{"id":13577,"date":"2013-03-22T19:22:47","date_gmt":"2013-03-23T00:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/?p=13577"},"modified":"2019-02-26T19:41:14","modified_gmt":"2019-02-27T00:41:14","slug":"day-two-update-medical-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2013\/03\/22\/day-two-update-medical-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Medical Mission Update #4: Ramona &#038; Junior Get A &#8220;Second Chance&#8221; At Life In The Dominican Republic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The joy I experienced on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2013\/03\/15\/mission-day-one-update\/\">Day One of the Medical Mission<\/a> amplified on the second day &#8212; as two patients, with severely leaking heart valves, underwent mitral valve repair surgery in the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13578\" alt=\"Ramona de la Cruz With Family &amp; Doctors Before Surgery\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/..\/Images\/ramona-dr-fred-milla.jpg\" width=\"550\" height=\"419\" \/><br \/>\nDr. Bernarda Cedano, Ramona de la Cruz (with family) &amp; Dr. Fred Milla<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>The first patient was Ramona de la Cruz. At 68 years young, Ramona, a Jehovah&#8217;s Witness, suffered from severe mitral regurgitation. As you can see above, Ramona was surrounded by loving members of her family including her daughter and grand-daughter.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13579\" alt=\"Junior Gonzalez &amp; His Mother\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/..\/Images\/junior-mitral-valve-repair.jpg\" width=\"550\" height=\"346\" \/><br \/>\nJunior Gonzalez &amp; His Mom<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>The second patient was Junior Gonzalez. On this, his 18<sup>th<\/sup> birthday, Junior needed mitral valve repair due to a perforated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2008\/10\/05\/mitral-leaflet-anatomy-problems-pictures-of-mitral-leaflets\/\">mitral leaflet<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly\u2026 The day actually began at the Jornada Cientifica Internacional Conference, where three members of the Mount Sinai team \u2013 Dr. David Adams, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Federico-Milla-Atlanta-Georgia.php\">Dr. Federico Milla<\/a> and Dr. Greg Fischer \u2013 provided lectures on the important guidelines for mitral valve repair, tricuspid valve surgery and cardiac anesthesia.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13357\" alt=\"The Mount Sinai Medical Team At The Medical Conference Journal Cientifica International Conferenc In Dominican Republic\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/..\/Images\/dominican-conference.jpg\" width=\"546\" height=\"553\" \/><br \/>\nJornada Cientifica Internacional Conference<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>After Dr. Adams\u2019 presentation, the medical team hurried back to the operating room at the Hospital General De La Plaza de la Salud.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13582\" alt=\"Dr. David Adams Operating at HGPS In The Dominican Republic\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/..\/Images\/dr-david-adams-medical-mission.jpg\" width=\"550\" height=\"383\" \/><br \/>\nThe Mount Sinai-HGPS Team Fixes Ramona&#8217;s Mitral Valve<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>During Ramona\u2019s case, I was once again amazed by the seamless teamwork demonstrated by this wonderful group of people. In particular, I became fixated on the strategic and coordinated hand movements of the doctors and nurses. There was a flow, a purpose and a synchronicity that was memorable and captured (to some extent) on this video.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe data-src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OU9QjQLhja0?rel=0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\" height=\"315\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>One of the key members of this team is Mary Joy Santillan, the cardiac nurse for the mission. I would later learn that Mary Joy is no stranger to medical missions.\u00a0 During her career, Mary Joy has been on missions in Nicaragua, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand. This was Mary Joy\u2019s third trip to Santo Domingo.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Mary Joy Santillan, Cardiac Surgery Nurse\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/..\/Images\/mary-joy-santilla-cardiac-surgery-nurse.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"516\" \/><br \/>\nMary Joy Santillan &#8211; Cardiac Nurse<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a wonderful connection among the patients and the medical team on missions,\u201d noted Mary Joy. \u201cEach time I go on a mission, I get a special sense of appreciation from the patients&#8230; It nurtures my soul.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After Ramona\u2019s mitral valve repair was deemed a success, the team focused their energy on Junior Gonzalez.\u00a0 On this, his 18<sup>th<\/sup> birthday, Junior would have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/mitral-valve-repair-surgery.php\">mitral valve reconstruction<\/a> to remedy symptoms including shortness of breath. During this fourth case of the mission, I noticed something different&#8230;. While in the operating room, I noticed that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-David-Adams-New+York-New%20York.php\">Dr. Adams<\/a> was less involved in the surgical process. For most of the procedure, Dr. Fred Milla took over &#8212; along with the support of Drs. Gott and Cedano.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13581 aligncenter\" alt=\"Dr. Fred Milla Operating In The Dominican Republic\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/..\/Images\/Dr-Fred-Millia-Mission.jpg\" width=\"380\" height=\"570\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a really proud moment for me,\u201d noted Dr. Adams. \u201cTo see Dr. Milla lead this case makes me very happy. Today, has been another great day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13673\" alt=\"Dr. David Adams with Leonel Pirchardo at HGPS\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/..\/Images\/MS04147.jpg\" width=\"550\" height=\"366\" \/><br \/>\nLeonel Pirchardo &amp; Dr David Adams<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>Finally&#8230; As you can see in this picture of Dr. Adams and Leonel Pirchardo, the patients operated on Day One of the mission are doing great! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about this mission, please click:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2013\/03\/15\/mission-day-one-update\/\">Update #3 \u2013 An Amazing Day in Santo Domingo<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2013\/03\/12\/dr-ricardo-lazala-medical-mission-interview\/\">Update #2 \u2013 How Does Dr. Lazala Prepare Mount Sinai for the Mission?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2013\/03\/02\/medical-mission-mount-sinai-dominician-republic\/\">Update #1 \u2013 Dominican Republic Here We Come!<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep on tickin!<br \/>\nAdam<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patient-stories"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}