Operation Smile-Cambodia, Mission Complete!

Los Vichika Post-Operative Day #1

Los Vichika Prior to Surgery (Photo courtesy of Ashleigh Sim, Singapore)

Pre and post-operative photos of Los Vichika, a delightful 6 month-old boy with an incomplete unilateral cleft lip deformity.

Our Operation Smile mission was held at Takeo Provincial Referral Hospital, located approximately 90 km south of Phnom Penh. The mission was successfully completed. It was such a pleasure to volunteer with my colleagues and to get to know so many Cambodian children and their families. We officially screened over 160 patients (unofficially over 300 patients) and 98 patients had surgeries with safe outcomes.

The first day of surgery started with visits from VVIPs (very very important people) including Cambodia's Prime Minister's son, Hun Manet (apparently he's being groomed to be Cambodia's next prime minister). He's a graduate of West Point, has a PhD in economics, and seems to be well liked by the Cambodian people. He was very kind and genuinely interested in our mission, as he visited with our patients and their families. Oh, yeah, he's handsome too!

Our oldest patient, Neo Keang, was a lovely 81 year-old woman who also had a unilateral cleft lip deformity. Here is a link to her story: http://ow.ly/54K11 She was so grateful following her surgery! I was fascinated by her life and her experience of living in Cambodia. Consider how different Vichika’s life will be, both temporally and personally, compared to Neo. Simply amazing.

The major key to the team’s success was Professor Mok Theavy, MD, Cambodian plastic surgeon, his assistant, Ho Thavry, and their cadre of Cambodian medical students and health professionals that volunteered in every aspect of the mission (including translation)! A special shout-out is due to David Fruitman, a Operation Smile-Cambodia board member and “always there when you need him for anything” volunteer. Thanks to everyone!

Cambodia At Last!

As luck would have it, I am preparing to leave for Cambodia. As many of you know, I have a great interest in Southeast Asia, its people, culture, and history. To have the opportunity to visit Cambodia is amazing! I will be leading an Operation Smile medical mission to Takeo, Cambodia. It is a friendship mission sponsored by Operation Smile-Singapore. It is always a pleasure to work with my Singaporean colleagues. We will have team members joining us from Cambodia, Italy, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, the United States and Uzbekistan. As luck would have it, I was able to eke out a few extra days prior to the start of the mission. I will be visiting Siem Reap and the Angor Region, including Angor Wat, Angor Thom, and surrounding temples. I hope to make posts to my blog during my adventures. A big Khmer “ar kun” (thanks) to everyone for your encouragement and support!

http://cambodia.operationsmile.org/