Sunday 26 June 2016

Our new home

Before we left we had been telling Sam we are moving to a new home, every now and again he asks about our old home but keeps telling himself we are in our new home now. Yesterday we had an interesting conversation which went like this....

Me: Do you like our new home?
Sam: Yes
Me: What do you like about our new home?
Sam: I like stones
Me: OK, anything else?
Sam: I like trees
Me: ok, what else do you like?
Sam: I like looking at the pineapples

Leaves and rocks.....I'm not sure why I tried to bring so many toys!
Sam has created a lovey line of stones along the door.

He has made some new friends, its cool to watch them play together because they can't speak English and Sam can't speak Creole but they enjoy playing together!!Today we went to a church which is a bit more out in the country where they wouldn't see a lot of white people or kids. As soon as church was over all the kids were round Sam stroking his face and his hair but he didn't seem to mind too much.

My dad left on Tuesday, it was good to have him here especially for travelling and he did all the dishes and washing when he was here!


Bill has started preparing for teaching, he goes to his office everyday (which I think he loves having his own office) and he will start learning his Creole lessons tomorrow, they will be everyday from 9am - 11am.

My days are spent looking after the boys, baking, cooking and cleaning!!Pretty much the same as home so far.
My best bread attempt so far!!

 I have been out a bit seeing people who I knew before, its been great to visit with them again. I already have one patient for physio, his name is Junior and he lives just about 5 minutes walk from the seminary. I treated him when I was here in 2010....
Junior in 2010

This is from August 2010  ' Junior- Junior lives in Saccenville where our seminary is, in May Stacey (one of our missionaries here) told me she had someone for me to see. A young guy who was totally fine and now he is paralysed and cannot walk and they are not sure why. Hannnah and I and Dr Phil who was here at the time went out to see him. He is a young guy who used to live in the states and was sent back to Haiti, however when he came back to Haiti he became a christian and turned his life around, now he is married and his wife is about 6 months pregnant. So he told us he was totally fine the one day he got up and his legs felt itchy and funny and then he felt something go through his body and sure enough after that he could not walk his legs were really weak. We went to check him out and that is what we found, he was really weak with abnormal sensation and unable to stand. Neither Phil or I were really sure what was wrong so we brought him to the clinic the next day for some blood tests. I assessed him properly from a physio point of view and it really looked like something neurological but I wasn't sure what. We got him standing at a frame and I give him loads of exercises to do at home and have been going out to Saccenville to continue treatment in his house. He is now walking with the walker and takes a few steps by himself but is pretty unsteady. Everytime we go he is just thanking God for how much progress he is making.

With lots of physio and exercise Junior was able to walk independently with a zimmer frame and able to stand on his own by November in 2010. Since then he hasn't found anyone to do any physio, he has been to a couple of different doctors who have told him he needs to go to the Dominican to get a operation on his back. Now he is completely paralysed from the waist down. He has no muscle power or feeling in his legs at all and I cannot understand how it happened. So tomorrow I will take him to the clinic to get a X ray and assessment by Dr Rodney but he may need a CT or MRI scan to see what exactly is going on. Please pray for him and me as we try to figure out if we can help him at all.


Joel is his usual happy self, he has started rolling over from his tummy to his back and now loves doing it all the time. He is like a local celeb........everywhere we go someone wants to hold Joel (which I don't mind because he is so heavy!!) or touch him!
Ready for church today...about the only time Joel wears clothes!



It's completely impossible to get a family photo where Sam is actually looking at the camera and smiling! 











1 comment:

  1. It sounds like your family is on a wonderful journey, adjusting quite nicely to your new home and surroundings. I’m sad to hear that Junior has regressed since you saw him last. I hope there is something that can be done to help him and get him back to where he once was.

    ReplyDelete

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