I managed to finish another hundred miles on Friday, bringing my grand total since I've been keeping track of miles swum to 14,000! It was fun because my doctor may be limiting my swimming for some time IF Worker's Comp will ever approve an MRI! Details on that once it happens . . .
This month we were able to have not just one, but two 3Ft's (Forced Family Fun Times)!
The first one occurred last Sunday when one member of our family FORCED all of us to join her in watching "The Snoopy Movie". There were moments that were cute, but when Matt asked to leave early, we all agreed he could! It may have helped that I was multi-tasking and reading the paper at the same time while Sam was correcting papers!
Our second one occurred yesterday (actually Friday through Saturday) when we drove three long hours down to Iowa to celebrate my dad's 84th birthday! My sister, her husband and youngest daughter (also Lexie's birthday) joined us yesterday and we had the best time! Dad suggested paper plates. Since he has no dishwasher except us, we all agreed! We decided to clean up his odds and ends collection - it made for a fun table, especially the Thanksgiving plates. And since we're all thankful for Dad - it was fitting! His good news? He had a colonoscopy on Tuesday and there was no sign of the cancer that he had had removed for his birthday last year. Glory!
This post is reblogged from "Through My Porthole" and it's lovely . . .
Yesterday Lucael was utterly miserable. Maybe my few minutes of
baby-rocking and off-key singing comforted him a little after his
surgery; I know my prayers touched his spirit. But this wee mite was
very unhappy that he could no longer suck on his fingers through his
bilateral clefts, and his mouth just hurt. His stoic GreatGrandMother
was in tears over his discomfort, and overwhelmed that her wee man’s
congenital deformity is gone forever. Their story is mind-bending.
Lucael a month into the Infant Feeding Programme. Pic by Catrice Wulf
It was a shock to Lucael’s 14 year-old mother when her baby boy was
born with such a frightening looking mouth. But Lucael’s appearance was
only the tip of the iceberg; the large cleft in the roof of his mouth
was a threat to his very life as it prevented him from successfully
breastfeeding. She had given birth in a hospital and the doctor assured
the young teenager the baby’s condition could be fixed. The
devastating news was they would have to go elsewhere and pay a huge
amount of money for the operations. The impossibility of the situation
was crushing.
While the people in Lucael’s village had heard about babies being
born like this, but no one had ever witnessed it. Their suspicion grew
into unkindness towards the struggling family.
Lucael’s young mother simply couldn’t cope, so GrandMother stepped in
to care for the tiny infant. Lucael’s Mum worked to help pay for milk
for the baby. With baby formula costing at least 4 days wages for the
average Malagasy, this impoverished family did what most resort to. They
spent almost 1 day’s pay on a can on sweetened condensed milk, and
diluted it to feed the newborn over the week ahead. The substitute
didn’t nourish his tiny body. Lucael simply failed to thrive.
A visit by the mid-wife gave them a glimmer of hope; she heard some
people who could provide the surgery Lucael needed for free, were coming
on a hospital ship to Madagascar. She finally found a patient screening
location within travelling distance of their remote village in the
rugged north of Madagascar.
By this stage Lucael’s care had passed to his tiny 78-year-old GreatGrandMother, who loves him will all her heart.
At 10 months and weighing just 4 kg (8.5 lbs), Lucael was flown with
his GreatGrandMother to the coast. Together they entered the infant
feeding programme that saved his life.
In 3 months Lucael had reached 6.5 kg (14.3 lbs) – enough weight to
undergo surgery. As they were admitted to the Mercy Ships ward
GreatGrandMother told me, “I feel so positive about it. My heart is
beating fast! First they said they could only do his lip, but yesterday they told me that can fix his palate too!”
Lucale and GGrandMa just before surgery. Pic Justine Forrest
So right now, Lucael is 3 decks below me, receiving the best care that money can’t buy.
Did I mention that GreatGrandMother’s Mum lives with them in the
village too? There is remarkable, multi-generational mothers’ love
waiting to receive this sweet baby home; restored, and gifted with a new
future.
I am thankful today for a medical hospital ship that is in the process of bringing hope and healing to the forgotten poor of Madagascar and I am thankful for my friend Jodi who wrote this so well . . . I am not so thankful for my computer that is not cooperating!
(Photo credit: David Forrest)
"Our hearts are broken over the loss of a young
patient.
The beautiful 5-year-old girl from Northern Madagascar
passed away on board the Africa Mercy on Thursday 10 March, at 5.45pm. She died
two days after a very unusual, rare and severe reaction to the surgical
procedure in combination with general anaesthetic, during treatment to remove a
complex tumour of her lower face and neck. Her mother had been at her bedside
since their arrival to the Mercy Ship on 20 January and her senior uncle joined
them Thursday evening.
Official formalities with the local authorities were
completed and the family and the body were flown back to their
village to prepare for her funeral.
Our prayers and our love leave with them."
(Mercy Ships Media Statement March 2016)
Little
Bean, I did not know you, but as news of your passing filtered through
the decks my heart broke for you and you family. I am a mother too, you
see and while I cannot fathom what you mamma was feeling that day when
she said goodbye, I can imagine her pain. I can hear her wails of
despair.
As
we waited for your condition to improve, all of us as a united crew
stopped what we were doing, wherever we were on board, to pray. The
galley stopped preparing lunch, the housekeepers stopped mopping, the
teachers paused with their classes, meetings came to a standstill,
the hospital staff dropped to their knees, to storm heaven for your
healing.
But God chose to take you and whilst our frail human minds cannot comprehend, we have chosen to trust in Him.
As
Andrew co-ordinated clearing of the freezer to store your broken body,
now just a shell, your soul was flying free in heaven. As one of our
carpenters skilfully crafted a coffin to carry you back to your village
and some ladies on board lovingly created padding to soften your
journey, you were dancing beside Jesus. As your body was dressed in a
beautiful outfit, by hospital crew, you were free of the tumour that had
taken your life.
Little
bean.......your last days on earth were dignified. You were loved,
prayed for and treated like the Princess you were! A daughter of the
king.
Little Bean.......we did our best for you but it was not enough.
Be
uncomfortable with us as we have mourned and we continue to mourn and
pray for all the other beans......all 5,165 people whom our screening
team saw and for whatever reason we could not treat! Yes your eyes did
not deceive you, five thousand, one hundred and sixty five.
Then
there are the thousands that we could not physically reach due to poor
roads and sheer isolation in this vast nation. There are those we pass
on the street from day to day that we cannot help as our surgery
schedule is full to overflowing. There are five operating theatres
running, an extra ward as been opened and the Hope Centre is
overcapacity, as we race to the finish line, desperate to help as many
beans as we can.
Do
you feel uncomfortable? We do. We rest comfortably in the knowledge
that we can access world class medical care, medication, clean water,
electricity, education and freedom of religion while others are
dying just trying to access these basic human rights.
It
is so hard to consolidate. I don't think we can really. We can only
place our faith in a loving God who sees each little bean. Every.
Single. One.
Can
I ask that you pray for the 5,165 people who we had to turn away, for
the family of the little girl who passed away, for the patients
recovering in the wards right now and for those who are yet to receive
surgery in the next few weeks before the hospital closes it's doors in
Madagascar for this season?
Our CPR training manikins are currently being stored in a closet that is in the Kid's Stuff room at the Y. That simply means that whenever we try to get to our training stuff, we're always surrounded by little helpers. My latest little helper asked me, "Do you have babies in there?" Answer: "Yes, we do." Next question, "Are they sleeping?" Answer: "Yes they are." Last question, "What do you do when they cry?"
When your nineteen year old son says at lunch, "Who wants to bike Lilydale with me today?" and your daughter says, "Not me, I have homework," and your husband says, "Not me, I have correcting to do", you say, "Of course!" even if that's the last thing on your "to do" list for the day! So we pumped up our tires and loaded them in his truck and took off - with absolutely no regrets!
Ponseti team crewmembers Nick (AUS)
and Suzanne Veltjens (USA) collaborated with several Malagasy
physiotherapists led by Dr Razafindravoanjo. He comments, “We have
treated 15 children with perfect results (100% correction). Now we can
treat children up to three years old. Maybe in the future there will be
no older people with clubfeet in Madagascar because now we have three
years in which to treat children with this condition!”
Each week’s therapy began with Serah
and the other babies happily playing in water tubs while their mothers
soaked off the previous week’s plaster casts and chatted.
Bathtime/cast removal for baby Serah and her clubfoot buddy, Francia. We have the cutest patients!
Serah grew used to the physio team
“playing” with her bent feet – gently stretching and manipulating –
focusing one week on one degree and direction of foot flexion and then
focusing the next week on a different direction. After each session,
Serah’s feet were held in the newly attained position by fresh plaster
casts on her wriggling and kicking legs.
Serah had a total of six little casts
consecutively on both legs before her tenotomy procedure. This snip of
her Achilles tendons allowed her feet to fully pop into the final
corrected position. To maintain this ultimate degree of foot flexion,
she wore miniature foot braces for three months.
Serah
sporting her foot abduction braces. After three months of wearing them
all day, she needs to only wear them at night to keep her feet from
relapsing. (Kinda like wearing a retainer after having braces for the
teeth.) She will need to wear braces until about age 4, then the
correction is permanent.
Over months of therapy, the Ponseti
team helped Sandrine understand how vital her commitment to Serah’s
ongoing treatment is. In the final stage (the longest of the treatment),
Sandrine must ensure Serah wears the supplied foot braces every single
night until she is four or five years old. Only then will Serah’s
clubfeet be permanently corrected.
Sandrine says, “I was so sad, but now
I am overjoyed. Now we’re going to show Serah off, saying, ‘Here we
are! Come and see my baby!’ I am very happy now she has 'real' feet.”
When Serah takes her first steps, she
will be just like all her little toddler friends. No one will be able
to tell she was born with a disability.
Serah will never remember living with
the burden of bilateral clubfeet, but Sandrine will never forget the
life-sentence of disability her daughter was saved from. “My mother
cried before. We won’t cry now – we will dance!”
Serah being a little Ponseti method model for the camera and showing off her new feet! :)
Story by Sharon Walls
Edited by Nancy Predaina
Photos by Katie Keegan, Justine Forrest and Ruben Plomp
