Slow Saves

Occasionally saving a life is dramatically fast, visible in real-time moments, as the unconscious child is rehydrated and awakens. Usually, though, a bit of time lapse photography would be helpful. Today five kids went home "cured" from the nutrition program. Several had been admitted for weeks or a month; Kato took the prize with a 53 day stay. He arrived in July, skeletal, the unlikely bone-and-skin twin of a healthy sister. I remember clearly wincing at his frail body lying limp on the bed, and sensing that his mom had all but given up hope. But a month later I remember seeing her dancing and singing down the aisle of the ward one day, and the nurses told me that she never expected him to live and now she was rejoicing. From 4.1 to 6.4 kg, his flesh filled out on milk and TB meds. He began to sit, and then to crawl. He is 1 1/2 years old but he still can not walk, though when I led him across the floor by hand he giggled yesterday with the effort. I like to wonder what plans God has for him, that made him such a target of destruction, and yet worth rescuing. Perhaps to be a teacher, or a caring father, or an artist, or president. Who knows.

Next, Bwambale, a child I personally thought would either die or be whisked away in the night by his tired mother. He came with dangerously severe kwashiorkor, and an also-malnourished little sister. Soon we realized that he was much worse off than she was, and slower to respond to milk, because he also had sickle cell anemia. It took over a month but his swelling finally subsided, new skin finally appeared under all the peeling patches, he finally took interest in the world. Meanwhile his sister also began to thrive, so his mom is now lugging home two heavier kids.

Mbusa's mother brought all four of her kids to live on the ward for the last few weeks, because she had no one else to help her care for them. He smiled mischievously as we prepared his discharge today, and his sisters clamored to have their picture taken too. They will probably find home rather tedious after all the excitement.

And then, Gloria. Gloria's lethargy on admission was heartbreaking, and her mother's almost as significant. And no wonder: this mother was from another part of the country, had had her 3 month old infant die this summer, and now was watching her 2 year old dwindle down the same path, and she was going through all this basically alone. In the 32 days of her admission, Gloria's father only came one time to see her. In spite of all that, she departed 2 kg heavier than she arrived, with a new hold on life. And her mother did some hard thinking about her own situation and decided to take Gloria back to her ancestral home in hopes of both of them surviving. I pray they will.

Lastly, Rick Thomas, getting his third lease on life, discharged and well when he could easily have been dead.

Their beds were being refilled before they could even bundle their belongings out the door, but for a moment there was joy over these slow saves.