Operation Smile:Nicaragua Mission update
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion Archive: Archive February 2006:
Operation Smile:Nicaragua Mission update
This was my favorite child of the week. I fell in love with her big brown eyes. Isn't she a pumpkin?
A little girl before surgery with a bilateral cleft.
The same little girl after surgery
This 14 y/o boy traveled 3 days by bus in hopes of getting a new smile
A little swollen and scabby, but a beautiful new smile nonetheless
Hello! I got back from my trip last night. It was an incredible experience!! As a team we screened 189 children in 2 days, did surgery on 118 of them in 4.5 days with a total of over 130 procedures (some kids had 2 things done like lip and palate). It was so challenging, educational, and overwhelming. I screened over 150 children the first day and worked from 10-7:30 with no lunch. We got to play a lot on the weekend and went ziplining (same place I had been before), shopping, and to a lagoon in a volcano. The weather was great--usually in the 90s. The hotel had a pool so we went swimming there.
The children and their parents were phenomenal. Due to space constraints, kids had to sometimes share hospital beds and the parents spent 2-3 nights bedside sleeping upright
in plastic lawn chairs. Some of these families traveled up to 3 days by bus to get to Managua in hopes of having surgery. Many of the children have never been anywhere but home before, so this was a terrifying and intimidating experience for them from start to finish. They were such troopers though!
I did therapy usually in the mornings until early afternoon and then I went into surgery. I got to watch lots of operations and cleft palate surgery is pretty gruesome. The cool thing was that I was really a part of the medical team and spent most of my time with the plastic surgeons and orthodontist. In the states, I usually get the kids after surgery and have very little interaction, if any, with the surgeons. Here, the surgeons consulted me on what needed to be done to surgically improve speech and they taught me a lot in the process. I even had one surgeon spend the day translating for me. They were so kind and not arrogant at all---definitely not the case in the US.
Our team of 50 people was from all over the world, specifically: USA, Peru, Mexico, Australia, Brazil, Nicaragua, Czech Republic, Denmark, and Germany. I had so much fun getting to know all of these awesome people. We knew each other VERY well by the end of the mission because we usually spent about 16 hours a day with each other for 10 days. The team consisted of plastic surgeons, OR nurses, recovery nurses, pre/post op nurses, medical records people, child life specialist, orthodontist, speech therapist, patient imaging technicians, a biomed technician, anesthesiologists, pediatricians, and other support staff. I especially got close to 3 of the surgeons, an ansesthesiologist, a pediatrician (if anyone needs a ped. in Delaware, I know a GREAT one), and one of the OpSmile people. However, my biggest buddy is a guy named Leon. He is an orthodontist from Long Island and is probably in his early to mid-50's. For you Survivor fans, we had a Elisabeth-Rodger relationship. He would do anything for me, and I would for him. Who would have ever thought that a Jewish orthodontist from NY and a Baptist speech therapist from Louisiana would hit it off so well?
Our days started with team mtgs at 6:30 and off to the hospital at 7. We typically got back to the hotel at 6:30 or 7 and then dinner was usually a 3 hour ordeal because the restaurants take their sweet time. I didn't sleep well the entire time b/c I couldn't turn my brain off at night---faces of kids, Spanish/English phrases, etc. kept running through. At the end of the week we had a big party to celebrate with a huge buffet, awards, DJ, and dancing. I got the "Southern Belle" award because of my accent  . These guys from Brazil and Mexico can dance like no one I've ever seen...and they like to dance. One guy from Brazil tried to teach me Latin American dancing and I was horrible. First I got the steps down, then had to add the hips, and do both while going in a circle. I think he just ended up with bruised feet. It was quite comical! Anyway, everyone had fun celebrating all of the hard work and we left behind 118 beautiful new smiles in Nicaragua.
I missed my family and by about day 7 I was really ready to come home. I don't think I could have stayed any longer than 10 days. I would do it all again in a heartbeat though. I'm actually hoping to go on one mission a year---hopefully to India, China, or Africa next year. Robert and the boys survived even though Noah said he was glad I was home because I "run the house"--LOL. The house was clean and laundry all done and no one starved to death. I married quite an awesome man!
So that's the scoop in a long-winded nutshell. More info on my blog and you can check out pics here. You can see the pics in slide show, but if you go one by one you can read the captions that explain each one.
What an experience of a lifetime, I've been reading your blog the whole trip sounds like it was so rewarding. Both for the children you helped along to you.... You have a big heart and shared it with so many.
I'll be checking out the rest of the pictures soon.
Pam, I remember seeing your pics of your time helping with Katrina victims. I was driven to tears.
Thank God for putting you on this planet.
That sounds like a great time. That was such a nice thing that you did. The children looked beautiful.
I have been following lurking around your blog as well. ;) The pic's are amazing! Thanks for sharing!
Good to have you back!!
That is wonderful story. Thanks for sharing.
Pam, that must have been SUCH a fulfilling experience! Kudos to you for being a part of that team. Can't wait to check out your blog and photos! Thanks for the update.
Wow Pam! What a win win! These kids had the benefit of your experience and care and you had the experience of a lifetime!
The world is better because of people like you!
Ame
Pam, you are amazing! I can't wait to read your blog and check out the pictures! I agree, the world is a better place with you on it!
What a wonderful job you are doing Pam
These people will always have you in their minds and hearts.
Wow, what an amazing adventure!!! It is so heart warming to read all you did for those kids.
I'll echo everyone else and say what an enriching and fulfilling experience you had. Welcome back!!!
I am in awe after reading your post! The before and after photos of the children brought tears to my eyes.
And it sounds like your husband did a super job, too!
I'm going to go read more.
Thank you for sharing with us.
WHat an amazing thing to be able to do!
I am in awe of you & all the other volunteers.
That is so neat that you got to do that! I'm glad everyone else survived your absence, too!
I just finished reading your blog entries. What an incredible experience. I truly hope you are able to do this once a year!
Guys, thanks for the kind words, but I did nothing that anyone else wouldn't do...really. The true heroes are the parents who did WHATEVER it took to get their kids to Managua. The travel expense and difficulty, the long waiting in lines, the uncomfortable conditions in the hospital, but they did it because they loved their kids so much. I teared up every time I walked by the OR---all the moms and dads were sitting on benches waiting for their babies to come out of surgery with tears streaming down their faces. And the other true heroes are those who do stuff like this day in and day out with NO recognition or glory. It's one thing to go for a week and half and have a grand adventure, sightseeing, eating good food, and doing a good deed for a brief while, but there are so many people who do stuff like that in adverse conditions every day and no one even knows about it. But yes, it was the experience of a lifetime and I will never be the same. One of the anesthesiologists on the mission actually quit his practice and does medical missions full-time with Operation Smile and 2 other groups. He has done 28 missions with OpSmile in the past 4 years. That's incredible!! Anyone, thanks for letting me share. I missed you all and am glad to be home.
I just finished looking at the pictures (and left lots of comments!). Some of those poor kids were really quite deformed. How in the heck were they eating, let alone learning how to talk and stuff.
It was amazing how much better they looked, even right after surgery. I realize that as the incisions heal and the swelling goes down, they will look even better!
You will always be thinking of those kids and wondering how their faces look in the future!
I have a question. How do they get the word out, that Operation Smile is coming, when people live in remote villages and many of them don't read?
WOW!! I have been looking at your pics for over an hour. What wonderful work you all did! The kids look amazing, and I'm sure the families are all thrilled!! I'm sure it was such an emotional experience for you.
"...but I did nothing that anyone else wouldn't do...really...
That's not necessarily true, Pam. Many people, for many reasons, couldn't/wouldn't have done that - due to selfishness, fear, predjudice, apathy or just plain greed.
I realize that many other people, particularly the families, deserve recognition for this, but so do YOU. You've done a wonderful thing, and as I said in my first post, it must have been very fulfilling. What a great feeling!
Pam, I've just had my first chance to check out your pics, still haven't read your blog. I have a question, please forgive my ignorance, OK? Is there a higher incidence of that deformity in certain parts of the world, and *why*? I noticed some other ones too. Like I said, I'm ignorant when it comes to that, and would truly love to have facts. I think ALL of you did a fantastic thing there. The smiles and joy that's on all the faces says it all.
And - I have to ask about the ziplining/canopy tour - how much *pressure*, or maybe stress is a better word - is put on your entire body as a whole while doing that? DH and I are planning to zipline in Costa Rica in December, and with my history of back problems, herniated disks and arthritis, I have to admit, I'm a *teeny* bit concerned about how it will affect me. But I'm not one to let physical *ailments* prevent me from living my life.
Again, many kudos to you for what you've done!!!
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