Aderah Update

Well Innocent, Aderah and I spent all last day Wednesday in the hospital and were left with some better news than expected I guess?  First good news was that she now weighed 8.5 kg, a gain of 1.5 kg since last week, but still a far cry from a normal sized 2 ½ year old. She saw a pediatrician and a cardiologist and has been diagnosed with a ventricular-septal defect (VSD) about 0.1 cm in size. She currently is in congestive heart failure as it has been untreated for the past two years but the good news is that apparently 90% of these defects heal by age four. So she will be on medications for the next two years and will them be re-evaluated by the cardiologist again. At that time if the defect is still there then she will have to be referred for surgery which is the second good news (of sorts). Uganda does not at this time have a cardiac surgeon, however they have funding which allows them to send 150 heart patients each year to India to have the surgery for free. So if it comes to that there are at least options, options which I don’t have to look into as of yet. The medications are relatively in expensive (about $10 CDN per month) and the even better news is that they are working. I called Innocent the other night just to see how his day was “Fantastic!” he replied which is not a usual reply from anyone. When I asked why he told me that since Aderah was born he has looked forward to playing with her but she had never wanted to play. That day she had more energy than ever and was having fun. Thank you to all those who were keeping her and Innocent in your thoughts and prayers. They were much appreciated and I would be of the belief that they helped!

Prepping for her echocardiogram. There were many tears shed because of the cold gel.

Consultation with the pediatrician.

Aderah enjoying her post hospital meal. Because of her defect she eats like no other and literally cries when the food is finished.