Ganzhou City, China Volunteer Surgical Trip

Stuart: Fighter Pilots

  Fighter Pilots 
  Originally uploaded by interplast.

A short ride out of the city took us to the Tong Tian Rock Grotto – another site illustrating the long and historically importance of this Song Dynasty City. Its interesting stone carvings are in close proximity to an amusement aeroplane ride thoroughly enjoyed by Amy and Jim.

Amy: We're Famous!

Jodi and Paul were walking home from the hospital last night, when a man dressed in a nice suit passed them and said "thank you for helping the children".  They realized he must have seen us on TV.

Amy: Leaving Jing Ying

  Amy and Jing Ying Hugging 
  Originally uploaded by interplast.

Although she likes school and has friends, Jing Ying has been teased because of her appearance and speech, and she has felt very sad. She is excited about her now normal face and hopes that Interplast will repair her cleft palate next year when we return. Although she is a good student, she says she plans to study really hard now that she feels better about herself.

Her family had been so generous, and I really enjoyed my time with them. She was very grateful to Interplast, and I was sad to leave her and her family.

Amy: Local Kids

  Local Kids 
  Originally uploaded by interplast.

The local kids were very interested in me. I hope they will treat Jing Ying better now that her lip as been repaired.

Amy: Jing Ying

  Amy and Jing Ying's Family 
  Originally uploaded by interplast.

Jing Ying's family cultivates rice. Her parents are migrant workers working in Guangdong, a big city about 10 hours down the highway. Her aunt prepares her food during the day, and her grandma takes care of her at night, when she's done working in the fields. She has an older brother, who was also born with a cleft lip and palate, and an older sister. Both are also migrant workers. The brother is learning to use heavy construction machines. The parents borrowed money for his surgeries many years ago, but they couldn't afford to pay for their daughter's surgeries. The translator said that girls aren't as important. Her mother had developed cancer, and the cost of her surgeries has left the family in debt, although she seems to be well now. Although Jing Ying's mother works far away, she returned to bring her daughter to Interplast. She will return shortly to her job.

Here I am pictured with Jing Ying and her family. I was given the highest honor you can give a guest - I was served eggs (in rice wine soup). It was a bit embarrassing since I am not the hugest fan of rice wine soup, but it was very sweet, and I ate it nonetheless.

It was a wonderful peek into a very different way of life.

Amy: An Entourage

  Amy and Local Media 
  Originally uploaded by interplast.

While the team is actually doing the operations, I had the privilege and pleasure of getting out of the hospital.

Today, I visited an 11 year-old girl from a nearby village, whose cleft lip was repaired on Tues, and she was discharged yesterday (Weds). I had an entourage - a government videographer and several provincial government people, as well as a translator.

Amy: Full of Neon

Ganzhou City is a clean, quiet city---and full of neon.  Most of the people here speak a local dialect, although Mandarin is also spoken by many. Thankfully, we have local translators who have offered to help us understand this dialect. 

Local journalists are doing stories on a few children, beginning with filming them in their villages before we arrived, following them in clinic and through their operations, and then after their return home.   Their stories are on the local news each night.

In a little bit, I am going to a village to see an 11-year old girl who received an operation from Interplast on our last visit. It will be great to see this “after” and to see how the surgery has made a difference in her life.

Amy: Moms Are The Greatest In The World

Frank Yih taught us a song in Shanghai.  He suggested we sing to the kids to comfort them.  Here are the lyrics:

Moms are the greatest in the world.
Kids with mothers are precious who can enjoy endless happiness in mothers' arms
Moms are the greatest in the world
Kids without mothers are wild weeds who cannot find happiness outside mothers' arms.

This song is another example of how much mothers are valued in the Chinese culture.  Many of the Chinese characters describing things of comfort, home and warmth include the radical for mother. 

Amy: Doctor's Gift

  Molly and Patricia Caring for a Post-op patient 
  Originally uploaded by interplast.

The Interplast office has relayed to me some good news. “Smile,” a feature-length Hollywood movie about a volunteer medical group that does reconstructive surgery in China, will be released in Los Angeles and San Francisco this Friday, April 8! While I have not seen “Smile” yet, I understand that it will tell the story of how reconstructive surgery can help restore the lives of children in developing countries. It will feature a Chinese girl with a cleft lip who receives free surgery from a fictional humanitarian organization called “Doctor’s Gift.” What a coincidence that “Smile” talks about a charity helping Chinese children while Interplast is currently in China, helping children just like those in the movie. “Smile” should bring needed attention to reconstructive surgery and cleft lips and palates, especially in developing countries like China. In the “Smile” movie, “Doctor’s Gift” inspires a young Californian girl to help others around the world. I hope that “Smile” inspires more people to become aware of Interplast and the life-changing reconstructive plastic surgery that we perform in real life.

Amy: So Tender

  Patient with a Bilateral Cleft Lip 
  Originally uploaded by interplast.

All the kids have clefts, and most are infants or young children. Dr. Quintana commented that he was struck by how healthy these children are; they have good teeth (that means no candy), no anemia and no malnourishment. Often, children with clefts do not get the nutrition they need because their deformed lips cannot create enough suction to breastfeed properly. Others with cleft palates can get food in their mouths, only to have it come out through their nose since the roof of their mouth never effectively formed.

I haven't been on a working trip for a few years. After all these years with Interplast, and being a non-medical person, I still get so moved by the work we do, the privilege it is to be able to watch our teams interact with the kids and their families as they provide this care. Seeing Molly and Patricia be so tender with the post-op children, or seeing their parent or grandparent brought into the PACU to hold them as they emerge from the anesthesia always gets me!