February, but he can’t speak much yet. He understands well, but his deformed palate has made speech difficult for him. I pray that someday Angelo will praise God with his fixed mouth and palate as he grows older and learns about God and what He has done for him. I felt so privileged to be helping Angelo when I saw him walking hand in hand with his mom toward my car. Just a week earlier, I couldn’t help getting choked up when his mom translated my words into Tagalog to little Angelo. She asked him, “How would you like to get your mouth fixed?”. He smiled and gave his mom a high five.
On Monday morning, we were on our way to the hospital for a consultation with the doctor about fixing Angelo’s cleft palate. We found out that we came at the perfect time of the year. Angelo’s doctor told us that several doctors were doing a mission that week and that they were doing cleft palate surgeries the next Saturday for free. For FREE! God sure has good timing! The surgery and all the medicines would be free this particular week. There are only a few costs left and some kind friends from the States have already stepped up to cover them.
To our surprise, the doctor had Angelo immediately check into the hospital for initial tests (blood, x-rays, urine, etc.). He told us that Angelo needs to stay in the hospital untill Wednesday and then I could bring him back on Friday to get prepped for surgery on Saturday. Angelo didn’t seem to mind, but Vergi, his mom, was surprised and a little worried. First, I learned that Angelo is one of eight children and she now began to worry, “How can I feed my kids if I miss work?” (She would have to stay with Angelo the whole time). Second, since she did not anticipate having to stay at the hospital, she didn’t bring anything with her (like a tooth brush, extra clothes, a towel, etc.) The hospital doesn’t even provide blankets or pillows. We went across the street and picked up some food, water, tooth brush and other such stuff for them. Vergi’s best friend Charlyne would bring clothes and other necessities the next day.
The ward that they were staying in
has two large dorms with about 100 beds on both sides and all were occupied with patients and their families. Angelo was captivated by a little girl in the bed across from his. She had a cleft palate too, only she had two openings in her lip instead of just one. This may be the first time he has ever seen anyone in the same situation as his. They stared at each other fascinated. As it turns out, the cleft palate wasn't the worst problem this little girl had. When they did evaluations on her to get her mouth fixed, they discovered that she actually had a hole in her heart. So last month they did open heart surgery to fix her heart and this month they will fix her mouth. Add to those difficult circumstances the fact that she is not even a year old yet, she is only ten months old right now. As I was talking with her mom and playing with her I got a big smile out of her. Because of the open flaps of skin above her mouth, it was hard to see that she was smiling, but her eyes couldn’t hide it. The next day I found out that the doctor was having trouble finding a vein in Angelo’s arm and was unable to finish all the bloodwork in time to release Angelo on Wednesday. He decided that Angelo should just stay there through Saturday for the operation. Again, Vergi expressed her concern about not being able to work. She and her husband sell eggs (the ever so popular Filipino "balut" to be exact – basically duck embryos) to support the family. I told her not to worry, that we would take care of her and her family during this time. After that I went home to wait for Saturday. Click here to read the next part of the story.
1 comment:
If Vergi's lost income can be recovered through donations, would that make her worry less? How much would it cost to replace what she won't make while at the hospital? I was sharing with my husband about this situation and he was all for helping the boy, initially, but where others have already stepped up to the 'plate', so to speak, we'd like to participate through helping his family financially through this time.
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