Nairobi Run for Sight

The last weekend of October was a busy but exciting time for us. Along with the Halloween festivities on Friday, we also had the Nairobi Marathon. On Saturday, we loaded up the Tenwek Eye bus and the McCropder van (lovingly called the “Jolly Green Giant”). Over 20 people signed up to run, including many of the eye unit staff. As we mentioned previously, all the proceeds from the race (which included a marathon, 10 K, and Family Fun Run) support pediatric eye surgeries at various eye centers throughout Kenya, including Tenwek.

Three and a half hours later we arrived safely in Nairobi, where the girls proceeded to do some marathon grocery shopping! We then got up bright and early Sunday morning to have breakfast- our only option…two dozen donuts and cinnamon rolls. Not exactly a power breakfast, but you just have to make do with what you have.

Getting to the marathon and finding a place to park was an adventure in itself, as you can tell by the picture. Jason Fader did a fine job of driving with John Cropsey navigating.

We were all impressed by how well attended and well organized the race was. This is us at the starting line of the 10K. It was so exhilarating to see part of the marathon race and witness some amazing Kenyan runners.

The girls stayed together and encouraged each other into running the whole 10K. Even First Lady Michelle Obama cheered us on.

Can you find Bryan and John in this picture (Hint: Bryan has his arms up and John is in red)?

We found the guys cheering us on at the finish line. Here we are…tired but happy. From left: Bryan, Toanh, John, Jessica, Meredith, Jason, Jason, Heather, and Todd.

Once we got cleaned up and had lunch, we loaded the kiddos up and headed back to Tenwek. We feel so blessed for the opportunity to participate with friends in such a fun philanthropic event. Over 15,000 people participated in the marathon. According to the Cropseys, the final numbers aren't in yet, but Standard Charter Bank who sponsored the event has already committed to fund 150 pediatric surgeries at Tenwek for next year.

Happy Halloween

We had an enjoyable Halloween weekend here at Tenwek. This is not a custom followed by the Kenyans, but the missionary families made the most of it. We were happy to find out that pumpkins grow abundantly here. We have already been enjoying pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin pies, but we found use for the whole pumpkin with our annual pumpkin carvings.

This year we had to use our imaginations for costumes. Anna decided on Pipi Longstockings and never waivered.

Leo initially wanted to be a pirate, but was not happy wearing a bandana or an eye patch. So we made the decision for him and convinced him to shave his head! Leo was an MK-"missionary kid." There have been a wave of mohawks on the missionary boys lately, thus Leo joined the club. He looks very cute with his new do.

All the younger kids enjoyed an afternoon of activities and games. Here is the whole group. (From left to right - Leo, Hannah, Abi, Elise, Anna F., Anna P., and Micah in front. Maggie was napping during the photo shoot.)

Anna works on decorating her pumpkin cookies with the help of the older kids.

Pumpkin races in front of the school house.

Pin the nose on the pumpkin - or on the wall!

After games the kids had a scavenger hunt around the compound with clues leading them to their next home.

Even in Africa there was plenty of candy for all.

That evening, the older kids had their own scavenger hunt which ended up at our porch. The kids made s'mores, drank Kool-Aid, and listened to a spooky story by Dr. John Cropsey. The only thing missing was the crunch of fall leaves under our feet during the trick-or-treating.

Putting Faces with Names

We wanted to introduce you to some of the patients we have been working with here at Tenwek Hospital.

First, we will update you on "Jane." As you may remember, Jane was admitted in mid-September after experiencing an obstructed labor at home. She lost her baby and was dealing with multiple complications including urinary and fecal incontinence, foot drop, wound/abdominal infections, and depression. Each day, she endured painful dressing changes. As Jane laid in her bed on the wards, she watched the other moms come and go with their healthy newborn babies. Despite all of her battles, she continues to fight. We would like to thank you for all your prayers for Jane. We are happy to report that she will be discharged this week after 45 days in the hospital. Her fecal incontinence and foot drop have resolved. Her urinary incontinence is dramatically improved. Her incision is still draining some pus, but it appears that she will retain her uterus. And most importantly, her spirit seems strong. We are inspired by her resolve to heal both physically and emotionally. We pray her next pregnancy will be uncomplicated.

We would like to introduce you to Ruth next. For most of her 2 month admission, she has occupied the bed next to Jane. Her story is similar, except thankfully her baby survived. She has been in the hospital for wound infection complications after a C-section. Her incision became infected and was opened. We attempted to close her incision 3 times, but infection returned each time. We are now allowing her incision to heal on its own. This will take weeks/months to happen and is difficult to keep clean once we send patients home because of their living conditions. Her postpartum course has also been complicated by a blood clot in her leg. Ruth is one of our favorite patients because she has a beautiful smile that greets us every morning on rounds. She seems so content to know she has a healthy baby and that all her complications will resolve when the time is right. It has been a good lesson for us on patience and faith - to witness Ruth's resolve that she will get better, even if it takes a while. Ruth has been discharged home, but is still in the hospital because her family cannot afford to pay her hospital bill. There is a "Needy Patient Fund" that helps with these matters and hopefully Ruth will make it home to her family soon.

Lastly, we will introduce you to Rose. Recently a team from Tenwek flew to southern Sudan to look at long term ways to assist a small hospital there. Sudan has had civil unrest for years and there is an upcoming referendum in January to vote whether southern Sudan will secede from northern Sudan. There is great concern of violence for the people of Sudan because of the upcoming vote. On this recent trip, Dr. Carol Spears (a general surgeon here) met Rose. She works at the hospital and translates for an Italian doctor there. She had a pelvic mass that was growing rapidly and becoming more uncomfortable. Since they did not have the resources to help her in Sudan, she flew back with the Tenwek team to our hospital. Dr. Spears and Bryan removed a 10 x 10 cm ovarian mass which appears hopefully to be benign. She had an uncomplicated post-operative course and is ready to travel back to Sudan and continue her work at the hospital. She is a gracious woman with 4 young children at home. She is returning to a country where her safety is unknown pending the upcoming referendum results. Sometimes we are immune or perhaps "desensitized" to war and violence that occur around our world. It makes us rethink things when we encounter patients like Rose. We pray she will remain safe in southern Sudan, and that all people living in places of war and conflict will know peace.

Butler Bulldogs

This weekend I will be missing Butler University's Homecoming football game. It may not seem like a big deal but it has been 15 years since I graduated and I haven't missed many Homecoming games. Hopefully, many of you have heard of Butler since their appearance this year at the NCAA Final Four Championship game where they almost beat Duke University.

Can you tell that I am proud to be a Butler Alumnae? It's a great liberal arts school in Indianapolis. The friendships I made at Butler will be lifelong. My mom also graduated from Butler. To my girlfriends, I will be there with you guys in spirit this weekend. To all the Butler fans out there, GO DAWGS!

Our little bulldog in Africa

Prayer Request for Jane

We are asking for all of your prayers to help a patient whom we will call "Jane". Jane was brought to Tenwek Hospital in mid September after laboring at home for days. This was her first pregnancy and the baby just wouldn't come vaginally. By the time she was brought to the hospital, the baby had already died. Jane was infected after having such a long labor. She had a cesarean section. Unfortunately, losing her baby was only the beginning of Jane's tragic story.

Despite antibiotics, she continued to have fevers (which Kenyans describe as "hotness of body") and her wound began to drain pus. In exploring her wound at the bedside, the infection had also caused her fascia to open - which meant that her abdominal cavity was now open. Jane was taken to the Operating Theatre (now her second surgery) to open her incision completely and debride all of the infected edges. Over the next three weeks she was taken back to the operating room two more times in order to wash out her abdomen and debride additional infected tissue. She currently is afebrile and we are packing her wound. We are hoping to avoid a hysterectomy given that she has no live born children.

Jane also is suffering from foot drop and likely a vesico-vaginal fistula which is causing her to leak urine. Both of these complications are caused from the baby's head being impacted in the birth canal and pushing the mother's tissues against her pelvic bones. After days of this pressure, there can be nerve damage which is causing Jane's foot drop. Also, the bladder gets damaged which causes a hole or fistula to develop between the bladder and vagina or even between the rectum and vagina.

Jane still has a long road ahead of physical and emotional healing. Please pray for her. We have treated her with medicines and surgery as best as we can. Now we are hoping prayers will help heal her. Please also pray for the many women like her - women who do not have medical care readily available and labor for days without alternative options. What we are witnessing here in Kenya continues to affirm what we have always believed - birth is a miracle.

A Helping Hand

As most of you are aware, my back has had some issues in the past. I am happy to report that I am now one year out from my back surgery and things are going well. Although I am still careful about lifting and exercise (lucky I have Toanh for all the real heavy lifting), I have had minimal discomfort. Thus, I have been able to run some. I have recently had two interesting running stories.

I was running up a hill the other day when a Kenyan runner came whizzing past me. He had the longest and most graceful stride I have ever seen. As he effortlessly glided by me, I tried to pick up the pace and keep up with him. After two to three paces, I quickly gave up on this and restrained my energy for finishing my run.

Today, I was running with Jason Fader and there were many groups of Kenyan children along the path. In our past runs, they have always been friendly and would rush over to shake our hands or say hi. But today, they reached out to hold my hands and ran with me - all smiles and "How are you?" It never ceases to amaze me the excitement they show when they see the white people. I am resolved to work on my Swahili so I can communicate with them more than "How are you? Good. How are you?"

And just to wet your appetites - Toanh and I signed up today for the "Run for Sight" Nairobi Marathon on October 31st! Okay, we are just going to run the 10K, but this should be a lot of fun. We will travel to Nairobi with some other missionaries (including the Cropseys and Faders). All the proceeds from the race go to five Kenyan eye centers - including ours here at Tenwek Hospital - to battle blindness in children. Full report to follow after the race.

Work Arounds

It has now been a month since boarding the plane to leave the U.S. We are enjoying assimilating into our African lives.

A little care must be taken to ensure clean drinking water. Leo is filling a pot with rain water from our water tank. This will then be boiled , cooled and then filtered. Nothing refreshes like a glass of boiled, filtered rain water.

Everything is reusable. This includes medical supplies. These oxygen tubes and ambubags are drying outside of the intensive care unit. Other recycled items include Bovi pads, scrub brushes, suction tubing, and surgical aprons and masks.

The dirt road must be shared by all comers. During our runs (or walks with the kids), we often encounter donkeys, cows or goats. It has become our practice to allow them the right of way. So far, no major issues. The kids enjoy the animals, but we work hard to avoid the piles of waste on the road!

What do you do when you have no TV? Probably our favorite work around - we hang out, play games, read and explore!