Hello!

Above you will see some of the OR crew. From left to right are Marilyn Santiago, veteran OR Nurse; Leidy, Scrub Nurse from Colombia; Natalia Cardona, DDS; Dr. Jorge Cardona, Dental Surgeon; and Dr. Sheila Wong, Anesthesiologist. Today’s schedule was light with six surgeries.

The highlight of the day was a little girl, age 5, who initially presented with no immediately apparent clefts, just the unwillingness to speak very much. She won our hearts immediately.

Her Papa told us that a doctor in their home town informed them that she needed surgery. Susan used the endoscope to examine her and that’s when she and Dr. DeLaney discovered a small hole in the soft palate. She was prepped for surgery. Part of the prep is a last-minute blood test, plenty of soothing, and the gift of a handmade quilt.

It was Molly’s birthday today! She had already become well known in pre-op as the lady who came to get the patient and Mom. Of course, her gracious demeanor and total presence with everyone, made her popular and after this mom’s daughter went to surgery, she made Molly a cool card with a lovely message on the back. Not even husband Craig could top that as a present for Molly this time.

A new family walked in today! We now have registered 94 patients. There isn’t much story about this little guy yet, partly because he took one look at me and immediately screamed his lungs out! I do that to people. More on him tomorrow!

Ciao!

P.S. No one says ‘adios’ here. Colombians all say ‘ciao’!