The featured photo is Surgeon Paul Faringer, MD from Honolulu, HI preparing Agness, a 6 year old girl with a cleft lip. This is the last lip surgery for OR #2 of this mission.
Surgery Day # 7 is the last for surgeries. At the end of the day the Team will begin the process of packing up. One day left on the mission will be tomorrow, Friday 21 June when the Team will return for making the rounds, change of bandages and dispensing of any required medication and packing boxes of equipment to be returned to Rotaplast in San Francisco. The Team Medical Director Todd Farnworth, MD is pictured below finalizing the surgery schedule for the day.
Meet Abdalla:
As part of early morning rounds, pictured below is Pediatrician Rene Vreuls with a very special patient Abdalla, a 10 year old – young man – the youngest of 4 children living in the Arusha area, about a 2 hour walk from the hospital. His father died some time ago and his mother is very ill, however, she was committed to bring Abdalla to the Rotaplast opening clinic in the hopes the surgeons could help her son.
At age 4 he was severely burned on his arms from boiling water. Although he has had prior surgery, the skin again contracted making his arms difficult to use. The Rotaplast Team was up to the challenge.
A bigger challenge. On the day of the surgery Abdalla’ mother was too sick to bring him to the hospital, so this young man took charge, started walking on his own to arrive on-time for his surgery. Surgery was completed on both arms (elbows) yesterday, Wednesday 19 June 2019.
Pictured is Abdalla in OR yesterday, Wednesday. Surgeons Sibrand Schepel and Rod Simonds are conducting the surgery with Anesthesiologist Tim Conahan and OR nurse Jeanne Kille assisting.
Meet Agness, the last Lip Repair Patient of OR #2 for this Mission:
Pictured below, Surgeon Faringer studies and marks Agness for the precise cuts and repair. Agness is a 6 year old girl with a cleft lip her mother brought in for repair This is the last lip surgery for OR #2 of this mission.
Important is the stiches to assist in the healing process.
Surgeon Faringer meets with his last lip repair patient of the mission in the PACU room along with Agness’ mother as they prepare to go home with a repaired lip.
Meanwhile in operating table #1 Surgeons Schepel and Simonds work to repair the lip of Joani, a young girl with a twin sister. Her mother really wanted Joani to look like her twin sister, the surgeons were up to the challenge. The Team hopes to meet the sisters before we depart for an actual comparison.
Joani in the PACU with her mother ready to go home.
The last patient of the Mission was completed on OR # 2 on Surgery day # 7. The patient was a 64 year old man, Rashid, undergoing an ear-repair by Surgeon Paul Faringer, MD.
As the last patient clears the OR, packing has begun. The demanding work of the Anesthesiologist is over, the packing up has started. Pictured below is the packing up, and Anesthesiologist’ Robert Karoukian, Tim Conahan and Stephen Carlson, (L-R) with a ‘mission completed’ smile.
The Rotaplast Team has completed its tasks over 7 days of surgeries and assisting patients in the ward. The Team put together a big ‘Thank You’ for the hospital hosts, Nurses, Doctors and support personnel that made the mission a success. The Rotaplast Team held two ‘thank you’ sessions, one in the OR and another in the ward. Each with a special cake and certificates.
With all surgeries now complete for this mission, the Team will return on Friday for one more set of ‘rounds’ and patient care, tomorrow as it is now time to pack up and prepare to depart.
-End-