Trust

I had the privilege of working with Dr. Gary Parker today. There is a gentleness and confidence that envelops his OR. There is time to speak personally with each member of the team. There is tme to teach the medical student, to illustrate principles to the national physicians, prayer is offered for each patient just before scalpel meets tissue. We are all richer for working in Theatre 4 today.

A young mother travelled 8 hours from "up-country" to bring her 1 year old child to this intimidating white structure in the Conakry port. Born with a bialteral cleft lip and palate his upper face and the roof of his mouth were splayed open. He was never able to breast feed, and the powdered formula that she had been feeding him with forever leaked out the front of his face and through his nose every time he eats. What will their future look like? Can they really trust this ship full of white prople to actually "fix" her broken child - for free?

3 hours later a happy mother held her contented baby, his face intact. There is still more surgery to come, but not for a few years. The deficiency of tissues on the inside of his mouth will make it difficult for him to peak normally. Once he grows he will need another procedure, but today he looks "normal".

A middle aged man has a long standing sore on his face that proves to be cancer. He had had many treatements over years, with no effect. To cure him from this cancer will not be straightforward. It is simply too large. He will lose a portion of his nose, the right half of his upper lip and a large portion of his right cheek. Yes, we all agree the cancer needs to be removed but how do we cover  the large portion of bone now exposed on his right face? Like the baby, we cannot complete his "healing" today. Unlike the baby, he looks far worse after the procedure than before we started. We took a large portion of his lower lip and sewed it into position to cover much of the exposed bone. When we finished he had two holes as mouths. His face was disfigured. But there is hope. In three weeks we will release the flap and as we sew it into its new position he should be restored. Normal, other than a slightly smaller right nostril.

Both of these have chosen to trust us. The young mom now has her son restored. The man will have to continue to trust us that this disfigured condition that we have left him with is only temporary. The reality that he sees tonight in the mirror is not the final result. It has been a vivid reminder for me to look beyond what I can see today, and believe in what I know to be true.