TB Troubles and other illness’

This past month seems to have us plagued by sickness.  Not only has the children’s home had their fair share of the local eye infections or cough that is going round, but this month TB (Tuberculosis) seems to have hit us pretty hard and claimed 3 of our own as it’s unhappy host. 

Ruth

Many of you remember Ruth, our  1 1/2 year old newest addition who we asked so many prayers for because she was so sick, HIV +, and seemed to be failing to thrive?  Well, while we have seen some improvement in her condition since being released from the  clinic (she is now sitting up on her own, eating much better, trying to stand with assistance, growing more attached to her house mother, and even starting to interact a bit more with the other children) but she has not picked up the weight that we hoped she would even with all of the nutrition and good food she now has access to.  Because of that she was taken to the clinic last Wednesday where they confirmed that she has stomach TB.  This type of TB is very common in malnourished babies and children (Sanford was being treated for it when he came to us)  and while it is not as contagious as the more typical lung TB, it is still contagious so she will be staying with Rachel at Kaue for three weeks to get the treatment that she needs and not infect the other children.  Ruth is still a sad little girl and whenever I see her I can’t wait for the day that she will be happy and laughing and playing like all kids should.  Please pray with us for continued healing of this precious little girl – emotionally, mentally, and physically and that with God’s grace, maybe she will be smiling and laughing a bit when she returns.

Emmanuel

For the past 6 months that Emmanuel has been under our care (He is now 7 months old) he has been struggling with some sort of skin condition – he would get big rashes on his face, cheeks, elbows and arms that would sometimes develop into open sores.  Despite several visits to the clinic and applying all sorts of ointments nothing seemed to work for long.  He is always such a happy and smiling baby so several weeks ago when Belita came to us saying that he had a large swollen lymph node on his neck and a fever (but no pain) it made us start to wonder what was causing it.  The next day the swollen lymph node had moved to his armpit and the following day he was in severe pain so we took him to the clinic.  They admitted him for 5 days but because he didn’t respond as quickly as they had hoped, he ended up being there for 10.  When he returned he was much better but not 100%.  Then as I was looking at info on TB to see how contagious it was I read about a type of skin TB that affects the skin and lymph nodes and it’s symptoms seemed very similar to what Emmanuel was experiencing.  So, last Friday we had him at the TB clinic and today he is going back for more tests because they suspect that he has TB as well. While it makes me wonder why it wasn’t picked up and diagnosed earlier by those in the medical field, I am thankful that God is the great Physician and was able to help lead us to the right place at the right time.  Hopefully we have finally have figured out what the problem is so that we can get him on the right meds to rid this problem and get him healthy again because when Emmanuel smiles, you can’t help but smile back. 

Addendum – supposedly the clinic says that he is free from TB so while that is good please pray that God will continue to heal Emmanuel in his own way or show us how best to respond. 

Nchimunya HIV+?

Last wednesday we had several more of our kids tested for HIV and while we are very happy that Emmanuel and Sanford came back negative (they thought Emmanuel might be positive because of the issues mentioned above), we were shocked to find out that  Nchimunya came back as positive.  At one year of age now and a nice healthy weight he was by far the healthiest baby that we have received and has stayed the most healthy of any of them.  He would be the last one that we would suspect this of.  But… there is a chance that the test was only showing the positive results of his mother’s antibodies because it is hard and expensive to test children for HIV so please pray along with us that this is the case.  It happened once before with little Esther who has first diagnosed as positive but then the next test showed she was free of it.  We are hoping and praying that this is the case for Nchiimunya as well.  God has him in his hands no matter what but HIV is not a disease that we would want to wish on anybody, especially a precious little child.  Thank you God that the other children are HIV free and that you care and provide for all the needs of your little ones, despite their HIV status.