Haitian Hearts has Two Patients Accepted

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Haitian Hearts has Two Patients Accepted

Memose--October, 2012
(Photo by John Carroll)

Thirty-four year old Mimose was just accepted by a medical center in the United States for reconstructive surgery of her jaw.

Thirteen years ago Haitian Hearts brought Mimose to this same medical center for cancer of her right lower jaw. The cancer was resected and her fibula was used as a bone graft to make her a new jaw bone.  It is held together by a titanium plate and screws. After surgery, Memose underwent radiation therapy and did very well and returned to her family in Haiti.

Unfortunately, after the 2010 earthquake, Mimose was lost to follow up. However, she resurfaced on Facebook and let her host family in the States know that she was not doing well. She said that she had a hole in her jaw with recurrent infections at the site of her previous surgery.

In October of 2012, I examined Mimose in Port-au-Prince. She looked well aside from her right jaw. As the photograph shows, she has a five-centimeter opening over her right mandible which exposes the plate and screws. Mimose has radiation-induced osteonecrosis, a known complication of radiation exposure.

After my exam, I sent photos and a history and physical to her surgeon in the States. He immediately responded and said he would do all he could to reconstruct Mimose's jaw. And the medical center agreed to accept Mimose as well. Her wonderful host family from thirteen years ago has her room in their home ready for her. We are working on obtaining her visa now for return to the United States.

I really don't care for Facebook but Facebook is how Mimose communicated with her host family and is the main way we communicate with her. Facebook played a big role in the Egyptian revolution and is playing a big role in saving Mimose's life.
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Woodson and Mom--January, 2013
(Photo by John Carroll)

The second patient is Woodson.

Woodson is a three-year-old toddler who lives on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. In February of 2012, his mother carried him into the pediatric clinic in Cite Soleil.

My exam revealed a very loud murmur over his chest and an echocardiogram proved he had a ventricular septal defect. This is the most common congenital heart disease and is a hole in the wall of the heart that separates the two main pumping chambers.

I put Woodson on some medication that helps rid his lungs of excess water which can collect due to this hole which should not be there.

Woodson has been accepted by a group called CHADASHA which takes Haitian kids to the Dominican Republic for heart surgery. And Woodson will leave for the Dominican Republic with his mother in two weeks for surgery to patch the hole.

Thank you CHADASHA!


John A. Carroll, MD
www.haitianhearts.org

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FRIDAY, MARCH 08, 2013

Can You Imagine?

Can you imagine what it would be like to have a hole in the side of your face? To have this painful disfigurement on the part of the body that people most commonly associate with you? To have pain every time you move your jaw to talk or to eat? To only be able to open your mouth so far? To have to deal often with infections that can be life-threatening? To have this go on for years? Can you imagine?

And what about this: can you imagine a group of people--your brother, a couple of U.S. doctors, an American friend, a Haitian in the United States--who really care about you? Who examines you in Haiti? Who sends your records to the States? Who advocates for a hospital for you? Who pays your visa fees and helps you with your paperwork? Who offers to host you in their home?

Can you imagine going to the U.S. embassy for a visa appointment, knowing that getting help depends on the outcome of the appointment? Can you imagine waiting?

And then can you imagine going to bed at the end of the day that you were granted the visa? Can you imagine despair changing to hope changing to joy?

Mimose can. We will welcome her to the United States on March 19, 2013.