Dr. Vessely

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It takes a village

April 13, 2014 by Dr. Vessely 1 Comment

We’re headed home today. In fact, I’m 35,997 feet up in the sky on a Delta flight. It is fun to have wifi in the sky. I’ve been reflecting on what it takes to pull off a successful medical mission trip like this. I keep telling Dr. Clawson that he should write a book on it, because he has got it down to an art form. First of all, you have to have

Dr. Clawson organizing screening clinic

Dr. Clawson organizing screening clinic

a dedicated, driven, passionate leader like Dr. Joe Clawson. He is not afraid to ask anyone for anything, in the name of serving these children. If you know him, you know it is very hard to turn him down. Here is a link to his humble website that he designed himself. If you feel so moved, donations are always appreciated and are what makes the wheels turn to treat these children. Follow this link for his website

http://www.jpclawsonmedicalmissionsfoundation.org

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Madeleine surrounded by all of our supplies, brought over for this trip

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battery operated headlight

Dr. Clawson runs five mission trips per year in Zambia, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Ecuador and the Philippines. He must procure suture, antibiotics, children’s tylenol, betadine skin prep, anesthetic gases, endotracheal tubes, gauze, scalpel blades, syringes, needles, lidocaine, suction catheters, etc for each mission. What he can’t get donated, he must purchase. He then organizes enough materials for the estimated number of surgical cases for each trip. He must maintain four sets of surgical instruments (estimated cost of $20,000 at initial purchase), two for cleft lips and two for cleft palates, so that one can be sterilized while the other is in use. He makes sure that there is a talented pediatric anesthesiologist available, or he arranges to bring one. For certain trips he needs another surgeon, and sometimes nurses and OR scrub techs, or photographers and medication preparers–thank you Madeleine! Travel arrangements, drivers and cars in third world countries, lodging and food, foreign medical licenses and visas, proper immunizations and all kinds of contingency plans (such as battery operated headlights for when the power goes out in the OR in the middle of surgery). He has a meticulous organizational system for numbering the patients, and prints and brings his own paper forms for this purpose, including pre-printed post-op order sheets.

Then there are the “just in case” materials he packs every time. I have my own list that I’ve developed over the past 6 years I’ve been doing mission trips, but I enjoy finding out what is on other’s lists. For example, he brings a candle and matches and has never needed them until he was in Congo last week. And, he brings a fly swatter ( I usually do as well) for malaria control. But, the most interesting item he brings is a mouse trap. Personally, I don’t want to think about that one too much and I hope I never regret that it isn’t on my packing list! We physicians tend to put in extra medications like antibiotics for traveler’s diarrhea or urinary tract infections, immodium, benadryl (which is illegal in Zambia, by the way). Duct tape and zip lock bags are on everyone’s lists as well. Last, but certainly not least, making friends along the way is critical. Connections and networking are key to making your trip fun, rewarding and successful. Anyway, I’m hopeful he’ll write a book about how to plan, pack for and execute a successful medical mission trip because he does it very well.

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Dr. Clawson, Dr. Poglio, Dr. Vessely

Some of the people in our village on this trip include Heather from CURE international in the US, Tim and Melissa Ebbers (he’s the Beit CURE hospital CEO), Dr. Giorgio Lastroni the medical director for Beit CURE, Pastors Harold and Na the Spriritual directors at Beit CURE, Dr. Tshoma the anesthesiologist at Beit CURE, the many wonderful nurses and OR techs at Beit CURE (including TangaNika, Cristabel, Efram, Idys, David, Esther, George, Fred–I’m sorry I can’t name them all personally. We were also joined in the OR by Dr. Giuseppe Poglio, an Italian maxillofacial surgeon now working in Zambia. And, we had two lovely dinners in private homes last week, one at the Ebbers and one with former Zambian President Banda. The Ebbers provided transportation to and from the hospital each day as well.

Most importantly, we are grateful to the parents and guardians of the children. They did not give up hope and through difficult situations, managed to bring their children from near and far to have surgery. Surely, it takes a village, and a lot of guardian angels. Thanks to all at home who’ve driven my carpool, house and cat sat for me, loved and cared for my youngest daughter and covered my call and patient care. See you soon! I’m over Salt Lake City right now…

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Idys, Operating Theatre nurse manager is in pink

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Dr. Tshoma and one of his tiny patients

 

 

 

 

Dr. Clawson, President Banda, Kevin (his nephew), Dr. Vessely

Dr. Clawson, President Banda, Kevin (his nephew), Dr. Vessely

Filed Under: Missions, Zambia 2014

Margaret, Phase One

April 13, 2014 by Dr. Vessely Leave a Comment

Margaret is eleven months old and has a complete right cleft lip as well as a cleft palate. There is one photo that shows both defects and how extensive this problem is for her. She’s just crying because we’re holding her head still for a quick photo. You can see that she recovered quickly and was happier in the next photo. We did stage one this year, repairing her cleft lip. That will help the teeth grow in more normally. Next year, she’ll return for her cleft palate repair. It is nice to reach these children when they are small babies for the lip repair and young toddlers, 1-2 years old, for the palate repair.

 

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Margaret is a wiggleworm

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You can see the complete cleft between her lip, extending to her nose, alveolar ridge and palate

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Happy again to be free of head holding

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a few hours after surgery

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with mom on the hospital ward at Beit CURE

 

Filed Under: Missions, Zambia 2014

Barnabus’ Story

April 12, 2014 by Dr. Vessely Leave a Comment

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preop

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preop

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preop

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Post op, still in OR

Barnabus showed up later in the week, but we were able to work him into the schedule on Friday. He is almost three years old and has a right incomplete cleft lip. These are fairly easy to repair and it took us about 35 minutes. It is hard to fathom that this poor little guy has had to deal with this lip problem and the teasing that even small children will dole out, for three years. Especially when such a quick procedure can change things for him so easily. These children just work their way into our hearts. What a cutie! Here are some photos of Barnabus.

 

Filed Under: Missions, Zambia 2014

Random Photos from our trip

April 9, 2014 by Dr. Vessely Leave a Comment

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In front of zebra pelt at Johannesburg airport

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preop cleft palate

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preop unilateral cleft lip

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cleft palate surgery

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OR scene

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preop cleft lip

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Filed Under: Missions, Zambia 2014

Grace’s Story

April 9, 2014 by Dr. Vessely Leave a Comment

Grace captured our hearts when we met her on Sunday. She is so cute and playful. Don’t you love the hat? Here’s a brief photo journal of her time with us. Grace is four months old and has a bilateral cleft lip. She has a cleft palate as well. She’s just the right age for lip repair, and will return next year for her palate repair. The last photo shows Grace still asleep in the OR. She has orange tubes sutured in her nose to keep her nose open overnight (in case of swelling). Babies this age are obligate nasal breathers. We’ll remove the tubes tomorrow. Now that her lip is repaired, her teeth will come in much better and more in proper alignment. And, as mentioned above, she’ll return for palate repair next year.

Grace, preop bilateral cleft lip

Grace, preop bilateral cleft lip

 

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Grace with Dr. Tshoma on the way to the OR

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Getting ready for anesthesia

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Immediate post op, still intubated in OR

Filed Under: Missions, Zambia 2014

In the News

April 9, 2014 by Dr. Vessely Leave a Comment

2014 has been our busiest mission trip to Zambia. We have run out of OR time and have had to schedule a few patients for next year. This is so hard to do. Of course we’re thrilled to be busy, but the reality of telling a mother her child will have to wait for one more year is a different story. Well, actually, it is just as hard to tell adult patients that they’ll have to wait. Today we saw a 25 year old man with a severe cleft lip deformity. He has three teeth projecting straight out of his moth. Another patient had a fever today and so her surgery was cancelled, meaning that she’ll have to wait until next year also. In case you’re wondering why the sudden surge in our schedule, I’ll share some photos of the front page of two newspapers. In addition to this, we were on ZNBC television. CURE and World Vision have gotten the word out to distant villages. We’re so happy to help all of the patients we have been able to treat this year, and will be looking forward to a busy year in 2015.

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Filed Under: Missions, Zambia 2014

Jimmy Jr.’s Story

April 8, 2014 by Dr. Vessely Leave a Comment

Jimmy in screening clinic

Jimmy in screening clinic

Jimmy came to screening clinic yesterday with his father. We don’t often see the fathers of these children, and it seemed even more notable that this young boy was named for his father. Here are some photos of Jimmy and his father throughout this journey. Jimmy has an incomplete cleft lip. These are typically easy to repair, but because he is eight years old, he’ll have some permanent tooth issues. Note that the right upper incisor is almost perpendicular in orientation. Had this been repaired at 3 months of age, that could have been avoided. In the post op photo below, Jimmy is just waking up from surgery. I’ll try to post a better photo later in the week, with him fully awake. I did see his father on rounds after surgery and dad was all smiles to see the improvement for his son, Jimmy.

*update: At the bottom is a photo of Jimmy two days post op. He’s still a bit swollen, but you can already see the improvement. He went home today.

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Jimmy Jr. and his father in prep waiting area

 

 

Immediately post op, still asleep

Immediately post op, still asleep. This is our view as we do the surgery. We sit at the head of the table and work “upside down”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jimmy 2 days postop

Jimmy 2 days postop

 

Filed Under: Missions, Zambia 2014

Zambia 2014, Monday OR

April 7, 2014 by Dr. Vessely Leave a Comment

Today was our first day in the operating room (Operating Theatre, as the Zambians say) and it went beautifully. We did four operations and had the national news reporters join us in the OR for an interview and some film footage. We are so grateful to the Beit CURE hospital for its excellent staff and support. Our favorite anesthesiologist, Dr. Tshoma, was here again this year. We don’t worry at all about the babies and children as Dr. Tshoma is so experienced, talented and calm–not to mention so soft-hearted with the children.

Here are some of our experiences today.

We had the pleasure of seeing Natasha again this year and of repairing Natasha’s cleft palate. We met her last year, when we repaired her cleft lip. Here is her before and after picture of her cleft lip repair, and a couple of intraoperative photos from her cleft palate repair today.

Natasha pre-op 2013

Natasha pre-op lip repair 2013

Natasha, one year post op

Natasha, one year post op lip repair. 2014

Natasha intraop palate repair

Natasha intraop palate repair

Natasha, intraop

Natasha, intraop

Filed Under: Missions, Zambia 2014

Screening Clinic, Zambia 2014

April 7, 2014 by Dr. Vessely 3 Comments

Today was our screening clinic, a time for meeting new patients and seeing return patients for follow up DSCN1272examinations. Screening clinic is also a time for rekindling friendships with physicians and staff that we see only once a year. It is always fun and a bit hectic.

Our team this year consisted of Dr. Clawson, me, and my daughter, Madeleine. Alongside us were the indispensable nurses, who also serve as translators, as well as the CURE hospital CEO, Tim Ebbers, and his wife Melissa. We were able to schedule 16 children for surgery, and will be seeing more as they trickle in throughout the week. Below are some of the darling faces that greeted us today.

Grace, preop bilateral cleft lip

Grace, preop bilateral cleft lip

Grace is a beautiful baby with a bilateral cleft lip. She is 4 months old and the perfect age for this surgery.

 
 
Friday is 15 months old now. We repaired his lip last year and he was just here for a check up. Mom was very pleased with his result and so were we.

Friday preop, 2013

 

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Friday postop, 2014

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Jimmy is scheduled for cleft lip repair this week. Ideally, he would have been treated at 3 months of age. Having the lip repaired at an earlier age helps the teeth come in properly. Nonetheless, he’ll gain a significant improvement in his appearance later in the week.

 

 

After screening clinic, we went on a “bush hike” with friends from the hospital and caught a peek at an African sunset. All in all, a great start to the week.

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Filed Under: Missions, Zambia 2014

Feeling the love as I pack for Zambia

March 31, 2014 by Dr. Vessely Leave a Comment

It is always an adrenaline filled time as I make final preparations for a mission trip. As a die hard traveler, I have some of this excitement with any trip of course. But, traveling to Africa brings along some extra challenges, matched with extra blessings. Some of these blessings are starting to trickle in and I thought I’d share a few with you over the next few weeks.

Over the weekend, I received a donation to offset some of my expenses for this mission trip. It came from the Rotary Club of Valdese. I grew up in Valdese, NC and joined the Rotary Club for lunch in the summer of 2012. They asked me to give an impromptu talk about my mission work and now have partnered to help take care of the Zambian children. The next time I’m in Valdese, I hope to share photos of the children whose lives will have been changed due to the generosity of this group.

Today I received an email from my dear Aunt Wilma and Uncle Earl. She had searched on line for an appropriate travel prayer for me and my daughter and it is just perfect. Thank you Wilma and Earl! Here is their travel prayer:

“Lord, thank you for your hand over this trip and allowing me to get away. I don’t need to tell you that things may not be as safe as I, my parents, or loved ones would like, so I ask that you lay your protection over us on this trip. I ask that your will be done as we head out on our travels and away from home.

Please, Lord, direct my steps and provide me peace throughout this trip. Let those I encounter on my trip be blessed by my words that come from you. Let my hands be filled with your work, and may I be filled with your grace and kind words for others. May I be a light unto those around me as I go away from home.

Thank, you, Lord, for your blessings over these travels. In your Holy Name. Amen.”

It is so nice to “feel the love” as I walk through these stressful days of trip preparation.

 

Filed Under: Zambia 2014

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