Hung’s New Smile - Hue, Vietnam

8am
The floor on the third floor of the hospital has children spawled on woven mats spread across it and parents squatting dutifully, watching and worrying.. every hour I run upstairs to blow bubbles and provide some sort of entertainment but my bubble arsenal is running low and we have three more days to go! Hung squirms in his father’s arms when he sees the bubble lady, and flails to kill all the bubbles- “pop” “pop” I say… “mom” he imitates, laughing delightedly until a hunger pain grabs him and he starts to cry- he has not eaten since midnight of last night, as today he will have surgery!

11 a.m. Pre-surgery plan room
Hung is hungry. He now clings to his father, on the balcony just outside the play room staring at the relentless rain which come in torrents as the storms strengthens and the waters rise on the ground below. Tears well up in his eyes as he is hungry and angry, and his own body becomes a personal typhoon, flooding tears down his cheek and splashing on the deck. “I only have a week”, his father sighs and explains that he had to beg to get time off without pay, and he cannot afford to stay any longer or his family will suffer with no funds.

They must still suffer, as his mother will take off one or two months before she must return to earn less than $2 a day in dong. If the flooding continues, that could delay their return. But the skies do not look happy here, and the typhoon has just started.

6:30 pm
There is a black-out, and the entire hospital area goes dark. I feel like I’m drowning in my own skin, the moisture permeates every inch of breathing space, and the downpour is often deafening as if we were blindly stuck below a never-ending waterfall. I try to make my way out to the hall, then the lights come back on, and there are audible sighs of relief. Luckily, all 28 cases on the four operating tables are completed for the day, and there are no technical difficulties… I run over to the post op area and hand out smile bags, check to see if the kids are keeping hydrated and monitor a mother who is breastfeeding. Hung is there with his parents, but he is asleep and turned so I cannot see him. I know his new smile must be there, but the biggest smile comes from his mother and father, they both beam bright enough to dry up any typhoon.

“Com on..com on..” they nod and bow their thanks then turn their awe-filled gaze back to Hung.

tam biet!

- Cathy Snyders, Operation Smile volunteer