01 June 2016

FIST BUMP WITH MY NEWEST PATIENT

FALLING IN LOVE

     I write from Minnesota but I start with my newest patient in Kenya, Bob (not his real name).  I left Mombasa on the 16th of May having planned my schedule to help me finish everything piled up on my desk.  That got blown to smithereens on May 6th when I got a phone call from Triza, the lawyer working in St. Patrick Parish where I do a clinic each month.  She has been working with womens' groups to create awareness about children's rights.  They informed her about two children who were in trouble.  When she found Bob she called me. 

     Bob was in a small village two hours away and he needed specialized surgery.  So I advised her to bring him to Mombasa and met them at the hospital on Friday night along with the only pediatric surgeon on the coast of Kenya.  His catchment population is 3.8 million people but only 30% are children.

                      The surgeon was excellent.  On Saturday he did the first necessary procedure and on Sunday he did the major surgery.  On Monday morning we found such horrible nursing care we started to organize volunteers to stay with Bob around the clock. Norah, the social worker at St. Patrick's, was put in charge of organizing youth, church women and a Muslim man who knew his local language to help. Bob comes from a very dysfunctional family, the third of eight children.  His two older brothers have already died.  He does not speak but within the first day of being surrounded by loving kindness I could already see a big change in  his behavior.

SUSAN, NORAH, TRIZA, BOB

      Unfortunately the breach in nursing care caused a big infection and Bob had to go back to surgery on Thursday. The surgeon wanted to transfer him to another hospital which had much better nursing care but I couldn't afford it. We redoubled our efforts and I found myself teaching nursing duties to every person in the room helping to care for him.  We couldn't afford to mess up again.  And we didn't.  Before I left I paid $3000 on his hospital bill. Thanks to all my donors who give me money just for things like this. He wasn't discharged until a few days later and he will need another surgical procedure in June.  We've found other donors to help with those bills.  He has been accepted to a children's home that has offered to care for him until he is 18 years old.  He has found an older boy at the home with his same name who speaks his local language and also has special challenges mentally.  They have become the best of friends.

     As I said goodbye to him the day before I left I found a tear welling up in my eye...no small feat for someone with Sjogren's syndrome! (We have dry eyes.)   I usually do well keeping a good distance emotionally from my patients but this time I failed.  All the women in this picture failed.  We all fell in love with him. They send me pictures of him and I will see him myself when I return to Kenya on June 25th.  Without such a committed team of people who worked very hard to take care of Bob we could never have helped him recover.

MOM, JEAN, SUSAN, EMILY

     I have just attended the wedding of my niece and goddaughter.  There were more tears as two young people committed their lives to one another and thereby brought more love into our world.  Now I am on my way to Illinois and looking forward to reconnecting with many loving people there as well!

PEACE OF THE ONE WHO IS UNCONDITIONAL LOVE FOR OUR WORLD AND EACH ONE OF US!