Wednesday 27th February

Today started well as we were told we had to have breakfast to get ready for our morning experience and today just happened to be American pancakes for breakfast, so obviously we had to obey orders! :) 

We had to be down at the OR (operating rooms) by 9.30. We were shown where to get changed into our rather fetching scrubs! I eventually found the right size! We were given shoe covers and hats and a visitors pass. 

We had to read an instruction form of do's and don'ts for theatre etiquette and sign in. It was then explained to us which theatre we would be in and the operations we would see. We had struck gold as we were in the theatre where Dr Gary would be working. He is an amazing doctor/surgeon. The operation we would be seeing was a double operation on a 7 year old boy. His first operation was an umbilical hernia (so he had a massive outie!). Dr. Larry was performing this operation and when he had finished he handed over to Dr. Gary who was going to perform the cleft lip operation. The boy was prepared for surgery and there was a change of team, then Dr. Gary prayed for the patient asking for protection and healing. He then explained to us what he was going to do and how and also drew a picture to help us understand. 
First he drew on the boys lips and nose where he needed to make cuts and the new positions of the muscles etc. He then proceeded with the operation. He was explaining all the way through the operation what he was doing, answering our questions and showing us different parts of the lips and face, what was muscle, tissue etc and where it was going to go. 

There is a muscle which goes right around your mouth. This boys muscle came around under his mouth but then went up beside his nose towards the eye, so Dr Gary had to find the muscle and bring it round under his nose where it belonged and stitch it in place. 

Cleft lips occur when the archers bow (the triangle bit under your nose) doesn't form properly. You can get unilateral cleft lip when only one side has formed or a bilateral one where both sides haven't formed. 

He repositioned one side of the nose where it had flattened where it hadn't formed properly. The line of the lip of this boy was crooked at about a 30 degree angle. This needed to be horizontal, so he sorted that out! There were 4 layers of different thickness stitches for different parts of the mouth like the muscle, skin and fleshy parts of the lip etc. He explained that he tries to put the stitches running along the natural lines of the face so the scar is less noticeable. 
He stitched a little pad of gauze inside the nostril through to the outside. The nostril needs to be built up more than required to start with as during the healing period it tends to flatten slightly. On the outside of the nostril was sewn another piece of gauze which had been cut into the shape of a heart to make it look better when the child looked at it for the first time.

It was amazing to see the transformation happening right before our eyes and the MASSIVE difference between before and after. We could really see what a huge difference this operation can make to people, especially if they have been ostracised for many years. They are also able to do things that we take for granted like making the 'p' sound, pursing their lips and drinking through a straw. 

I asked if some children get scared the first time they look in a mirror after an operation like this as they look so different. But Dr. Gary said not really, but quite often the children of mothers who have this operation struggle or get upset as they don't recognise their mum or just because they look so different. This can also cause a bit of a problem with things like ID cards as they no longer look like their photo so they have to get it all changed.   

These two operations took about 2 and a half hours in total. It was amazing to watch lots of different nationalities working together. 
Watching the boy come round from the operation was the hardest bit, getting the tube out of his mouth/throat and when he started to cry. 






See how an operation like this can transform peoples lives like it did for these twins.
For the full story please get your tissues out and click here! 

As we were leaving we thanked all the team for allowing us to observe and witness such an amazing and life changing operation. We walked past the OR next door and noticed through the window that they were doing cataract operations. We stood and watched the monitor though the window but were then invited to go in and observe. As Dave has got a cataract developing we were quite fascinated to see it being done even though the operation he would have would be quite different as it will be less developed and can therefore be blasted away rather than removed in one hard lump. 
A doctor/surgeon talked us through the procedure which only takes about 15 minutes! We watched 2 of these procedures and they showed us the cataracts they had taken out which looked like little peanuts. 

The patients are awake during this procedure and a few minutes after the operation has finished they get up and are led out of the theatre to the recovery room. There are local day workers in the theatre who talk to the patients before and after the operation and are also on the wards to help with communication. 
The next day they come back to have their eye patch removed and get checked over and it takes a few days of recovery before they can see fully. 

This morning was an amazing experience for us both and one we won't forget.