Thursday

The WSF performed 32 surgical procedures today. It was our intent to do at least 5 more, but some patients had high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and had something to eat before surgery, which creates an aspiration hazard with the anestesia equipment. In addition, we had a power outage from 6:30-8:30 PM, so some surgeries had to be postponed until tomorrow.

We had two surprises during surgery today. The first was found in Scarleth Zelaya, who had a Dermoid cyst on the back of her head. The surgical staff found that the mass, instead of water as they originally anticipated, contained hair and a milky substance. They felt that it may have been a twin that never developed in utero.

The second was found in Jorge Meza Duenas, a 19 month old boy whose parents brought him to Dr. Alvear to find out why he had trouble learning how to walk. He had swelling in his right testicle which was initially thought to be a hydrocele (fluid filled sack), but it turned out to be a tumor (teratoma) consisting of brain tissue and some tumor tissue that may have been his twin in utero. The team believes that the tumor was probably cancerous, but it was cured because Dr. Alvear removed the whole mass, including the blood vessels.

Tomorrow will be our last day of procedures before packing up and heading for the airport at 4 AM on Saturday. We hope to help at least 22 more patients before we need to pack our bags for home! Please keep us in your thoughts for a safe day of travel on Saturday!