You can do anything...when there is no one else to do it!
So, little Priscila is still in the hospital, her parents are not very happy about and Im a little worried that they may try to leave with her. But, hopefully the hospital wont allow that to happen. We are waiting for the genetic testing results, tomorrow should be the day that we know exactly what is wrong with her and where we go from here.
The attitude of the mother has finally changed, in the beginning she was very indifferent about her child and about what we were doing or not doing. Yesterday for the first time she actually spoke up and said that this was the last blood sample that would be taken from her child and that she needs to get home to her other children. But, she does not interact with her daughter, she does not talk to her or play with her...at least I have never seen her stimulate little miss Priscila. Hopefully this will change...
The hospital here is very “third world”, for lack of better words, you must have someone do everything for you. The hospital does not provide food, bathroom supplies, diapers, etc. Someone must bring you food every day and deliver your specimens to the proper lab and pick up the results. It is something very strange and very hard for me to get used to. Because of this I have been driving an hour every day to take the mother food and to check on this child and to talk to the doctors and nurses. If I don’t talk to the staff at the hospital then they don’t even go in to see the little girl, they work because I am pressuring them to find out what is wrong with her.
For example, yesterday we went to visit her and to do the genetic testing. Cost somewhere around $200, so first we had to search for someone who would be willing to pay that...fortunately the Queen of Pimampiro has $2000 to do “charity work” and so she agreed to help us. So this is how yesterday went: first i drove an hour to the city where the hospital is, then i went to one “lab” where they told me that they were unable to do all of the tests, then to The Red Cross where the Queen paid $200 and we were given one 10ml tube to put the specimen (blood) in, then to the hospital to where the child is to draw the blood, the doctor and nurse said it was too much blood and they were ‘afraid’ to stick her. I volunteered and stuck her in the femoral artery because her veins are so small and fragile and yes 10ml’s is a lot of blood for a child of 5 pounds. After getting the blood I hand delivered it back to The Red Cross where now we are waiting until Wednesday to get the results. Once we have the results we will come up with a very strict nutrition program for her to increase her weight, as long as there is nothing else wrong with her that would contraindicate a high calorie diet.
This is taking up most of my time right now, but hopefully tomorrow we will be able to bring her home and begin the long road to growing and thriving. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers since the parents have not been super helpful, pray that their attitudes change and they see that we are trying to help their daughter. In the end we hope to help the family in other ways as well, as far as jobs for the parents (since right now they are working daily jobs making $6 a day), and whatever other ways that we can.
Happy Easter to everyone, Easter is always a good time to be here...on Friday we had the traditional “cambeo” where there is no money involved only goods are exchanged. PImampiro is one of the only towns left in the world that still does this! People come from all over Ecuador and Colombia to participate in this tradition! Then this week they make fanesca, which is a traditional soup that is only made at Easter, made with 10 grains and salty fish, eggs, bread balls, and squash. Its good, but super filling!
Check out the new website! www.amongthestars.org or if you’d rather see it in Spanish, www.entrelasestrellas.org!!! Thank so much to Drew McKechnie for doing this for me!!!
