Second Day of Surgery

Hello!

Yesterday was the second day of surgery. We spent the morning visiting the pre-op. In pre-op, all of the children are so ready for surgery. They are waiting with either their parents, grandparents, or siblings to be called to go to the hospital to have their cleft lip or palate repaired. Coloring pages, small stuffed animals, and hot wheels cars help calm the nerves and the dullness of waiting. The parents are so thankful, saying "salamat" or "thank you" since many of them speak some English. After visiting pre-op, we had the chance to go to an orphanage. It was about 45 minutes to an hour away. Two student nurses from a nearby university came with us to translate. The orphanage was for children from ages 0-6; however, there were most of the children we saw were boys between the ages of 7-10. This was a place for abandoned children. We made presentations there and handed out toys. They were so full of energy and excitement. Always wanting to volunteer during the presentations and wanting to take lots of pictures. After the presentations, we took a small tour of the place. They had a house for disabled children, babies, and older children. We handed out a lot of toothbrushes here too. On the way back to the hospital, I realized how much you can learn from just watching the streets you drive through and listening to the noises from the streets in a car ride. Once we got back to the hospital, we went up to the pre-op to see Toni, the child life specialist, and then up to the waiting room outside of the OR. We played with children and gave smaller presentations. Melanie's little boy that she met at screening had surgery today of his cleft lip and his brother was having cleft palate repair later that day. She gave her Claire Bear to the older brother who had his cleft palate repaired. I tried Halo-Halo, which means mix-mix in English. It is dessert made of a layer of crushed ice on top and then things on the bottom to mix into the ice. Coconut and other things were at the bottom of my cup, halo-halo is so delicious and it cools you off in the hot and humid weather. We left the hospital around 8 ish and to have dinner at one of the local's houses. Just like at the welcoming party, huge trees were covered with hanging lights. There was more delicious food there too. Chicken, rice, ribs, and yummy desserts were abundant. Also, the lemon grass tea of the Philippines is very good. After, we came back to the hotel and crashed.
New words of Tagalog:
Guapo- Handsome
Masarap- Delicious
Cumostaca- How are you?

-Mary Claire : )