Thursday, October 30, 2008

Starting to wind down

The day after surgery is always hard for kids, but it's especially true for kids without parents there to comfort them, help manage their pain and explain to them what's happening and what will happen. The child in the picture below had a very tough surgery yesterday and today was not pleasant. He was miserable, feeling nauseous and in pain. The CCPF volunteers made a special effort to spend time with him, but it's just not the same as having parents there. The CCPF medical team tried their best to make him more comfortable, but everyone is just holding on until time passes and he is out of the acute post-surgery stage. Below is a picture of our little friend with his surgeon, Dr. Lazar.



Below is a boy who had surgery at the beginning of the mission for a club foot. Four days after surgery he is feeling much better, especially with CCPF volunteer Christina decorating his cast. He also both gave and received temporary tattoos today, so all in all things are looking up for this little guy.




One of the kids that we all feel very touched by is a an 8 year old who speaks amazing English and who is so smart and sweet. Unfortunately he can't have surgery on this trip because more tests need to be done to make sure that surgery is safe for him. Like the polio girl from a few posts ago, he was upset about not being able to have surgery, but unlike her he was very stoic about it. Still, it was hard to watch him yesterday as he was digesting the news, and today he was notably very down. He came to Nanchang with two other little boys, all from the same home in Beijing and he is staying while they have surgery. Dr. Roye is arranging to see him in Beijing in March and hopefully do the surgery then. Below is a picture of the boy helping Dr. Biagas examine his friend from the home.





Just as soon as we get it here the time starts flying by. Last night we hosted our thank you banquet for the hospital. There was lots of toasting and everyone seemed quite pleased. As usual Dr. Roye and Dr. Hong both gave very nice toasts.



1 comment:

gtrippe said...

Thank you so much for the pictures! The kids are so adorable.