A surgical team is made up of  at least a surgeon, an anesthesiologist and a scrub and circulating nurse.  A cleft lip surgery usually spans about 45 minutes and a palate about 90 minutes.   A typical day in an operating room involves following very strict protocols.  And no two days are alike.  Our second surgical day was no different.

Pictured below is one of the four surgeons on the mission, Dr. David Morwood. He brings over 27  years  of surgical experience to the team.  He was one of the surgeons on Rotaplast’s first mission in January 1993 in La Serena Chile.

Beauty comes in many shapes and forms.  This 40 year old man has been living with his cleft lip all of his life.  He is quiet, reserved, and socially has been affected by his condition. Here are  before and after photos of him (with Dr. David, his surgeon).

Pre and Post surgery, the young children enjoy spending time in the ward.  Here is a wall of art created by the patients of the ward.

And here are some of the artists:

    

Unexpected circumstances keeps the team on their toes.  And each mission has its share of unforeseen events.  Heavy rainfall means road travel across rural parts of the country of Myanmar can become more difficult – in a few more extreme cases perhaps impossible.  A bus full of patients has not yet made  it to the hospital, and time is running out for the team to assess and treat any new patients.   We are anxiously awaiting word on their arrival. And during the day, the hospital experienced an hour long power outage.  There were two surgeries ongoing at the time and luckily, the hospital had a generator specifically reserved for the operating rooms. Regardless, the team relentlessly pushes on.

And here we have this young patient who is anxiously waiting for his surgery.

Overall, the second surgery day was a success. And we look forward to treating 15 patients tomorrow.