Alicia: Smiles in Wenshan, China!

My second Operation Smile mission in Wenshan, China was amazing! I worked with an amazing team of surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, students, and volunteers. We left SLC on March 12th, arrived in Beijing, China on March 14th and finally Wenshan, China on March 15th. The time difference from SLC to Beijing is 14 hours. I was able to email my family from my friend Jae's blackberry, which was nice since I had no other forms of communication with them. We screened 127 patients and performed 86 surgeries, including one skin graft on a seriously burned patient. I hope the graft takes, because it will change her life. The kids were so cute and the families so attentive and loving! I learned a few phrases, yet I think they just laughed at me when I spoke. Nevertheless, I tried to make a connection with them. On March 16th we had our screening day and met all these beautiful children, not all happy, since they may have never had a blood pressure cuff squeeze their arm or leg before in their life. We employed the skills of our child life specialist to bring the smiles out. And she did!

This little man was so adorable, he had a bilateral cleft lip. I loved his hat!

The amazing nurses I worked with! Ashley, Jae, and two Chinese nurses and one interpreter. Virginia, the coordinator of our trip placed 4 nurses from Primary Children's Hospital on this trip, including me. And the best part was she had no idea we were all from the same hospital. It was great to meet and work with new co-workers!

Me and 3 local nurses from Wenshan! They were so eager to help and learn! These are hard working nurses! I was so grateful they were such hard workers and worked well with us even though the communication barrier was so hard, despite translators.

I caught these nurses reviewing our paper charting, aren't they beautiful!

One of our students, Kim, with the little ball of energy! I first met this kid after he hit me on the back of my leg, I turned around and gave him a high five. I also taught him knuckles. He continuely ran around the unit and kept going. We connected immediately! I later gave him bubbles and he loved them! Bubbles are a hit! He had his cleft lip repaired a year ago and now he came for his palate.

This little girl was one of my favorites, so beautiful! She had a cleft palate. I loved her traditional red Chinese outfit! Her dad was really sweet with her and whenever I visited her room or saw them in the hallway, her dad made sure I could see her and got her attention for me.

Now this little guy was very upset after surgery and wasn't interested in drinking juice. I told his parents it was very important for him to drink, not only for hydration but to reduce pain. They were good and kept attempting to get him to drink, yet bubbles...did the trick! I came in with them and blew them for him and he loved popping them. I then let his mom take over and here he's trying to pop one. His parents were thrilled he was so happy!

Beautiful girl! She had a unilateral cleft lip, but what I love most is the beautiful, loving smile the mom has on her face! I love these people!

My cute little friend, using chopsticks better than me, of course!

This cute girl could say "hello" and then she'd shake everyone's hands and give them big hugs! She was so sweet. She wanted to show me her picture she colored, so I asked her if I could get a picture of her and her picture!

This cute man was very grumpy, well just not willing to break a smile! He had a cleft palate surgery, so he has every right to be sad. He also still has his tongue stitch in. Ram, our Anesthesiologist Team leader, was determined to get him to smile. He finally broke one with a few moves from Ram!

This beautiful girl was a sibling of a patient, yet I couldn't get enough of how cute she was! She was so happy!

The people in Wenshan and I assume most of China, squat like that all the time, I guess it's comfortable! I've tried, it isn't for me! They were playing with this car in the hallway, the little boy was having a great time.

This little man was also a sibling or relative, but nevertheless, beautiful! I loved his hat! He was in a pouch the grandma was wearing on her back. Most of the families wore these around the unit. We even saw people in the city wearing them while driving their scooters. Scary!

Local nurses from the 8th floor of the Hospital. They were all so nice, hard working, and eager to learn how to take care of cleft lip and palate patients! The charge nurse is on the far left, very nice lady! It was a privledge to meet and work with them! I love these missions because I can meet new people that I otherwise never would've in my life!