Throughout screening and surgery week I kepting catching sight of twin boys. I played with them and blew bubbles at them but it was not unitll the day of their surgery that I learned their incredible story.
One month shy of their 4th birthday, they are typical active boys. Jesus and Miguel are here for their third surgery -- the second for their cleft palate. They traveled 12 hours from San Miguel to get to the mission sight in Santa Cruz. Due to their cleft ballates both had difficulty eating. Food spilled from their noses.
I observed as their mother, Milina, tryed to keep them entertained before their surgery later that afternoon. Not always an easy task with twins.We learned that she wasn't surprised at all that they both had clefts. It was expected. While she was pregnant she had a dream that they would be born this way. It is another broiling day in the hospital. Admist the worried parents, Milina, the veteran, had the only face without a hint of concern. Her boys were scheduled to go into surgery that afternoon.
They were scheduled for the same round of surgery and both underwnet operations to repair their cleft pallates at the same time. Brothers who came into this world together and share a unique and common bond, were together once again. Just imagine handing both of your children over to surgeons at the same time.
Later that day as Lindsay (my student partner) and I walked around the post-op ward to say goodnight, we saw Milina caring for her sons. One lay asleep on a cot and the other cried. It seemed that once she quited down one boy the other began to cry. She is a warrior and with the help of a sister she calmly went through the surgical process that would ultimately lead to a normal life for her boys.
