Staff Blog
The following was written by Marlys yesterday when we found out that our little TomTom would need surgery the very next day. Today. Please pray with us that he will recover from this dangerous surgery. We love him so.
Hello everyone,
Dr. Aldana is the son of a prominent neurosurgeon in Cebu, who was one of our doctors way back in the early 80's. He is here with a team from Florida, doing surgeries at the government hospital called Vicente Sotto Medical Center. He examined Thomas yesterday, along with our own surgeon, Dr. Mark Gigataris, and a Pediatric Intensive Care specialist, also from Florida. They have an organization that raises funds to do surgeries for low income patients, and they happened to have one vacant bed so admitted Thomas yesterday afternoon to VSMC. The director of the neurosurgery department, Dr. Briones, was also at the meeting. Dr. Briones said that VSMC has the best and most complete facilities and equipment to perform the surgery that Thomas needs to address his urgent need, which is to remove the fluid that is building up in his brain. The surgery, called Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy, will be done in a few hours. While doing the surgery they hope to drain the fluid, but if they notice that it isn't working well they will put in a shunt during this procedure. They would prefer to put the shunt in two to three months later, but they will have to wait to see how things progress today.
Thomas is in the pediatric ward, which is about the size of our lab in the infirmary. There are six patients in there, and there is barely space for a chair in between the beds. There is an air conditioner, so that is a blessing.
Thomas has complained of headaches lately, and the Aunties told us that sometimes he just lies down suddenly, so those are signs that the hydrocephalus is starting to cause some problems.
The next surgery will be done in a few months to reconstruct the back of the skull, as there is an obstruction there, which caused cysts to form on the spinal cord. Six titanium plates will be needed, which cost P40,000 each. Dr. Aldana brought plates with him, so he will donate some of them for Thomas, and the surgeries will all be free. As you can imagine, we were thrilled to hear that. He said that Dr. Gigataris has a huge job ahead of him to help our precious Thomas. Dr. Gigatiris is thankful that Dr. Aldana is here to help with the ETV, as it sounds like he hasn't done this particular surgery very often.
Thomas adores Dr. Gigataris, and whenever he gets a bit nervous he calms down immediately when we reassure him that Dr. Mark will be with him every minute of his surgery.
When Dr. Gigataris first met Thomas four years ago he told us he would need to do complicated reconstruction of his skull for sutures that were fused prematurely. When he heard how he needed surgery in Manila for stents in his nostrils to breathe when he was five months old, he told us with tears in his eyes, "This boy has been fighting for his life, and I want to help him fight even more." He did an amazing job with Thomas in 2014 and has taken good care of him ever since.
Dr. Gigataris' wife is Tom's neurologist. One day when we were in her office she told Tom that she loved him. He said, "I love you" back to her, but was looking at the colorful decals on her walls, not really paying attention to her. She held his face in her hands and told him that if he is going to tell someone that he needs to look the person in the eyes, so he looked up at her and said, "I love you." It was a touching moment. These two stories illustrate how wonderful this couple is, and we are thankful to have such loving and caring doctors for our children.
There is no doubt in our minds that the Lord brought this wonderful team of doctors here at the perfect time for Tom, and we have all the confidence in our own doctors here in Cebu. Thank you for your prayers for this incredible little boy.
A rainy day...
Yesterday was a glorious day! It was overcast, breezy and there were intermittent bursts of rain. It was welcome relief from the unrelenting heat of this summer, but also, I just love a good storm! Because of the rain though, outside activities were at a minimum. Normally at 3:35pm, any available space in the yard, on the driveway or on the playground equipment is being utilized. I decided to document this rather rare occurrence...
It was definitely a riding kind of day...
Even for our Aunties! :)
And a coloring kind of day....
And a looking at books kind of day...
And a taking silly pictures kind of day...
Pretty much my favorite part of ANY day! :)
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Thank You
In a few days, Bjork and I will head back to Minnesota. There are so many mixed emotions that we have as we get ready to see family and friends as well as saying goodbye to the kids, staff, and CSC family.
I have been so thankful for the opportunity to work with such wonderful people this year. Here is a little glimpse at the American staff and some of the things that we appreciate about them.
Amy: Inviting, Relational, Adaptable
Lindsay: Thoughtful, Trustworthy, Insightful
Tammy: Fun-loving, Reliable, Optimistic
Sandy: Nurturing, Dedicated, Positive
Marlys: Dedicated, Compassionate, Inspiring
Paul: Dedicated, Hard Working, Loving
Thank you to all the American and Filipino staff and workers who have helped us and inspired us this year. Thank you to the kids for being cooler than we could ever put words around.
THANK YOU supporters from all over the world for making it possible for these amazing people to do such life-changing work.
And thank you to our God for working miracles through this place!
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Ew...
A new craze has hit the shelter. And it is one I cannot understand in the least. The current trend on the playground involves beetles.
Step 1: Catch the beetle that you fancy most.
Step 2: Attach string to the leg of your choosing.
Step 3: Run!
There is NOTHING about that that is in any way appealing to me.
Okay, okay, if I could get past touching the beetle for the length of time it would take to tie a string around its leg, it MIGHT be kind of cool to have a pet on a leash that would fly alongside me. Operative word being might.
And yet, it is an activity that currently captivates the attention of many of our children!
Check out the pure joy on the face of one of our newest kids!
The beetles (yes, more than one) are on his finger here...
In flight...
Mind-boggling happiness...
Happy Summer all! May yours be filled with joy...and bugs, if that is what it takes!
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Expression
Our kids are incredibly gifted in many forms of expression. They dance with a fluidity that astounds, and tumble and flip in a way that looks effortless. They pick up song lyrics crazy fast and belt out those lyrics without abandon. They smile readily and are prone to giggles.
We have some talented artists among us as well. Recently the kids were having fun decorating our driveway. Many were content with just autographing the cement, others were more focused in their artistry.
My favorite decoration, however, was the one you see below. "Marty love Jesus." That was written, not entirely grammatically correct, but quite neatly, by a 5-year-old. You can see his proud little feet at the top! :) I was taken aback when I spotted this message among the flowers, butterflies and names that surrounded it.
The message was so simple, so sweet...so perfect.
As adults we worry about raising the children around us in the right way, being a good witness and teaching them about Jesus. This message was fulfilling for me---this little boy gets it, if he does not get anything else in the world, he knows the most important thing.
And to tell you the truth, I was humbled in that moment as well. I was brought back to the heart of why we do what we do here at CSC. We do this work because we love Jesus.
Lindsay love Jesus too! :)
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"Juggling"
Our kids go in waves with their favorite activities. For quite a while, everyone was into waveboarding. Sometimes it's playing marbles and sometimes it's rubber bands. The current craze is a game called "Juggling". The kids take turns kicking a ball in the air. The first person has to kick the ball once, the second person kicks it twice, and so on. They have up to 3 tries to get the desired number of kicks in. Sometimes they also have contests to see who can get the most number of kicks in one try. I haven't asked everyone, but the highest number I've heard is from Maricris. She kept the ball in the air for 60 kicks in a row! Amazing!
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