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| Sunny autumn day |
In November last year a little 3 month old boy with reflux disease was referred to us. Reflux disease is when the opening between the oesophagus and stomach doesn’t close properly resulting in food and milk shooting back up the oesophagus and often into the trachea, which is very dangerous. As a result he needed to be fed thickened foods through a tube that ran directly from his nose to his stomach. During his time with us he was slowly introduced to food through the mouth with the hope that the reflux problem would resolve. This week the ThembaCare staff were all smiles when at last the tube was removed completely and he was able to take all feeds through his mouth. The even better part of this success is that he will be able to go for home visits for the first time since his admission, and very soon home for good. This little boy has wriggled his way deep into the hearts of the staff here as they’ve watched and helped him grow from an apprehensive and quiet child into a playful and very vocal boy who cruises around the playroom.
This last month we have also admitted a child with a very challenging case. A little girl whose oesophagus is so small she cannot swallow. She is fed through a tube that inserts directing into her stomach and has to have weekly operations in an attempt to gradually widen her oesophagus. This is a painful procedure and requires weekly hospital admissions. Aside from this she also developed a very dangerous condition when she was a few months old called Steven Johnson’s Syndrome (http://www.skinassn.org/what-is-stevens-johnson-syndrome.html), which most children do not survive. She did survive it but it has left her blind in one eye and she is very underdeveloped. This little one has already experienced such huge obstacles before even reaching two years of age. We ask you to remember her in your prayers as she receives her weekly operations, and also for her overall health and recovery.
