Today was the final clinic where we meet the children for the last time. It is a time for hugs and lots of photos.
After the doctors checked out the children the toys came out. No one left without beanie babies, matchbox cars, crayons, and yes sun glasses.
Pictures! All of a sudden cameras appeared in every ones hand.
Everyone was in a good mood. Team members, and the children and their families.
Well maybe not everyone was happy, but soon he will be.
Everyone pays a lot of attention to the babies,and they are really cute. There are other stories that will grab your heartstrings also. Yesterday we operated on a 44 year old man. He is married with three children. What could life have been like for 44 years with a large cleft in his lip? I cannot imagine.
His wife put everything in perspective with her statement," I loved him before, and I will love him afterwards."
Sunday was our day off and we boarded one of the tourist boats to cruise the river.The boats we saw were carrying the commerce of the city. Sand, building materials, and produce all come by a fleet of hundreds of boats of all sizes. The river was a continuous flow day and night.
Part of the tour was the floating market. There several hundred boats of every description anchored waiting for customers, Each boat had a different product. If the boat sold pineapples. Then there was a pineapple hanging from the mast.
The river is a highway, a food source, and a lifestyle.
We also visited a produce market which had more types of fruit and vegetables then I have seen before. The meat selection ran to species which I had not considered as food. Sorry, but the following photo was selected for all audiences.
When a child comes for surgery he or she comes with their entire family. Brothers, Sisters, Mom, Dad and Grandmother too. They all camp out for the duration. In our ward the rooms fill up with the children, their families, and all their gear. In the general hospital the families camp out in the hall ways on their straw mats. They line both walls leaving only a path down the middle.
Dr Ba and Dr Walker in surgery
Dr Vu in surgery
Dr Schepel stays focused
Dr Chung in recovery
Two reasons why we volunteer
Okay here is another reason!
Today we ran with three ORs and everyone seemed to reach their rhythm. One of the sad moments is when a child has to be turned away because they have a fever or a baby is seriously underweight. When the team has traveled across 12 time zones you want to help everyone.
This boy is eight years old and he is a returning customer. He had a cleft lip repaired by Rotaplast in 2003.
On this mission we are running a clinic each day as more people are getting the word. In spite of the appearance there is an organized flow.
A parent can never choose one of their children as their favorite, but all the Rotaplast team members have favorite children.
Tuan, the little boy in the photo had the greatest disposition. He always had a smile for us. Tuan had surgery to remove the hairy nevis you see on the side of his face and I hope we will see him at post clinic with his warm happy smile.
Flip flops! When you move between areas of the hospital you must have the correct shoes. Between the OR and the ward can be three changes from street shoes to white flip flops to blue flip flops.
The Can Tho Central Hospital is very large and we are spread out over two floors. Tuesday was the first clinic. This is where we first meet the children and evaluate and create their charts. This year children are coming in on a daily basis, so we had a second clinic on Wednesday.
I spent some time with Johnny the last two days. Johnny is age 30 and has traveled for 6 hours to get to our clinic. He tells me that this is his fourth surgery on his face, palate, nose and lip, and all four surgeries have been performed by four different Rotaplast missions. In talking with the doctors, and Johnny, he still needs at least two more surgeries to finish all of the revisions necessary and possible. Johnny has a very outgoing personality, which drew me to get a little of his story. Johnny will continue to remain in Cumana until our post clinic in two days. He is living with all of the other out of town patients at a military installation near the hospital. All of the activities there are being handled by the local volunteers from the commercial sponsor companies. Check out my photos of Johnny include in today’s photos.
Yesterday we had a young girl that was all prepared for her operation. The anesthesia had been administered, she was in the operating room, hooked to the many machines that monitor her condition when the anesthesiologist saw that her breathing was not quite right. A conference was held by all parties involved. Their decision was to abort the procedure. A very serious decision but it was to insure the health of the patient. The big problem being the will now need to wait for nearly a year for the next mission for another shot at the operation she needs to get that smile that all kids deserve. Every person on this mission has a job to perform and they all are executing their duties everyday for over 10 hours a day. But it is the work of four positions that bring it all together. Our mission leader and his assistant are making certain that all areas of the mission are functioning. The head nurse and the medical records keeper work hand in hand to prepare the surgery schedule each day, then the head nurse is very much in charge of the activities of the day in all areas where patients are concerned. Our head surgeon has responsibility for the operating rooms that have a multitude of people in each of our four operating rooms. Many of our volunteers speak Spanish but many do not so our interpreter is essential to our success.
We have two dentists with us on this mission. Normally they are present to extract teeth that, during surgery, have been determined to need to be removed. One dentist is a newcomer to Rotaplast missions and he is an orthodontic resident from North Carolina. The other dentist is a lady from Uruguay and is veteran of nearly thirty missions with Rotaplast.
It appears that most patients with a cleft palate have teeth that need to be aligned. I would call the teeth very disorganized and crowded. After the cleft palate surgeries have healed then the expanders and braces give the teeth a chance to grow in more normally.
On a personal note, the World Cup soccer matches are being played in South Africa this month. The locals and many of our team are glued to the TV when there is a game on and they are not otherwise occupied. Also the Finals of the NBA are being played this week. Our hotel has an electrical problem and the electricity must have gone off 10 times during the last 6 minutes of the game. Luckily it stayed on just long enough for us to catch the last few moments and the final score. Go Boston.
A fact about Venezuela that I recently learned is that gasoline is highly subsidized. Our Rotary host tells me that 1000 gallons will cost just $6.00. The price remains low to keep the population happy. The last two times that gasoline prices were increased the government in power was voted out during the next election.
