Clepson went for his preoperative visit with Dr. Ford today. Clepson was very nervous! I explained to him before we went that Dr. Ford was only going to take a look at his eye again and would answer any questions about the surgery we had. Dr. Ford explained that the surgery would remove Clepsons' blind and painful eye and that he would place a orbital implant in the eye. Clepson will be under general anesthesia for the surgery and we told him he would feel no pain. When Clepson wakes up he will possibly have a headache and some pain. We will control this with pain medication and ointments. Hopefully any pain Clepson experiences will be quickly under control and he will heal well. Clepson was pretty quiet during the meeting. We went to Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone after and when we returned home I showed Clepson some photos of other children "before and after" their own eye surgeries. It will be several months before Clepson is healed enough to get fitted for his "new eye". I can't wait to see him with a normal looking eye that gives him no pain.
In the US the prosthetic eye is polished and checked twice a year. In five years it will need to be replaced. This worries me as there are no oculists in Haiti. We will have to pray that a solution to this problem is found!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
A Walk in the Park or When we LOST Clepson!
Much paperwork, networking and prayer has gotten us to the point of bringing Clepson to the U.S. for this surgery that will change his life. Today Clepson spent the morning at my sister Sarah's house (http://www.ourhaitianjourney.blogspot.com/) . I know that Clepson has been lonely when my kids are at school from 8-4 every day. I brought Sarah's 10 yr. old son Dom home to keep Clepson company this afternoon and tomorrow while the kids are in school. Sarah has been homeschooling her children this year and Dom is almost finished with all of his curriculum, so he will work on math tomorrow while Clepson works on math and french.
Everything was going well today. The boys helped me clean the car and I was working in the gardens when Dom asked if they could ride bikes in the spectacular, LARGE park behind our house. This park has MILES of trails, a HUGE waterfall and pond and river. It is a fun place to play, but we have MANY rules to keep the kids safe while they are there. Our town is a safe place to live but I have seen too much Oprah and like them to always stick together when they are out of my sight. I also asked Dom to keep on our side of the creek, which only gave the boys a 1/2 mile loop to ride the bikes on and they would be within yelling distance if there were any issues or I wanted them home. About 15 minutes went by and Dom came riding up on his bike. He asked if Clepson had returned home and my heart DROPPED!
Everything was going well today. The boys helped me clean the car and I was working in the gardens when Dom asked if they could ride bikes in the spectacular, LARGE park behind our house. This park has MILES of trails, a HUGE waterfall and pond and river. It is a fun place to play, but we have MANY rules to keep the kids safe while they are there. Our town is a safe place to live but I have seen too much Oprah and like them to always stick together when they are out of my sight. I also asked Dom to keep on our side of the creek, which only gave the boys a 1/2 mile loop to ride the bikes on and they would be within yelling distance if there were any issues or I wanted them home. About 15 minutes went by and Dom came riding up on his bike. He asked if Clepson had returned home and my heart DROPPED!
The answer to that was a big NO and I began to pray as Dom and I searched the park for Clepson. Clepson had wanted to ride ahead of Dom (who is VERY little for his age, more like a 6 yr. old than a 10 yr. old in size) and Dom had told him the rule was "stick together" at all times. Clepson may have misunderstood, or may have thought Dom was joking, or may have thought this "little" kid didn't know what the rules were, but he took off on the bike without Dom.
The fifteen minutes we searched seemed like HOURS. I kept thinking, why didn't I make Clepson memorize our phone number and address! Did Clepson know our last name? How would he find his way home?
Dom found Clepson who was promptly sent for a shower and bed (at 3:30 in the afternoon). I gave him some time (he took a nap) and then sat and told him "what would I tell Mommie Sherry" (http://www.loveachild.com/) if I lost her Clepson! I explained the dangers of being alone in the park and that he had scared me. I also told him his punishment was no different than I would treat Noah and Zoe and that I wanted to treat him as my own son while he was with us.
All is well now and Clepson will hopefully limit his adventures to the healing sort that he came for!
A Chance to Dress Up!
On Tuesday we had the opportunity to dress up. It was the 5th grade strings all town concert. Noah had said last week before Clepson arrived that he needed some "dress" clothes. We are a very casual family living in an equally casual town. Noah has NEVER before worn a tie and hasn't worn a dress shirt in several years. I hit the local thrift store and was able to find some wonderful dress pant, shirt, tie combinations for Clepson and Noah and some wonderful dress shoes too! The boys were so excited and Clepson helped Noah tie his tie. Clepson was actually better with the tie than Terry;)
Of course, miss Zoe has loads of dresses that she will wear at the drop of a hat! The new school the kids go to has been disappointingly casual for Zoe's taste. It was fun to get some photos of the crew all dressed in their best. We enjoyed the concert and then headed to the Dairy Queen drive through for some ice cream in "cups" (aka cones). Clepson was very excited. His favorite foods so far are Pizza and ice cream. He would gladly eat Pizza every meal!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Inspiration
Tonight I am watching one of my favorite shows with Clepson. So You Think You Can Dance is on and I love to watch the dancers compete in an area I could never master. Clepson is very musical and also says he is not a good dancer, but loves to watch the dancing. I had forgotten that one of the finalists is from Haiti. Vittolio is a young Haitian man. He is an amazing dancer. In fact, he looks a bit like Clepson. Clepson was sitting waiting to see that Haitian dance. They did a short background piece on Vittolio. It turns out he grew up in a Haitian orphanage! Clepson's was amazed! To see another boy who grew up without parents in an orphanage on American TV excelling in his career and competing for $250,000 is quite inspirational.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
WHOA!
It struck me today, as it does from time to time, how unreal my life is. I have healthy children, a wonderful husband and work finding people new homes and training horses. I was out training horses today and brought Clepson along. Seeing the stables through his eyes made me stop and ponder. My average client has spent anywhere from $20,000 on up for a horse. They pay me hundreds a month in training and it costs them upwards of $400 a month to keep their horse stabled and fed.
Our horses are better fed than the average Haitian child. They get regular dental work and veterinary care. They have clean beds to sleep in and fresh, clean water. They wear special clothing to protect them from sun, cold, rain or flies. It is all a bit insane when you look at it form the outside in....
They have three horses at the Love a Child orphanage. Clepson said he sometimes gets to ride the horses.....but they kick and sometimes don't want to be ridden;) of course if I was a horse and 60 children wanted to ride me I might kick too! Clepson helped me brush the horses and watched while I rode my training horses and gave a lesson.
Monday, June 8, 2009
What Says the Doc
Clepson had his first meeting today w/ Doctor M. Doctor M dilated Clepson's eyes and gave him a thorough exam. Clepson has no vision in his bad eye and will have it enucleated on June 25. This is a VERY scary thing for Clepson and we could use all the prayer and support we can get! Clepson will be fitted for a prosthetic eye about four weeks after surgery. If all goes well he will be on track to return home in time for the start of school.
Clepson was very frightened before we met with the doctor. I don't know if he thought something might be done today. The eye dilation made vision in his good eye fuzzy and this seemed to scare Clepson too. It would be a very scary thing to have reduced vision when you only have vision in one eye to start with.
Clepson missed the other kids today when he was home alone with me. He spent time working on math work and french and riding the scooter outside. He is settling in pretty well and his behavior has been very normal preteen boy! What a wonderful job they have done at Love a Child! Clepson has wonderful manners and has not objected to helping Noah and Zoe with chores. He does seem very intrigued with television and video games, unfortunately we try to do as little gaming and tv as possible;)
Clepson tried pizza on the plane and wants to have it again soon. Mexican food was not a big hit for lunch, but he loves cold cereal and seemed to appreciate my attempt at Haitian beans and rice tonight. Clepson loves salad and turned down the cinnamon sugar chips served with his kids meal at lunch.
Clepson is HERE
After much anticipation and paperwork, Clepson has arrived. He is truely one of the "lucky" children in Haiti. He lives in a wonderful orphanage that stresses all of the skills he will need to be successful and happy in his life. Clepson lives at Love a Child orphange in Fond Parisian, Haiti. You can check out his home at www.loveachild.com. Clepson will return to the orphanage after his surgery and recovery time here in the U.S. He is provided a wonderful varied diet by Haitian standards and has been given an invaluable religious education. Clepson also attends school and will hopefully one day attend university either in Haiti or the U.S.
Clepson has a super doctor here in the U.S. who we shall call Dr. M. Dr. M has donated all of his time and skills to provide a lifechanging eye surgery for Clepson. Dr. M arranged with the local surgical center for them to donate the use of their facility at no charge. He went one step further to get a custom prosthetic eye donated. Not only will Clepson be out of pain for the first time after his surgery, he will look "normal". While the U.S. has made some strides in accepting people with disabilities, it is just not so in Haiti. Haitians are driven largely by superstition and fear and Clepson's eye has been viewed as a curse or sign of evil. More doors will be open in Clepson's future when he looks more normal.
I must say that lack of vision in his eye slows this little boy down not one bit! Clepson is a wonderful soccer player and bicycle rider and all boy. Clepson has spent much of his day today working on math skills (I have underestimated his level of work!) and has done a few pages in a french primer. A dear friend will be loaning us some kid appropriate novels in French and Clepson will spend at least an hour a day reading. My own kids are still in school and it is a house rule that no kids do anything "fun" while the others are in school. Once school is out of session Clepson will get more play time, but will still need to work on his Math and French skills. My own kids to 1/2 to 1 hour of math and at LEAST 1 hour of reading. Zoe loves to read and will read for hours if allowed!
I am sure Clepson thought that visiting the U.S. would be more fun, but I want him to learn while he is here and know how Blessed he is to live in such a wonderful home in Haiti.
We met with Clepson's doctor today and scheduled his surgery for June 24. His preop is one week earlier at which time he will find out in detail what his surgery entails. Please pray that he accepts that the loss of his eye is inevitable and will only improve his life!
Clepson has a super doctor here in the U.S. who we shall call Dr. M. Dr. M has donated all of his time and skills to provide a lifechanging eye surgery for Clepson. Dr. M arranged with the local surgical center for them to donate the use of their facility at no charge. He went one step further to get a custom prosthetic eye donated. Not only will Clepson be out of pain for the first time after his surgery, he will look "normal". While the U.S. has made some strides in accepting people with disabilities, it is just not so in Haiti. Haitians are driven largely by superstition and fear and Clepson's eye has been viewed as a curse or sign of evil. More doors will be open in Clepson's future when he looks more normal.
I must say that lack of vision in his eye slows this little boy down not one bit! Clepson is a wonderful soccer player and bicycle rider and all boy. Clepson has spent much of his day today working on math skills (I have underestimated his level of work!) and has done a few pages in a french primer. A dear friend will be loaning us some kid appropriate novels in French and Clepson will spend at least an hour a day reading. My own kids are still in school and it is a house rule that no kids do anything "fun" while the others are in school. Once school is out of session Clepson will get more play time, but will still need to work on his Math and French skills. My own kids to 1/2 to 1 hour of math and at LEAST 1 hour of reading. Zoe loves to read and will read for hours if allowed!
I am sure Clepson thought that visiting the U.S. would be more fun, but I want him to learn while he is here and know how Blessed he is to live in such a wonderful home in Haiti.
We met with Clepson's doctor today and scheduled his surgery for June 24. His preop is one week earlier at which time he will find out in detail what his surgery entails. Please pray that he accepts that the loss of his eye is inevitable and will only improve his life!
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