Dave Brinkerhoff and I went to Benjie’s house to check on him today. I also wanted to see where he lived to learn more about him and his family. One of our post-op nurses, Ed Ayaquil, lives in Manila so he went with us to interpret in case we needed assistance. Benjie’s mom, Gina, met us at the hospital so she could navigate our way. They live just a couple of blocks off the coast about 20 miles from the Tagbilaran City.
Gina is 31 years old and was born just outside of Manila in a small town called Iloilo City. She and her husband, Sabino, met in Manila and have been married for nine years. Sabino was born in Tagbilaran City so they moved to town to take care of his parents. They live in a very small three room house that was built by his parents. His father passed away a couple of years ago so they still take care his ailing mother and their two children, Benjie, and his 3-year-old brother, Vincent.
Sabino had a job working as a fisherman until about four years ago. Because of the poor economic conditions in Tagbilaran City, he hasn’t had a job since then. As with most citizens of this community, they work for themselves fishing or farming. They either sell their goods to others in the neighborhood or they trade things in order to take care of their families. Gina and Sabino have a small row boat so they started their own fishing business. They earn about 350 pesos a day ($7.50 USD). Benjie is not too happy today - mostly because he’s hungry. Because he cannot yet hold food down, he is not allowed to eat anything but clear liquids. His mother tried to give him some chocolate milk when we were there, but that didn’t settle too well.
The good news is that he looked good! Benjie’s life will now change for the better. Until the surgery, he couldn’t eat normally. Gina explained to me the stages of how she used to have to feed him. Because of that and some other birth defects Benjie had, he was often sick. But what struck me as the most interesting part of our trip to their house is that even with the health concerns of their family, their economic situation and living conditions, they are basically happy. This is their life the way they know it. Their faith keeps them going every day. It was a pleasure to get to know our new friends. I look forward to coming back to see Benjie and his family on another mission some day.
Back at Ramiro Community Hospital, Dr. Milton Grin and his team were preparing to perform cataract surgery on brothers Jason and Jolbar, 5 and 7 years old. They had congenital cataracts in both eyes. Cataracts typically occurs as a result of aging. That’s why you mostly hear about elderly people needing surgery. When you see it in children, they are usually are born with it. Dr. Milton rarely sees bilateral cataracts in children and certainly this is the first time he’s seen it in two brothers so young.
Cataract comes from the Latin word "cataracta" meaning "waterfall.” The term is believed to be used metaphorically to describe the clouding that develops in the eye - just as rapidly running water turns white. Cataracts develop from a variety of reasons, such as long-term exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light, exposure to radiation or secondary effects of high blood pressure or diabetes. It typically progresses slowly causing vision loss over time, but can be potentially blinding if untreated.
Jason and Jolbar could see when they were babies, but their sight has deteriorated over the past few years. With surgery, Dr. Milton was pretty confident he will be able to give them clear vision. In today’s procedure, Dr. Milton will remove the damaged “lenses” from their eyes with an instrument that vibrates 10,000 times a second to remove the old lens material. That, along with a high powered microscope and a steady hand, Dr. Milton can usually get each eye done in about 30 minutes or less. Both procedures went well and the boys woke up easily in recovery. Adults are typically are operated on only using a topical anesthetic. It’s more uncomfortable for children and they don’t sit still, so they are usually put to sleep. I know you’re waiting to hear what it was like for them when they took off their eye patches. We won’t know until tomorrow when they come back for their check-up. Stay tuned!
Many thanks to Dr. Grin and his team, Kristen Jones, Mona Warren, Sue Dahn, Marilyn Moyo and Jannette Marshall. This team had long days and some unexpected challenges that delayed getting started the first couple of days.
Dan,
I love reading your blog. Sounds like a great mission, thank you to you all!
Abigail
Posted by: Abigail Hayo | October 24, 2009 at 11:39 AM