Day 3 started with our arrival at CSC just after 8am. There was already a mix of about 80 people outside waiting to be either seen by the doctors or getting ready for surgery.

The morning started with a trip around the wards. Dr Jim and his doctors assess each patient and continue to plan their treatment. Jim has a very direct, no nonsense style that is probably not seen to often in Asia but it is highly effective. He solicits opionion and is happy to engage in discussion but if he is certain on a certain course of action then it is prescribed without challenge. We met with all types of patients including adults and children. These included a snake bite victim, multiple limb breaks, cleft palate/lip babies, deformities and acid attack victims. In all I believe we went thorough 23 cases in an hour.

The rest of the morning was taken up with surgery in theatre and the guys were all scrubbed in to assist. I will leave it to them to explain the emotions and how they felt about the experience but it was obvious from their faces that whilst they were experiencing some major challenges they were finding it very rewarding. Whether it be cleft surgery on a baby, working with the lady with the snake bite or removing the rods from the leg of a young girl who had a major fracture, they all mucked in and got on with it.

By Day 4 the familiar drive through the chaos that is Phnom Phen was now becoming pedestrian knowing what would be waiting at the other end. We knew this was the last day and we knew what cases were due for theatre as we had been part of the consulting process the day before as well as the morning rounds.

Geraldine Cox from Sunrise Children’s Villages had a 9 year old girl who had Brittle Bone Disease which had left her legs very bent from fractures. Jim wanted to do a an operation called Fragmentation, realignment and intramedullary fixation for tibial deformity. He explained this to us lot as the kebab procedure whereby he would extract the tibia, saw it into many pieces and then put a rod through it before re-inserting into the leg to make it straight. We all wanted to see this but Jim offered for one of us to scrub-in so we could assist. Chris Snell took up the challenge and for the next 2.5 hours worked with the team as they opened up the leg and performed the operation. As this was happening the other three tables went into action and Carl Griffith found himself scrubbing-in also. In all the guys worked 5 operations that morning.

During a break, Chris and I were out in the front when a car came in fast. The doors opened and we were beckoned over to find a man with a 10cm spike sticking out of his eye. Three days at CSC prepares you for most things and we guided the guy over to the waiting area. We found out later that his son had been hunting frogs and the spear had hit concrete and shot up into the fathers eye. Miraculously it had missed the actual eye and embedded itself into the bone at the side.

That afternoon we went to the house for the Cambodian Acid Survivors Assoc (CASC) where the residents are getting back on their feet and receiving treatment after acid attacks. This incredible brutal attack can kill but even the less severe attacks normally result in incredible pain and suffering and we had witnessed this ourselves in the OR when an attack victim was having skin grafts. The facility is part of CSC and allows survivors to interact with others, gain job training and therapy. Whilst there we saw the tailors that now work there and it dawned on me that we purchase 100 boxer uniforms a year for our events so we agreed that we could transfer this business to CASC!

Children’s Surgical Centre continues to go from strength to strength taking on more complicated procedures and operations every year. They work tirelessly but with incredible fiscal prudence that gives great confidence that every dollar we donate from Vanda is make a very real difference. Our target this year is $200,000USD donated to them and we are at $77,000USD year to date. I have every confidence we will hit this number and by doing so allow Dr Jim and his fantastic team the opportunity to concentrate on making the lives of the children better.