March Surgeries
As many of you know, we took Rachel (left) and Charity (right) to Beijing several months ago and at that time the doctors felt neither if the two babies were ready for surgery. They felt Rachel did not have enough body mass and Charity was just too young. Consequently we brought them back and worked to fatten up Rachel and just let Charity grow as she should.
This time the hospital scheduled us in for the surgery on the 10th of March and both babies met the criteria for the surgery.
This was an interesting situation since Rachel’s condition is one of the most severe and Charity’s is not so severe.
Rachel
Rachel’s condition is very visible but in Charity’s case she only has a cleft palate which is not obvious from the outside view.
Rachel is such a fun little girl to be around. She is very outgoing and vivacious but she seemed to have a natural distrust for the doctors and nurses as soon as she got to the hospital. Her little eyes would follow the nurses around the room as they went about getting things ready to give her a pre-surgery physical. Of course by the time it came for the actual surgery prep she was extremely apprehensive.
Left above is Rachel being held by house mother Sheng Jing Man as she says farewell to the Home of Hope. There is a night sleeper train from Gongyi to Beijing that gets to Beijing at 6:30 in the morning which makes it a good time for minimum traffic to get to the hospital.
Above right is Rachel throwing a fit about all the leads being attached to her little body for an EKG. We really appreciate the care and caution the doctors and nurses give to these little ones.
Rachel is scheduled to be released from the hospital next Tuesday (March 17th) and we are anxious to see the results of her surgery. If it turns out as they have in the past, she won’t look at all the same.
We will post pictures of her as she heals a little and the bandage and guard over her mouth can be removed.
UPDATE!
As promised, below is a current picture of Rachel as she continues to heal! We are so happy for her and Thank You so much for your part in this milestone of her medical treatment.
Charity
Above left, Ma Hai Tao the General Assistant at the Home of Hope is holding Charity and getting ready to help her into the van as she also says good bye to the Home of Hope. Right above is Sheng Jing Man holding Rachel and Holly Hou San Juan holding Charity as the van is fixing to pull out to take them to the train station.
Charity’s personality is different from Rachel in that she is quieter and not as excitable. However, she too wasn’t very happy with all the goings on once the doctors and nurses started checking her over and getting her ready for surgery.
Even though Charity didn’t have any external problems, the cleft palate was quite spread and if you look close you can see the stitches inside her mouth. She will be sore and have a difficult time eating for the next few days to a week.
Again we will keep you updated on these two children’s progress including adding some “after” pictures to this post when they are available.
Thank you for spending some time with us and for caring for the little ones of the Home of Hope orphanages in China.
You can make an online donation by either Credit Card or Pay Pal by going to our Help the Children page.
Posted: March 12th, 2009 under Special Activities, Surgeries, Uncategorized.