Wild Weeks

We have had a lot going on here. Jason is getting ready to take a group of men to a place called Puerto Lempira. There are no roads in this area. You have to take a plane or a boat. These three men are going to survey the area as they and their families were kicked out of Venezuela where they were working with indigenous tribes. They have the desire to do the same thing possibly in Honduras.

Our friends, the Jacksons, have a church in an area about 10 Kms from us, but on the other side of a main road. Their town is called San Buenaventura. They are great people and for the past week have been helping a lady with twin 6 month old daughters. Reina is a very immature mother. Her own mother is not all there mentally. To make a long story short, Reina agreed to let the Jacksons keep the girls for a year to help them build up their defenses. The girls were very sick, they both had pneumonia, and wouldn't be able to get better in the home they were in. The house was built of scrap lumber and was very cold. They babies were being fed rice, beans, and tortilla with coke and as you know a 6 month old with no teeth cannot survive on that. After more than 2 weeks in the public hospital the babies were discharged this past Thursday evening. They went to the Jackson's house to spend the first night. Daisy, the sickest was having a hard time breathing, but was eating well and took her medicine just fine. Waking up on Friday morning she seemed happy. She coughed a little as they were getting her dressed, but it didn't sound normal. Becky (Jackson Mom) sent Alan (Jackson Dad) with Jenny (teenager) to the clinic as when she patted the baby on the back she didn't react right. The left quickly to go to the clinic. They went to the two closest clinics, but they were closed. They went to the doctor's house, but he wasn't there. By the time they made it to the third clinic (6 Kms away) despite CPR, Daisy had died. When they started back home all of the clinics were open. They called us and we left right away. The nurse at the clinic told us that the hospital had let her go home because they knew she was going to die and didn't want her to die in the hospital. The whole time that they were in the hospital they were treated badly because the nurses thought that the biological mother was unfit so they didn't try to save the kids. They never once suctioned out the lungs.

Fernanda (the remaining twin) was still at the Jackson's house and they asked us to take her into Teguc to our own pediatrician to make sure she was not going to die too. I knew her breathing was shallow and fast when we first picked her up and I was worried that she was going to die on the way to town. The doctor said that though she was bad, she didn't have pneumonia anymore. Her breathing was more than 60 breaths a minute and she was struggling for each breath, but she didn't have to be hospitalized. He gave her some stronger medicine and another type of breathing medicine. By the time the Jacksons got done with the preparation for the funeral and came to pick her up, her breathing was at around 44 breaths a minute and she seemed to not be struggling for each breath. I was so relieved when she had seen the doctor and had started breathing better on the medicine. We were so relieved that she was doing better. Joey loved playing big brother and getting to play with her. He kept trying to bring her toys and tickle her.

The Jackson had the funeral Saturday morning. They had borrowed our truck to take people to the cemetery and brought it back Saturday evening. I came downstairs and found all of the baby stuff we had lent them. They were supposed to keep the baby, but the father of the babies (19 year old gang member) persuaded the mother to keep her. The Jackson's had to give her up. They said it was the hardest thing they have ever had to do as they are sure they are giving her up to die. We bought all of the medicines for her, but they have to go and have them administered as half are injections. The family tends to be lazy (wouldn't get free medicine when Daisy had just gotten sick, because they didn't want to stand in line). Please pray for the Jackson's as this is a very hard time for them. Also pray for Fernanda that she would survive.