Good Start

Little Pamela Lamphere (22 months) cleared the first hurdle in her obstacle race for a normal life. Because she was born with her bladder outside her body, her best chance for outliving early childhood was a dangerous series of three operations (TIME, Aug. 23). Last week the first was performed in Chicago's Cook County Hospital by Surgeon Harry A. Oberhelman. Said Dr. Oberhelman: "It went just fine--couldn't be better."

Pamela's parents, whose marital differences have fascinated Chicago newspaper readers almost as much as Pamela's peril, took the operation harder than the patient did. The sight of a routine blood transfusion blacked out father Fred Lamphere. Said he: "I saw them putting needles and blood into her, and I keeled right over in a faint."

Last week, the first operation behind her, Pamela was playing with her dolls and feeling cheerful. The second preliminary operation will be performed in a few weeks, and the third (the removal of the external bladder) in several months.

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