Haiti Clinic Life: Sweet faces

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Sweet faces

Here is Mis Anita back again to give you a little glimpse into clinic life from my angle.

Below is a sweet, healthy 6 month old baby boy with his mama. He is her only child and she loves him dearly. Now she seems to have some form of heart failure which makes life an extra challenge for her and her family. She was going to T-Goave every 2 weeks for treatment. Also since she's sick, she can't nurse the baby, and they were buying milk. Both of those made an extra strain for the family financially which is primarily why they came to us. We were able help with the mother's healthcare and and medications. Also we offered to sell them milk for the baby for less than cost. That way we can help them without just giving all the milk.

Happy faces

There are many sweet faces. Some are happy faces, and they give us a lift for the day. Others are sad--very sad--but none the less sweet. This little boy is about 3 1/2 years old. I don't remember exactly what he weighs, but it wouldn't really be an accurate gauge of how his health is. When a child gets malnourished this bad, they swell up with fluid. Once you start them on a good diet, they go down before they go up. He is one of the worst cases I've seen. We had given them some supplements back 2 months ago and an appointment to return which they missed by a LONG shot. They were to return this week, and I've not seen them yet.

Sad face

Although this lady doesn't have a smile on her face, it puts a smile on my face to see how well her and her baby are doing. Her baby was born at the clinic on June 1st--the birth I almost fainted at, if you remember. Then she returned about 13 days after the baby was born, and neither her or baby were doing well. The baby wasn't nursing well, and she didn't have a lot of milk. Because of that the baby had lost quite a bit. With much diligent effort, the baby is now nursing well, and she has milk. He weighed around 5 lbs 8 oz at birth, was down to 4 lbs something at 12 days old, last week was 5 lbs 9 oz or so, and today, a week later gained around another pound. It's so exciting to see progress!