June 17, 2013: Surgery at Hospital da Crianca

Today I learned that Hospital da Crianca is actually named Hospital da Crianca and not Hospital das Criancas as I originally thought, so I just want to make that correction. I had this little realization when I went to surgery with Dr. Mauro there once again. He was performing surgery on a twenty-one month old child to open the child's skull to give room for proper growth of his head and his brain. Normally when a child is born, the skull is soft and the bones are interlaced with some space for growth and will fuse as the child ages. However, this patient's skull was "tudo fechado", or totally closed. This fact was completely evident when you felt his head before the surgery (as I was allowed to do...there was no "soft spot" as there normally is on a baby's head), as well as during the surgery when Dr. Mauro peeled back the skin of his head to prepare to cut the bone. The procedure, though long, was simple and required just that the bones of the boy's head be cut, and some removed, so as to artificially create space for the head and brain to grow unrestricted. Having been to the OR at Hospital da Crianca several times now, it was good to be back and recognize a few of the faces and be able to communicate with them in Portuguese!