A 13-year-old girl from Naga City, Cebu, stands a good chance of leading a full life without the hole in her heart that could end it prematurely.
Cristabel Boybantin was operated on yesterday in the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), the first subject of open heart surgery in a government hospital in Central Visayas.
The three-hour surgery went “perfectly,” said Dr. Monico Perez, VSMMC cardiac team leader in a press conference.
“It was basically, okay . . . What makes the procedure a little bit longer is connecting the child to the lung machine. The procedure itself is not really complicated,” Perez said.
Six cardiologists took turns in the operating room, he said.
By late morning, the high school student was in the recovery room under close monitoring for her “body response” to the procedure.
Cristabel suffered an atrial septal defect (ASD), wherein the wall that separates the upper heart chambers (atria) of the heart do not close completely.
Although the condition was there since birth, she and her family didn’t know its name until she was diagnosed last May.
Told she needed an operation, her mother Catalina was at a loss. The 40-year-old housewife said she just cried and put her faith in God. There was no way she and her husband Saul, a truck driver on contract with APO Cement Corp., could afford a medical procedure that could cost P700,000.
She said Dr. Rudy Amatong of Cebu Velez General Hospital advised them seek “charitable help” from the private Perpetual Succour Hospital (PSH).
With so many patients lined up ahead of them, they were advised to settle in for a long wait. The mother visited PSH every month to follow up.
Last month, the private hospital brought good news: VSMMC was looking for a patient with ASD, her daughter’s exact condition. And the procedure would be done for free.
ASD may not need treatment if there are few or no symptoms, or if the defect is small. But surgical closure of the defect is recommended if the defect is large, the heart is swollen or symptoms appear, according to a hospital fact sheet.
Last Sunday, Cristabel and her parents rode a public bus from Naga in the south to Cebu City to check in at the public hospital.
“Nakuyawan ko, Pa (I’m scared, Pa),” Saul recalled his daughter saying as she cried.
“Ayaw lang kuyaw anak, salig lang sa Ginoo.” (Don’t be scared, my child. Just trust in the Lord.),” he said, joining her in tears.
SURGERY
Cristabel was in grade 5 when she told her mother that she felt dizzy and felt pain in her abdomen.
Other than that, there was no inkling of a major health issue, no sign of unusual weakness.
“Mura siya’g natandug. Murag nakadawat.” (At first, she was stunned, when she knew about her heart condition but she accepted it later on.), Catalina told Cebu Daily News.
She said Cristabel, the eldest of three siblings, loves to write and wants to be a teacher.
“Ganahan ko mag teacher. Kung naay kaya (I want to be a teacher if we can just afford it.),” her mother quoted her.
Could this dream come true for a freshman of the R. Lapiz Bational High School?
The patient was wheeled into the operating room at 6:30 a.m. Surgery started about 8 a.m. and ended two to three hours later.
To mark the milestone, the VSMMC-Southern Islands Hospital Heart Center held a briefing in the afternoon and showed a video of Cristabel’s ASD surgery.
THANKFUL
When CDN found them past 1 p.m., Cristabel’s parents were waiting for updates in a clean, air-conditioned private room in Ward B, with its own toilet and TV, one of the hospital’s 11 news private rooms that make it look more like a private hospital.
Catalina had mixed emotions about the successful surgery.
There was anxiety about her recovery. Beyond that, it was thanksgiving for an answered prayer.
“Blessing sa Ginoo. Nag-ampo ra jud ug maayo.” (It’s a blessing from God. I just prayed hard.), she told Cebu Daily News.
HEART CENTER
Assistant Secretary Pauline Jean Obial of the Department of Health (DOH) I said the state-run hospital would get more support.
The operating room was renovated two years ago and has several modern facilities like a cath lab.
“We hope that the poorest Filipinos will have access to quality health care. . .We support the initiatives of VSMMC. . .If we see results, we provide more investment. That’s the way government operates,” Obial said in the hospital forum.
She said the Heart, Lung and Kidney (HLK) Center of VSMMC is “one step towards the dream of DOH” of “Kalusugang Pangkalahatan”.
Dr. Gerardo M. Aquino Jr., chief of the VSMMC, said the advantage of heart surgery here was that expertise was available and “I can guarantee that it’s done at a a lower rate.”
Open heart surgery (ASD surgery) would cost P100,000 to P400,000 in VSMMC depending on the complexity of the case.
A social service staffer checks the financial status of a patient for a program where patients who can afford to pay can “subsidize patients who can’t afford to pay”.
It would cost five times more in a private hospital or P500,000 to P700,000 said Dr. Perez.
As of Feb. 12 patients are lined up for heart surgery at VSMMC with more expected in the coming months./with Correspondent Carine Asutilla