Fouth day ...continued

Friday... continued

Today is an exciting day in surgery because the FIRST Allograft Valve, a donation from Cryolife valued at $10,000 USD, was used to replace the defective pulmonary valve in a 21 year old young man. "I just want to be normal and play with my friends" he told interpreters during his pre-op interview.
The condition of his heart limited his daily activities so much that he had to drop out of school when he was 10 years old.
Together, the Cardiostart team worked with the staff of the Viet Duc Hospital to perform the FIRST Human Tissue Valve replacement in Vietnam. Until a year ago, the laws of the country prohibited the harvesting of human tissue according to Viet Duc surgeons.The operating room was crowded with observers, medical students, residents, nurses and volunteers eager to learn more about this life-saving procedure.During the operation, Cardiostart team members answered questions from the Viet Duc staff and looked for areas of care to make recommendations for improvement.

The surgery ended with a successful transfer of the young man to the competant and highly skilled team from Cardiostart and Viet Duc awaiting in the CVICU.

 Mauri Barnes RN

There was a news crew from Trai Tim Cho Em came to interview us for this event. The second case is scheduled on next Wednesday.In the evening, we were invited to attend a very nice dinner with Viet Duc Staffs. We felt very warm welcome from the staffs and hope we continue this partnership to help more heart surgery education in the future when Viet Duc has its new hospital & it is expected to be open next Feb 2010.

On this weekend, Viet Duc also arranges a van to take us to sightseen Ninh Binh & Bat Tran ceremic village. Their generiosity & kindness are overwhelming us. We are very thankful & grateful for their thoughtfulness.

Tien