Last Friday Duttali was one of the patients I saw in clinic. She is 14 years old, but looked more like 7 or 8. Her father carried her on his back, and she wouldn't make eye contact at all. She was born with spina bifida, where the last part of her spine didn't form properly in utero, so she has a big bulge on her lower back where the membrane around her spinal cord bulges out. She is paralyzed from the waist down, and has no bowel or bladder control.
Amazingly, although her family is very poor, and she is the 4th of 5 children (the other 4 all being "normal" children), her father (the only family member I met) obviously cares very much for her. This is somewhat unusual in this culture. He had brought her to us to see if we could remove the bulge from her back. Unfortunately this isn't possible, at least certainly not here in Tansen. But she also had several pressure sores on her lower limbs, including 2 huge ones on her left ankle that were in rough shape. I could smell them before I even took her bandages off, and when I did, there were maggots crawling in the wounds. Her foot was barely attached because the wounds were so big (sorry for the graphic-ness!). I told her father that there wasn't anything we could do for the bulge in her back, but that her wounds were in rough shape, and she probably needed an amputation of that foot/lower leg. Since Duttali doesn't really walk (she crawls a little bit at home, apparently), an amputation wouldn't really be debilitating for her, and so he agreed to go ahead with it.
For the first 3 days or so in hospital, I never saw Duttali smile or make any eye contact. Her father also was pretty quiet. When I took her to the OR on Sunday for the amputation, she cried and cried until she was put to sleep. The next day, though, her father had big smiles for us, and the day after that so did Duttali. I'm guessing that her father was happy that her leg at least didn't smell bad anymore, and when they saw the stitched up surgical wound it was clean and healthy, and that must have been nice for them. But really, I'm not sure that explains the change we saw in them. I'm guessing they came to a place where they were cared for, and where Duttali was loved and treated with dignity. This is her yesterday when I discharged her from hospital.
It really warmed my heart to see her smile, and to be able to make her laugh. When I showed her her own photo and told her she was beautiful, she beamed from ear to ear. Her father was pretty tickled, too. I pray that during their time here they haven't just known the care of other human beings, but also the love and care of the God who created Duttali and loves her very much.
Amazingly, although her family is very poor, and she is the 4th of 5 children (the other 4 all being "normal" children), her father (the only family member I met) obviously cares very much for her. This is somewhat unusual in this culture. He had brought her to us to see if we could remove the bulge from her back. Unfortunately this isn't possible, at least certainly not here in Tansen. But she also had several pressure sores on her lower limbs, including 2 huge ones on her left ankle that were in rough shape. I could smell them before I even took her bandages off, and when I did, there were maggots crawling in the wounds. Her foot was barely attached because the wounds were so big (sorry for the graphic-ness!). I told her father that there wasn't anything we could do for the bulge in her back, but that her wounds were in rough shape, and she probably needed an amputation of that foot/lower leg. Since Duttali doesn't really walk (she crawls a little bit at home, apparently), an amputation wouldn't really be debilitating for her, and so he agreed to go ahead with it.
For the first 3 days or so in hospital, I never saw Duttali smile or make any eye contact. Her father also was pretty quiet. When I took her to the OR on Sunday for the amputation, she cried and cried until she was put to sleep. The next day, though, her father had big smiles for us, and the day after that so did Duttali. I'm guessing that her father was happy that her leg at least didn't smell bad anymore, and when they saw the stitched up surgical wound it was clean and healthy, and that must have been nice for them. But really, I'm not sure that explains the change we saw in them. I'm guessing they came to a place where they were cared for, and where Duttali was loved and treated with dignity. This is her yesterday when I discharged her from hospital.
It really warmed my heart to see her smile, and to be able to make her laugh. When I showed her her own photo and told her she was beautiful, she beamed from ear to ear. Her father was pretty tickled, too. I pray that during their time here they haven't just known the care of other human beings, but also the love and care of the God who created Duttali and loves her very much.
