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| Nakimbugwe Carol
Carol came to the attention of New Hope Uganda in October 2010 when one of our nurses was visiting her sick Grandfather at home in the village. Carol was 11 months old and weighed little over 3kg. Her Mother had left her with her Father and his parents after struggling to feed her! Obviously our nurse saw that this precious little life would not last very much longer unless they intervened and she was taken immediately to the local hospital in Kiwoko where she was admitted on the nutrition ward for 6 weeks.
Carol was then discharged into the care of Hope Family parents Stu and Sarah Dendy who then cared for her in their own home for the next 5 months. Obviously little Carol needed lots of care and attention and they spent hours trying to feed her up on things such as 'Plumpy nut' which is a mix of Peanut Butter and Icing Sugar!
 It soon became apparent to those caring for Carol that she had significant delays in her development and those of us who had experience with Special Needs Children began to suspect that she might have Cerebral Palsy. Carol`s Dad Stanley encouraged to be involved with her care and we continued to ask him questions regarding her birth and first few months of life that might give us some clues as to why she may have disabilities.  
Apparently, Carol`s Mother had been in labour for several days before she actually went to the hospital. Often Mothers will rely on village 'midwives' (who have no training!) to deliver their babies as they can not afford to pay hospital bills. After Carol was delivered, she was apparently very 'tired' and was then admitted into the neonatal intensive care unit where she spent several weeks on Oxygen. Unfortunately, there are no health visitors in the villages of Uganda and is seems that Carol`s Mother received no help, advice or support with her little girl who struggled to breast feed.
Under the care of the Dendys Carol gradually began to gain weight and they somehow managed to get her to swallow her bright orange TB medicine everyday! Carol began to make some progress such as rolling over and lifting her head up!
She enjoyed the company of some of the other babies in the Dendy`s care and also listening to loud music on their ipod!
The Doctor`s that we took her to see in Kampala confirmed our suspicions that she had brain damage and that her vision was very limited.
Carol enjoying a cuddle with Sam and Mary.
Carol with her carer Christine.
As Stu and Sarah were due to return to England for several months to have their first and very special, miracle baby in the summer of 2011, they began to train up a special Ugandan lady called Christine to become Carol`s full time carer. It was also decided that instead of living at Hope Family (the baby home,) Carol and Christine should come and live in Hassan`s House and be under the care of the Special Needs Department.
Carol`s friends at class; Sharon, Allen and Julia (cuddling her!)
Carol and Christine quickly settled in at Hassan`s House and also enjoyed being part of the Special Needs Class during the mornings. Carol`s Dad continued to come and help out one weekday morning and one weekend day per week. The rest of the time he is busy working at Hope Family as their compound man/gardener.
Carol`s Dad trying to feed her.
As Carol continued to struggle with eating and drinking, and was in and out of hospital with chest infections, in 2012 after consulting with several Doctors, we decided that we would try feeding Carol through an NG tube. Carol was also put on a long term antibiotic to prevent infections.
Carol was not too keen on her new tube and would often try and rip them out (hence the sock on her hand!) We would frequently be taking her up to the hospital to have a replacement tube!
Although Carol`s chest infections improved at this point, we were still struggling to get her epileptic fits under control (she began having these in November 2011.) Poor Carol would get very scared and upset when her poor little body would just jerk uncontrollably for up to 15 minutes, 5 or 6 times a day!
Thankfully, we eventually found a paediatric neurologist in Kampala who recommended Epilim Syrup which until now has managed to stop these fits from disturbing her (praise God!)
In October 2012, Carol celebrated her 2nd birthday and we celebrated BIG time, thanking God for all that he had done in her life. She had gained a lot of weight since we began feeding her with the NG tube and we were all very thankful that we didn`t have to spend weeks on end in hospital with Carol on Oxygen! However, we continued to pray and hope that somebody would be able to operate on Carol and fit her with a Gastrostomy tube to make her feeding even easier.
Thankfully, in November a surgeon from the UK came to Kiwoko hospital and along with the hospital`s own surgeon Dr Peter, they were able to fit her with a G-tube without even having to cut her open!
Uncle Norman flushing Carol`s tube after a feed.
Since then, Carol has come on leaps and bounds and is so much happier, interactive and mischievous! She does still find it difficult when she sees (or smells!) other people eating around her.....and we do regularly give her tiny tastes of things!
The Physiotherapist has recently recommended that we start putting her in a standing frame but Carol is not very impressed by this idea!
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A recent answer to prayer for Carol has been that her Mother has finally come to visit her; she turned up at Hassan`s House completely unexpectedly one sunday afternoon in May. Previously her Mother was very reluctant to come due to fear having being told many stories ranging from that her daughter was possessed by demons, to that if she came to see her daughter we would have her arrested! Christine had been visiting her regularly to try and convince her otherwise and it seems that these visits and our prayers, finally paid off. Here they are enjoying a cuddle along with Carol`s half sister.
Please continue to pray for Carol as she is a delicate little girl! If you are interested in sponsoring her (she needs multiple sponsors due to her complex medical needs) please contact our sponsorship office on sponsors@newhopeuganda.org
If you have any contacts with any medical organisations who might be able to help us with supplying gastrostomy tubes, epilepsy drugs or specialist equipment for disabled children, we would be very excited to hear from you on specialneeds@newhopeuganda.org
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