Screening Day 2

Screening Day 2 – Friday, March 14, 2008

I (Margaret) am actually writing this on Saturday morning as we never got to it last night. We screened another 125 children on Friday, so in total we have about 250 people looking to get surgery. Only 125 got put on the schedule last evening before we left. Tomorrow (Saturday) they will post a huge board down in the lobby about who will get surgery starting on Monday and on what day. It is heartbreaking to think that a lot of these people will have to wait. Many of them are just too young, so they will get surgery next year when Operation Smile comes back. And, many of them are just not candidates because their problems are more extensive than can be handled by us in a few days.

The children are so small, they need to do the cleft surgery a little later than would typically happen in the US. One of the things that has impressed me in the first couple of days is how tiny the children are. When we start their chart (my job with the interpreters), we get their age. It was impossible not to question some of them, because the children were just so tiny. Many of them are malnourished and most are so dirty. So sad.

We saw some terrible cases today – kids with tumors and several that they physicians explained last night can not possibly live – they tumors on their face and head are so large they have metastasized to their brains and we can’t possibly help them here.

The poverty in this country is severe. You just can’t believe how and where these people live. Many of the children we saw yesterday had traveled more than 10 hours to get to the hospital. They live out in remote villages – where the poverty is worse than here. That is hard to imagine. Many of the guardians of the patients we saw yesterday could not write to sign the consent form, they would just make an ‘X’.

We spent 12 hours at the hospital today – because after we screened we needed to determine which kids will get surgery. I think it was actually hotter than the first day. I would not have thought that could be possible – but it was.

After we got back, about 15 of us went out by (Tuk Tuk) the crazy carriages towed by motor bike to a pizza restaurant. It was crazy. Gecko lizards climbing all over the walls – and in the middle of serving our dinner – the power went out so we sat in the dark for a while. There are so many people everywhere, all over the streets all the time. The traffic is crazy. After dinner, several went to get massages (including Brian). $7 for an hour massage.

Saturday, we go back to the hospital to notify the patients about who was chosen and to set up the operating and recovery rooms. Helen and I (the medical records team) have to get all the charts ready for surgery on Monday morning. It should only take a few hours and then we have the rest of the day off. We have a lot of things planned. Will write about those next time.

M&B