More reasons I love Mali

After I wrote the post the other day of three reasons I love Mali, I kept seeing more things that I loved about being here. So here are a few more...

Pure joy with just being thrown in the air. This is Kadia with Alan, the peds oncologist who has been giving us all the protocols and information on how to treat the cancer kids. I just love this little girl. She has spunk. I love her. Today I had to take Kadia, her mom and Amos to someone who was heading to Bamako who was going to drop them at home on the way. I had to leave the house at 5:45 AM to do so. When I picked her up to put her in the car, she wrapped her arms around me so tight and wouldn't let go. I drove across town with her in my lap and her arms around my neck. It was wonderful. Special moments.

Amos, in the center, just makes me smile. He is so fun. Loves having his picture taken. A camera can always provide lots of entertainment.

Suturing baby Elmo during rounds one morning. Yes, these are the important moments in life.

All four of these kids (and the two men behind them) make me smile. Thankful for Alan and his willingness to help us with these kids despite his full time job and his 4 kids at home. Thankful for my best friend who walks through life with me and helps correct all my mistakes. And for the four kids- I've learned a lot because of them. Not only about cancer treatment, but about myself and finding peace with being weak and unwise so that God's glory may be displayed more fully.

Djara, one of the type 1 diabetics, went home yesterday. They were teaching Kristen how to carry things on her head.

Jeremie agreed to take Djara in out of the kindness of his heart. He will have many crowns in heaven. You can't get much better than him. This is Djara with Jeremie's two older kids and his mother.

It was an event to take Djara home. Kadia, Amos, Balla, and Francois all jumped in the car for the ride and the adventure of a car ride. I love not only that they want to come along but that we can just take them away from the hospital. No checking out. No asking parents. We just take them and go. (Maybe that's not always a good thing if the wrong person is taking them, but I do enjoy it!)

Thankful tonight for the opportunity to live here and be a part of the kids' lives.

Three reasons I love Africa

Nothing ever goes to waste. Elizabeti, a type 1 diabetic, used my fake hair once I took it out to do her own. Glad someone else could enjoy the hair as well.

There are reminders of home. Though you can't tell very well, Balla is wearing seersucker pants. Someone donated clothes and the inpatients enjoyed all the new things. It makes me smile to see him walking around in seersucker pants. Sweet reminder of Charleston. We've also seen UNC hats and Duke sweatshirts. They wear whatever they find without any idea of what its significance. That brings me to number three...

There are always reasons to laugh. In case you can't read the shirt the little boy is wearing, it says, "I didn't ask to be a PRINCESS, but if the CROWN fits..."

First Alou, and now Kadia

picture by Sara Donaldson

So Alou went home last Sunday. Kadia got to go home for two weeks since she was doing well. She came in on Thursday almost dead. They had been in a accident on the way into town and she had hit her head. She was comatose, unable to speak or focus on anything. Also had incontinence. However, we found out she had been like this since the night before (why didn't they come in earlier??). We checked a CBC on her and her hematocrit was 8 (usually 35-45%). We gave her a blood transfusion and she started doing better. The next day we did a bone marrow aspiration. Though with chemo we've basically wiped out her bone marrow, the cells that are left are the cancer cells. So she has failed induction as well. We are still trying to figure out what to do- whether we send her home or continue treatment. We are working with Brett's friend Alan to see if there is something else we can do. Pray for Kadia that the Lord would heal her. Pray for us to know what to do. Pray for Francois, our other cancer patient, whom we will be doing a bone marrow aspiration on next week to see if he has gone into remission. Pray for me, it was hard enough sending one child home to die. I am not ready to send another. We got another girl this week with a really tough cancer. I told Brett I would treat her only if I didn't learn her name. :) Unfortunately, I have learned it and Nata has captured my heart a little. Still I'm trying to not get attached since her prognosis is very poor.

Our sweet Alou

I just said goodbye to Alou. He has been with us since December and I have worked with him everyday I've been at the hospital since. Tomorrow he leaves to go home. This should be a happy moment because he is getting to leave the hospital. Instead, it is sad. He is going home to die. The treatments have not cured his cancer. Though his spleen did decrease in size, the cancer was too much for him and we were advised by Brett's pediatric oncologist friend, Alan, to stop treatment. I know it is unrealistic to think that we can save all kids, especially those with cancer, here in Mali but nonetheless it hurts.

Here he is riding a car around the pediatric building.

Then they moved on to the real cars. They would often ask "mobili boli" which means to drive the car. This is the three cancer kids we have. Alou, Kadia and Francois.

Alou taking a turn driving. I decided that this was his "Make A Wish" dream so we started driving the car everyday. I also used the golf cart that is at the hospital which was a lot of fun as well.

He started having tons of sores in his mouth, which is when we really decided that treatment wasn't going to help. He has lost several pounds since his arrival. Regardless, he is still a cutie.

This is his whole family.

And since this is a sad post, I thought I'd end on a happier note. This is Francois. He is 3 1/2 weeks into treatment and responding well. We are hopeful for a full recovery. This kid is precious. The picture doesn't do him justice.

Here I am with the kiddos about to go out for a ride. The fourth kid behind Kadia is Boaz who has been at the hospital several months for a wound on his leg.

As much as it hurts, I am thankful for sweet Alou and the opportunity to spend the last couple months with him. He has such a sweet spirit and was very playful when he felt well. We will miss him. Please pray for his family as they take him home and watch him die. Pray that through this sad time and the time spent at the hospital that they would come to know our Savior and find peace in Him.

A day to rejoice

The last time I posted about our cancer patients, it was quite sad. We had lost two kids in one week. Now we have three cancer patients. Kadi, who has been around for several months and had a Burkitt's lymphoma. We also have two ALL leukemia patients, Alou and Kadia, who came in only 3 days apart. Today is a happy day because Kadi has finished her treatment. Kadi is all done! No more pokes! No more lumbar punctures! No more screams (at least directed toward us). I couldn't help but think how neat it was to be a part of her treatment and to be able to say, "this is your last! I mean really, your last treatment!" I just felt like dancing.

I found it interesting as well that as Kadi has spent the last few months battling her Burkitt's lymphoma, I've been battling my fears and feelings of inadequacy. But here we were at the end of the journey, having accomplished something together. I started doing chemotherapy treatments with another American nurse, Jake. Really, at first, I was just present and he did it all. Then I had to try to place their IVs (yes, I am a nurse, but hadn't placed IVs in years). Then, the dreaded lumbar punctures...he and Brett made me do it. Those things weirded me out. I was not looking forward to doing these. But I did. And I now I do them without a problem. For Alou and Kadia, we had to do bone marrow aspirations. I watched Brett do their first ones and last week I did both of theirs for the end of the induction period. I am amazed at what I've learned in a short time. I'm doing things I never thought I would. And though I'm not surprised, the Lord has once again placed me in a role that scares me to death. Someone told me the other day that they didn't think I was a fearful person because I didn't act like it. Brett will be the first to attest, and did at the time, that I am in fact an incredibly fearful person (as anyone who reads this blog knows) but I try to fight it. Faith isn't doing living without fear, it is doing what you believe you are called to do despite the fear.The Lord has worked wonders in my fears and teaching me to not worry about things I cannot change or what may happen. But I am full of fears. Working with HIV patients and children with cancer only spur on my fears. It's something I have to pray through every single day. I have to choose to not let my mind dwell on the what ifs. I'm thankful to have been placed out of my comfort zone and be forced to rely on the Lord. Working in these areas has also pushed me in the medical realm. I am doing much more than I ever planned to or thought possible. But there I was, the one who two months ago wasn't even pulling up meds without Jake or Brett around for fear I would do something wrong, putting in Kadi's last IV, giving her her last chemo meds all by myself. The Lord surely does use the weak things and I'm thankful.

I'm often amazed at how these families deal with the cancer. They act like it's not really a big deal. I've often wondered why and discussed it with other nurses. Jake made a good point the other day. In the States, we fear cancer. Cancer kills. Many other illnesses we have learned to treat and prevent but very often, cancer kills. And it kills our kids. It is something to be feared. Here, though, it's different. One in four kids are dying regularly in Mali. Malaria kills in Mali. Diarrhea kills. Pneumonia kills. The families here fear malaria. When a kid gets vomiting and diarrhea, they are scared to death. The first time Kenan got diarrhea here our nanny started bawling thinking that one she would lose her job over it and two that he might not make it. We just laughed. It's just vomiting and diarrhea. Nothing too serious. But that is what kills here. Cancer, however, is rarely known. Even if it takes a life, it takes far less than malaria. It's just not as big of a deal. It's just interesting. We hurt for these families, we shower the kids with treats and toys and whatever because we feel they are suffering so much. In our culture, cancer changes your life forever. It changes your family. Our friends are walking through cancer in their little 4 year old. It has turned their life upside down. And rightfully so. To me, that's how these families should be, but in general, they aren't. Not saying either way is right or wrong (though of course, I understand my culture and our response more) but just saying it is an interesting observation.

But this blog post was really supposed to be about the celebration of Kadi being done with treatment....so back to that. Yeah Kadi! Here are some pictures of her along with Alou and Kadia. Just in the last week or so both Alou and Kadia started losing their hair (Kadi already had since she is further along). Not that they care so much about losing the hair, but I wanted to get them something. So I bought Alou a hat and the girls cloth to use as a head wrap. I must say that they are stinkin' cute...and I guess I will admit that's why I bought them things in the first place...because I knew they'd be cute and I wanted to see them wearing it. So it was in part a selfish act to see these kiddos in hats and wraps. Enough talking, here are the pictures...

I love this picture because this is how they look most of the time. Kadia frowning and Alou looking on happily. They've been sharing a room since they started chemo over a month ago. And by "they" I mean these two, their mothers and their little siblings. It's kind of neat that they came in together so they get to go through all of this together.

Sweet Alou

I asked her to look at me. This is what she did. typical.

at least she smiled at me afterwards.

Kadi, who finished her chemo, and Kadia. You can see how Kadi's face is still a little distorted. It's from the changes the cancer made, not remaining cancer.

I told them to "yele" which means smile but also means open so they were opening their mouth. Not surprised esp for Kadi since we were always telling her to open her mouth so we could look at the tumor and then she how it was improving.

Believe it or not, both Kadia and Alou are 4! We never believed Alou's age until we saw the birth certificate. Major growth stunting.

The siblings. Standing up is Mariam, the sister of Kadi. The one sitting who is in the front is Amosi, Kadia's brother and the one in the back is Rokia, Alou's sister.

The pretty girls

And another of Kadia. I love this picture. One, because her wrap is as tall as her head. Two, because she is smiling. This girl is something. It's hard enough to get Malian kids to like the white people, even more so when I'm always inflicting pain. So basically, she hates me. I try all the time, but she wants nothing to do with me. Really, I don't blame her but it sure makes me try harder to get her to like me. So this morning when she waved at me as I was driving up, I felt like something huge had happened. I was so happy. She actually acknowledged me and decided to be nice! I was so happy. When I went to get a picture, she actually smiled! And she shook my hand! I was in heaven. Now it didn't last long, but hey, we had a little moment for which I'll always be grateful. And if I have to buy her a new head wrap each week to get another smile and hand shake, I'll do it. It's worth it.

Temoin

Two weekends ago Brett was the temoin in Joseph's wedding. The temoin (literally "witness") is the equivalent of the best man in the wedding. Joseph is a nurse at the hospital and has been a great resource and friend to Brett as he has learned how to navigate being a doctor in this culture. Joseph is incredibly bright, has a sweet heart, and is wonderful with both kids and their mothers. He is perfect for pediatrics. We are so so blessed to have him. I think there are many times Brett would have lost his mind without Jo. It was quite a special honor for Brett to be asked to be the temoin. My friend Alison who has lived her 14 years says she has never seen a white person be the temoin. One person asked someone to do it but then changed their minds right beforehand. Brett had a lot to do, as anyone does involved in a wedding, but he enjoyed it. He had to be up at 5:30 that morning because they were starting pictures at 6:30 but he was chatting away, giddy like it was his wedding. It was fun to see.

Here they are before the wedding.

The couple and the two temoins sit up front in chairs for the two hour service. They don't really smile but just sit there stone faced. Brett says he understands a little more now because you are having to just sit there and look at people staring at you for hours- not that much fun. But it was a good service nonetheless.

Here is the hospital staff that came to the wedding.

Us and the couple. Jo is smiling here and actually did for most pictures that day. Most people don't smile for pictures so Brett had told him one day that he had to smile on his wedding day for pictures. Glad he did!

I normally don't point out my flaws in pictures but I just have to say I haven't gained 50 pounds- it's just the outfit. :)

Dedication of the new buildings

Last weekend we dedicated that last three buildings of the hospital. One million dollars was given by Christ Community Church in Omaha. Some of their church were out in Mali for our field forum so the Saturday before we had a dedication. It kind of spiraled into a really big thing. It was fun though. Kids were lining the street to the hospital.

Invited guests waiting for the ceremony to start.

The minister of Health of Mali came. Quite a big deal. He is the lighter guy on the left with sunglasses.

More up close view of him.

All the toubabs (white people) who work at the hospital. From left to right: Jake Tillet, nurse education, anesthesia; Jessica Schaeffer, Nursing Director and anesthesia; Dan Nesselroade, OB-GYN, medical director; Ed Bonvillian, Lab/Pharmacy director; Jason Foster, new pediatrician currently in language study; Brett and then me.

Here they are cutting the ribbon to the new buildings (one is in use, two are not yet finished).

On the far left is Daniel Thera, the Directeur General/CEO of CPAM (the NGO that our hospital is a part of). Next is the deputy to the American ambassador. Next Director of Health, then Mark Ashton, the pastor of Christ Community Church.

Must say thanks to Angela Wenger, as I didn't bring my camera that day and these are all from her.

A first in Mali

Yesterday I had a first here. My first accident. Everyone always says it isn't if you have an accident but when. Yesterday was my when. I was trying to get through the market which is always crowded. There was a van parked on the side of the road which croweded the space even more. The first thing I saw was a man yelling at a boy on a water cart (it's like a wagon with a barrel of water on it). Next thing I know I hear a terrible sound. I get out thinking that it is just a bad scratch. Nope, the kid had pulled off the entire piece above the wheel as well as the mud flap. It also broke the bumper. The kid started leaving but I yelled out to him to stop. I was kind of in shock when I saw parts of the car on the road. Thankfully, a man I knew who works at the cotton factory was passing through so he stopped and talked with me. Near the end another man from the hospital stopped. I called Brett and seeing that it was impossible for an 8 year old kid to pay for the car, we just let him go. The best I can figure is that as he was passing me he lost control of his donkey and it just went too close to my car.

I've been reading this book "Calm My Anxious Heart" (yes, I've actually read a second book in the last few months! I'm trying to better myself and am reading things on areas that I am lacking). Anyway, so the chapter I had just read the day before was "what ifs" and "If only" and how these are not beneficial. Often we worry about many what ifs and they never even happen. The If only's just cause pointless frustration. Rather, we should trust this was God's will and His plan for our good. As soon as I got in the car, I immediately thought, "If only I had left a minute later" then I realized this was what the book was about. I needed to trust it was for my benefit, for my teaching. To be honest, the things that bothered me the most was the money it would cost to fix it and my pride of having to drive around with a messed up car (I know this is absolutely ridiculous, like anyone here would care my car was messed up- it would just blend in more!). So I tried to be thankful. Thankful no one was hurt. Just the car. Every single Malian who heard about it, asked me if there was anyone hurt. It really hit me how significant this is. People have accidents every single day and people get hurt and die. So I should have never cared about the silly car. I found out that our mechanic in town could fix our car so he actually did it today! So it's all fixed aside from the scratches and need for paint. I thought all the parts would have to be replaced, which would have been a ton of money, but praise the Lord it could be fixed. I'm glad to have my first accident behind me. It was very minor, no injuries, easily correctable (only $40 bucks!) and the best part- it wasn't MY fault! :)

The Pediatrics team

The other night we had the pediatrics team over for a goodbye party for Aimée who is getting married and moving away. We had pizza, which they liked, and a leftover pumpkin pie from the Thanksgiving party which wasn't really a hit except to the girls. They enjoyed watching Tom and Jerry which is a big hit here. I guess it's because the plot is simple and they can follow it despite not understanding the words.

Esayi, Aimée, Jospeh, and Jeanne (she is a visiting medical student)

Then with the toubabs (white person) as well. The other white guy in the picture is Jake, a nurse who does anesthesia as well as pediatrics.

Harvest Party

Last night our team had a harvest party. It was so much fun. The moms here are so creative and enthusiastic when it comes to stuff like this. They put the whole thing on. Parents and people from the visiting team manned the booths. Since our boys are little, we didn't have to work but just walked around with the kids. There were about ten games. Smash the bottles, ring toss, cake walk, Frisbee toss, face painting, popcorn pop, bean bag toss, licorice race, marshmallow game, a water game where you shoot the bottle down the tube with a water gun, then a game with shooting little men with a bow and arrow, and throw the sponge on a person. The kids had 15 tickets each to play the games. It even rained a little which really made it feel like fall. We had loads of fun! Thanks to our team for putting it on! We enjoyed it!

Me trying to explain the smashing can game (just throwing the ball to knock over the cans).

Ring toss

so excited to get the candy

Kenan really enjoyed this game. I just love watching his expressions.

And the face painting. Batman wanted a spider web with a spider on it.

D likes getting all tatt'd up.

The marshmallow game. so cute. You are supposed to suck the marshmallows into your mouth and then spit them out and place them on the circles on the paper. This is to be done without hands. (for the older kids, the marshmallows were mixed with dream whip to make it more challenging). But sweet Kenan didn't quite understand and used his hands to pick up the marshmallow, put it in his mouth, then take it out and place it nicely on the paper. so cute.

Dawson knew what to do.

The final seconds...it was a perfect tie! :)

Silas just enjoyed eating. Here's the cupcake from the cake walk.

then a crunch bar. Ok, he ate two crunch bars, but they were little.

It was such a fun evening. We then roasted hot dogs which a team member had gotten from Dakar. For a little bit, we felt like we were back in the States enjoying all the fall festivities!