Philippines 2023 – Day 5

7:48 AM

First official day at the hospital! We have 10 surgeries scheduled today. Unfortunately we are down one team member who fills an important role. We are wishing her a quick recovery. 

8:18 AM 

Flag ceremony. The hospital officials and staff have a ceremony every Monday to begin their week. It’s a promotion of health and dedication to live a healthy lifestyle.

8:56 AM

We visited City Hall and oversaw the distribution of reading glasses. 

Locals tried the reading glasses and then they were sent to the table where they would choose a style and fit. 

2:48 PM

First day of surgery is going well. Dr Aylward completed one, double mastectomy on a 29 year old patient. They detected cancer on both breast. The patient began noticing symptoms 9 years ago! She has history of breast cancer in her family. 

Her second case was a palate repair on a 9 year old boy. He had a cleft lip surgery when he was 2 years old. Dr Aylward explained the surgery won’t change this speech however it will prevent food from reaching his nose. His mom has been patiently standing outside the OR since around 9am; in good spirits, smiling every time I walk by. According to Dr Aylward, his surgery was difficult because of how wide his palate was. The duration of the surgery was about two hours long. We let mom know he’s ok and awake from surgery. 

Dr Aylward’s third case was an atypical spindle cell neoplasm removal. This 47 year old patient has had this tumor removed 3 times but continues growing back. Today Dr. Aylward did a skin graft from his stomach to cover the large area where the tumor was removed. Her knowledge and gentleness made the surgery go very smoothly. 

4:31 PM

Our surgeons are close to finishing up their cases. The morning patients are doing well and recovering fine.