As you might remember we had two babies have cleft surgeries this past month: Hosea and Antonia. Now that the scars have healed some and they are not so red and swollen, I thought I would show you just how different they look. Thank you so much to Dr Lu for his work on the two babies.
Antonia has not made a big change but Hosea is like a different child. Not only does he look very different, but he is drinking like a boy who has not seen milk in a while. He wants 11 oz of milk at a time and last week he picked up a half a kilo (about a pound). He is also sleeping straight through the night. I am not sure if we could not see him smile before but he is making up for at the moment. His face has so much more expression on it and he is smiling a lot. We are also getting his adoption papers ready with Faith and Clara's and hopefully we will submit them to the Xian CWI soon.
I just heard a day ago, that we might be able to take a lot of our cleft babies
have surgeries through Operation Smile. I need to contact the team and see if they can add us to their schedule. I also have to arrange a lot of volunteers to go because the babies will need a care taker each. This could be as early as next week.
Life, Love and Laughter,
Amanda
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
What a BIG Surprise!!
If you had told me yesterday morning that by evening Hosea AND Antonia were going to have their cleft lips repaired I would have laughed in your face. It is just amazing how life goes.
I have been trying to get Hosea's lip repaired for more than five months. He missed three foreign missions because he got sick. I have been fighting his infections for months now. He seemed to be okay and then he would land up in the hospital again. I had seen a highly recommended local plastic surgeon three times and he said to wait. Hosea was released from the hospital last week and was on some serious antibiotics. I thought this was a good time to try again. So we made an appointment to see Dr Lu yesterday and try and arrange a time. I thought I should send another baby so he can also start on the seven that we have ready for surgery. Well, Mickey (my assistant) called and said Hosea, Antonia and Tim had to fast and that they needed a blood test. No big deal. Well, when she gets home, she tells that they are fasting to do surgery. I could not have been more shocked, I thought I misunderstood her. Sure enough, after the blood tests were done, the surgery was scheduled for last night. Tim was not healthy enough and so he came home. They went to the hospital at 5pm and Antonia was up first at 7pm and at 9pm Hosea had his turn. I really like Dr Lu's style. The other surgeons want them in hospital for two weeks, but this is going to 5 days only.
I have a very special place in my heart for surgeons who repair cleft lips and palates. I got to watch Dr Lisa Buckmiller in action once and I was speechless. (She even asked me during the surgery why I was so quiet). I am so in awe of the skills that it takes to give a child a new face as I watched her, I coveted that skill. Forget about the years of medical school it took to get there and all the years of practice. On a daily basis I live with the wonder work that cleft surgeons do and I see the amazing results. How grateful I am to have a part to play. I might not be doing surgery, but I will leave that to the professionals and continue to greatly admire them.
A day later.........and I have been to visit the two of them in the hospital and briefly saw Antonia's lip with out the bandages. I had never had a lip surgery with a Chinese doctor and so I was not prepared for the all the bandages. The both looked like they had been in a car accident. They will in the hospital for another 3 days. We had a nurse visit from Chicago and she brought us a special syringe with a feeding tube and it made a HUGE difference to the feeding. The nurses and doctors were very impressed. Thank you Donna!!!! To add insult to injury I had to shave Antonia's head. The nurses were complaining because they could not do IV's. In truth, I loved her bald head.
I cannot wait to see what is happening under those bandages.
Life, Love and Laughter,
Amanda
I have been trying to get Hosea's lip repaired for more than five months. He missed three foreign missions because he got sick. I have been fighting his infections for months now. He seemed to be okay and then he would land up in the hospital again. I had seen a highly recommended local plastic surgeon three times and he said to wait. Hosea was released from the hospital last week and was on some serious antibiotics. I thought this was a good time to try again. So we made an appointment to see Dr Lu yesterday and try and arrange a time. I thought I should send another baby so he can also start on the seven that we have ready for surgery. Well, Mickey (my assistant) called and said Hosea, Antonia and Tim had to fast and that they needed a blood test. No big deal. Well, when she gets home, she tells that they are fasting to do surgery. I could not have been more shocked, I thought I misunderstood her. Sure enough, after the blood tests were done, the surgery was scheduled for last night. Tim was not healthy enough and so he came home. They went to the hospital at 5pm and Antonia was up first at 7pm and at 9pm Hosea had his turn. I really like Dr Lu's style. The other surgeons want them in hospital for two weeks, but this is going to 5 days only.
I have a very special place in my heart for surgeons who repair cleft lips and palates. I got to watch Dr Lisa Buckmiller in action once and I was speechless. (She even asked me during the surgery why I was so quiet). I am so in awe of the skills that it takes to give a child a new face as I watched her, I coveted that skill. Forget about the years of medical school it took to get there and all the years of practice. On a daily basis I live with the wonder work that cleft surgeons do and I see the amazing results. How grateful I am to have a part to play. I might not be doing surgery, but I will leave that to the professionals and continue to greatly admire them.
A day later.........and I have been to visit the two of them in the hospital and briefly saw Antonia's lip with out the bandages. I had never had a lip surgery with a Chinese doctor and so I was not prepared for the all the bandages. The both looked like they had been in a car accident. They will in the hospital for another 3 days. We had a nurse visit from Chicago and she brought us a special syringe with a feeding tube and it made a HUGE difference to the feeding. The nurses and doctors were very impressed. Thank you Donna!!!! To add insult to injury I had to shave Antonia's head. The nurses were complaining because they could not do IV's. In truth, I loved her bald head.
I cannot wait to see what is happening under those bandages.
Life, Love and Laughter,
Amanda
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Happy Easter From Starfish!
At this special time of year, all of us at Starfish wish you Happy Easter.
Life, Love and Laughter,
Amanda
Starfish Children's Services
US Tax Number: 20-4682916
Xian China
At Starfish, we have taken care of 75 children to date, arranged almost 50 surgeries and had a 20 international adoptions, so our little starfishes live all over the globe: the US (latest adoption to North Carolina), Netherlands, Norway and Spain. We currently have 36 babies under the age of 3 at two foster homes.
www.thestarfishfosterhome.org
http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com
http://chinesestarfishcleft.blogspot.com
chinese.starfishthrower@gmail.com
Cell: 86.1348.812.4847
Life, Love and Laughter,
Amanda
Starfish Children's Services
US Tax Number: 20-4682916
Xian China
At Starfish, we have taken care of 75 children to date, arranged almost 50 surgeries and had a 20 international adoptions, so our little starfishes live all over the globe: the US (latest adoption to North Carolina), Netherlands, Norway and Spain. We currently have 36 babies under the age of 3 at two foster homes.
www.thestarfishfosterhome.org
http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com
http://chinesestarfishcleft.blogspot.com
chinese.starfishthrower@gmail.com
Cell: 86.1348.812.4847
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