size of softballs). The men had a combined total of 190 children, which averaged 5.8 children per man. We felt we had done good work for the day.
Our village sponsor, Pastor Amos, treated us to a Haitian dinner of chicken, rice, beans and fried plantains. It was home cooked and amazing! This meal was very welcomed after a long day of hard day of performing vasectomies. It was the best meal of the day. Most of the team drank beer. I have no problem with drinking beer but prefer to avoid alcohol after being in a state of dehydration. Instead I drank a tropical fruit punch soda. It was a Haitian soda called Tropical Champagne. It was the best stuff I put in my mouth the entire trip.
We packed equipment back into our SUV as the night began to fall and storm clouds began to gather. Just as we had finished it poured the proverbial cats and dogs and it started just as we tied the last suitcase to the roof of the SUV. We all loaded back into our transportation…I think it was a total of nine of us in a car meant to hold just a few less. We completed the return 2 hours jarring drive back to our hotel in Cap Haitian. As we came down the mountain all I could think of was my air-conditioned hotel room.
Next submission: Vasectomies Haiti: The Man With The Missing Testicle!
About Dr. Monteith and His Choice Vasectomy
Dr. Monteith provides vasectomy and vasectomy reversal to men in Raleigh, North Carolina.
His first article in this vasectomy travel blog is
Vasectomy Haiti: No Reservations
In this blog series Dr. Monteith describes his experience providing His Choice Vasectomy in the developing world.
Persons interested in supporting vasectomy in the developing world can do so through the NSVI website: No-Scalpel Vasectomy International. For $45 a donor can provide a vasectomy to a man in the developing world and this vasectomy will allow him to better provide for the children he has.
