So often you will find me
in the ward cuddling a baby. No surprise right? These babies most often
have a cleft lip and often a cleft palate too. The prevalence of clefts
in these countries is the same as Western countries, it is just that
they haven’t had the same access to medical care that we have, so we get
to see them on board the Africa Mercy. Our surgeon, Dr Gary,
has done thousands of cleft repairs over the years and is very good at
them. Often if we have a child return later for a cleft palate repair
months after a cleft lip repair has healed, the untrained eye would
never notice the scar left behind.
A couple of months ago I
met baby Siara who’s now 15 months old. Siara had a cleft lip and palate
and weighed in at just 5.0kg (11lbs). She and her papa, pregnant mama
and three siblings had travelled from Central African Republic to a
refugee camp in Congo to seek refuge from the war. Somehow Siara’s papa
had heard about a Mercy Ships interior screening day and left his family
behind, bringing Siara with him to meet our screening team. Siara and
her papa received a patient card as a promise for surgery, but before
Siara would be able to have surgery she had to gain some weight.
I met her when I walked
into the ward early one Saturday morning. She was sitting up in bed with
her papa, crying. I walked over to her, the lights in the ward still
off, as the day had barely begun, and I picked her up out of the bed to
calm her feeble cries. She was light in my arms, barely weight at all.
The effect of malnutrition on her body, not only made her small but her
hair was slightly orange and patchy, instead of black with tight curls.
Her skin was also blotchy and pale in places. She had wide, dark eyes,
alert and moving with such purposeful movements, surprising for a baby
of her small size. She could sit up on her own, but there was no
movement to crawl, let alone walk. There were no smiles coming from her
serious little round face. Even so, she was gorgeous and captured my
heart.
Each nurse loved on her
and her papa during her little stay for a chest infection and after she
was discharged I heard about her progress from my friends Mirjam and
Jasmin on the Screening Team, who were following her and making sure she
was putting weight on.
This past week little
Siara, who’d gained a whopping 2kgs, was able to have surgery to repair
both her cleft lip and cleft palate. Post op, her little body struggled
to get enough breath, until our team decided to put her back on the
ventilator for a couple of days. I worked one of these days, in charge
of the ward and ICU, so popping in and out helping the nurse who was
looking after her. Her papa asked for some photos to be taken and I was
quite willing to document this gorgeous little one, clefts all repaired,
sleeping peacefully, recovering on the ventilator until she was strong
enough to do it on her own.
During the following
night, Siara decided she’d had enough of the ventilator and managed to
remove her tube herself, but without any medical emergencies she
breathed well on her own, not needing extra support. That afternoon she
was moved back into a bed with her papa in the ward and sat up in her
bed happily putting handfuls of soft food in her mouth.
Today, five days after
her surgery, she had her nasal bolster (helps the nose heal in the right
shape) and whiteheads pack (helps the palate heal) removed. That made
her one step closer to discharge!
I blew bubbles for her
today. She sat there, enchanted as she watched the bubbles float down to
the bed and pop. Because of the malnutrition her growth and development
has been severely delayed, so I marvelled like a new mum, as I watched
her follow the bubbles floating through the air and reach out her hands
to catch them, most often moving way too slowly (but then I cheered
every time she caught them and she’d always look up at me in surprise).
After a while I put the bubbles back in my pocket. She watched me and
knew where the bubbles sat, she stared at my pocket. So I pulled them
back out and held them up in front of her. She waved her hand, at me,
signalling, come on blow them! Who could resist that? Not me
who’s in love with every baby that sets foot in this place! So I put the
bubble blower to her face, she didn’t know how to blow, like every
other toddler who’s wanted a go, but she moved her head forward like she
was trying. It was so gorgeous! We did it over and over and her papa
lay on the same bed, smiling from ear to ear when she tried blowing
bubbles and when she caught the bubbles that I blew for her.
Sweet baby girl! I
can’t wait to see you smile! I wish I could see you grow up and develop
into a beautiful little girl, teenager and then woman. I wish I could
see who you will become! I wish I could see the look on your mama’s face
when she sees you fat and your lip all stitched together and healed.
You are beautiful baby girl! God has beautiful plans for you and even
though you won’t remember the time you spent on this ship, I will
remember you forever and pray for you as you grow up!
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