The first day of surgeries finally arrived! Many months of fundraising and preparation have brought us to this point. The entire team is excited to begin the day and help change the lives of the patients and their families.
Pictured below is a group of young mothers in the waiting area with Nan, Nurse Practitioner.
Meet our very first patient Romelia and her mother Caterina. They both traveled by foot and by bus for over 12 hours to be here. Caterina is about to hand Romelia over to team members for surgery.
Romelia has a bilateral cleft lip & palate.
Team members are comforting Caterina after Romelia was taken into the OR.
Left to right: Dr. Anne, Dr. Zoel, Sandy RN, and Vasanth
Dr. Milton performing surgery on Romelia.
Caterina was just notified that Romelia is out of surgery and in the PACU. As you can see Caterina is very happy to be reunited with her daughter.
Paula, RN consoling Caterina in the PACU moments before she will hold Romelia for the first time with her new smile.
Mother and daughter reunited again.
Romelia resting peacefully in her bed on her way back to recovering.
Thank you Michael - these updates are so touching. It's nice to be able to understand and appreciate just how incredible your work is.
Posted by: Lisa Swiatek | March 15, 2012 at 04:56 PM
Great blogging, it'll help a lot people surely, thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Rocky Hudson | March 17, 2012 at 12:54 AM