Tuesday morning – October 14th has arrived and we have now officially been in Cebu City for one week. It is incredible to realize how much can be accomplished in a short seven days and it is also causes you to pause and reflect on how much time in life is often wasted.
Carolyn has fewer and fewer messages for the team in the morning as we have maintained our on time record and our stellar behavior! Our general health is also holding fairly well although a few are still having some trouble sleeping but overall we aren’t working Bryan too hard. Everyone is upbeat ready to be back at our posts for another day and eleven surgeries on deck.
Just when you think there could not possibly be any children that are more adorable than those you have already met, along comes another set of big brown eyes to steal your heart.
Today the first of those spectacular eyes and equally beautiful head of hair belong to Paul James Ogania. Paul James is only 10 months old and the youngest of six children. Mom has traveled here with one of her older sons who is providing her with support and assistance. Paul James is the only one of her six children to have a cleft lip and she tells us how very grateful she was to have heard a radio advertisement for Rotaplast.
They are a lovely little family that cannot but capture your heart. Each one of them has such a gentle manner and soft, sweet personality, even the baby. As mom is brought into the recovery room to see her son after surgery she like so many mom’s before her is completely overcome with emotion. There is not a dry eye among those of us looking on as we watch her gaze at her beautiful baby boy.
Another of our beautiful boys having surgery today that has equally stunning brown eyes was Khurt Ybanez. This young man is only 11 months old and once again will never fully understand the change in his life that occurred this week. You can’t help but think of the well used saying ‘what a difference a day makes’ and in this situation it really applies. A few short hours later mom and Khurt are back on the ward recovering from a very successful surgery.
As day five comes to an end we have another close eleven surgeries complete and an equal number of very happy families. This now brings our 5 day total so far to 55. Everyone agrees this is a very good mission.
Tuesday is all about the Nurses of the Operating Room. On this mission they include Victoria Slama who resides in Peoria, Arizona and Mia Pena who lives in Livermore, California. This mission is Victoria’s 40th (yes that is 40) Rotaplast mission and she not only works her magic in the OR but has a wealth of stuffed toys and other goodies for the babies and children that make her very popular indeed amoung our young patients. Victoria knows her way around the operating room and around the little children which give her so much joy.
Mia Pena is on her 5th Rotaplast mission and is originally from the Philippines and the Cebu City area so this is a very special Rotaplast Mission coming home.
Both of these organized and efficient ladies make certain that everything is just as it needs to be in the operating room before, during and after surgery. They are a busy pair and we don’t see much of them during the day as they are heads down and tied closely to their surgical theatres. If you do happen to run into them it is likely because you too are in the OR where you will experience first hand the tireless work of this duo.