Therapy: Day 5

We had therapy on a Saturday this week since we had a mini-vaca to go Victoria Falls. Therapy continues to go well! Tomorrow I will post “stats” from the improvement we have seen in one week.

Hamilton update: Hamilton is kicking tail. He has gone from us checking his bed every morning to make sure he is still alive to actively participating in therapy. Keep the prayers coming. They are working!

New Prayer Focus: 10 month old Choolwe needs prayers, big time. In my professional opinion, if this kiddo was in the states he would not be safe for oral intake and would be relying on alternative means of nutrition (a feeding tube). He has classic signs and symptoms of frequent aspiration (food going into lungs instead of tummy), which can lead to pneumonia. His pulmonary status is already sub par. I have tried thickened feedings, solid foods, different nipples, different nipple cuts, different flow/pacing and NOTHING seems to work. He always gets about 5% down, half of which comes out of his mouth and half of which you can hear in his lungs after his feeding. The silver lining is this: he is very receptive to therapy. He is showing improvement in his gross motor skills as well as his language. He is also getting some nutrition down because he is not losing weight and is not significantly underweight. Though it is odd to see this silver lining in such a poor feeder, we will take it, and I am taking it as a sign that God has Choolwe in his hands. Here he is, working on keeping his head up...



And for those of you peeps from Searcy or H.U., I want to share this picture with you. Some kiddos come in with a name meaning something negative in Tonga, so the Aunties frequently rename the kiddos. They often name them after people who have come to help with the program here. So this afternoon, look who was playing together! It’s Nita and Ross Cochran (in the front) and their pals Shawn and Donna Daggett! Apparently Donna was not having her best day...