This is our last post to this blog. We are happy to report that Jose and Alexia are back home in the Yucatan, and have returned to their families. We have heard from Angel Notion that Jose is beginning to talk on his own, he is becoming less physical but more verbal, and that his mother is quite pleased with his progress. Alexia has blossomed, too. It has been determined that she is not "deaf" but most likely has a significant hearing loss. She has started to walk on her own. More surprising, however, is that she has started to pair her Mexican signs with some words. Her mother, Marciela, was overjoyed to hear her daughter call her "Madre" for the very first time.

So as we close this part of our project we want to thank everyone involved who made it such a success. Thank you all.

Lauren and Hannah

October 23, 2008- - - A Good Day

Today was a day with some problems, although by the time the dinner was served at Applebees, it was the end of a very good day. At 4:20 a.m. Alexia was having trouble breathing, so the doctors decided she needed to have a breathing tube put in place. Once that was done she was transferred by ambulance to Sparrow Hospital's Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. By the afternoon, her lungs were clear, her heart strong and we were all relieved that she was doing so much better. Alexia's mother, Marciela, says that Alexia is "deaf," but accurate records of her previous hearing tests are not complte. We are hoping that Alexia is discharged soon. Dr. Jill Elfenbein from MSU has agreed to do a complete hearing evaluation so the true meaure of her hearing can be obtained.

The good news, as can be seen in our pictures, is that Jose has been discharged from Ingham Regional Medical Center. We are happy to report that he is "just fine." He is lively, active and busy. Moisies had his post-op visit with Dr. Rick Smith today, too. He can begin to remove the bandages. Dr. Gabe is very helpful to each of the patients.

Thursday Lavonna and Dr. Gabe will be at MSU to visit a graduate class, and to participate in some planning meetings for reserach that is being done by MSU faculty in the Nicte Ha clinic. Of course, everyone will go to the PICU at Sparrow to visit Alexia!




Jose---all bundled up for the weather in Michigan!
Jose and his mother, Mayra.
The guys: Dr. Gabe in the white cap, Jose, and Moises shown in his complete MSU style!


Victoria's Dad, Mr. Steve Wickens. We were so surprised to see Mr. Wickens in a suit that we couldn't hold the camera steady! LOL!

Quick Update, Wednesday

We will be in Stratford, Ontario today to see "Hamlet" as part of our class, so we can't provide much at this point in the day in the way of an update. We do know that Jose will probably be discharged today as he is doing well; we have not had any news yet this morning but Alexia but it would not be unusual if she were to stay in the hospital for at least another day.

Last night Maddie and Mercedes made dinner for the group. Excellent mostaccioli! Thank you!

Update: October 21, 2008

Jose and Alexia had some difficulties last night. Nothing significant, just the discomfort of surgeries on the mouth and face. Once he was asleep for the night, Jose was quiet and rested. He is not yet drinking or eating so he will stay a 2nd night in the hospital. Alexia has some swelling and some drainage that make her breathing difficult, so like Jose, she will stay another night. Mayra and Marciela are doing well, as mother's do, but they are both quite tired. As of 10:30 a.m. today, all 4 of them are "nappping."

We had an exciting morning as you can see from the pictures. We were fortuante to be able to observe the surgery for Moises Chiquill. Dr. Smith revised a malformation of Moises' nose this morning.

:) The "before and after" pictures:


BEFORE:
AFTER:

Nurse Diana, Lauren, Hannah, and Jennifer Vasil. Jen is an LCHS grad!! She was the surgical technician today with Dr. Rick Smith.

Moises and Dr. Gaba Ayala before surgery this morning.

Big day for everyone!

Today was a special day! We started the day at 7:30 a.m. at Dr. Smith's office where the pre-operative visits were done. Forms were filled out, people were introduced, and some of the nervousness of the mothers was settled. After the pre-op visits, we went to Patriarch Park to let the kids play and to burn off some energy before their surgeries.

We arrive at Ingham Regional Medical Center at 10:30 a.m. and so began our day of waiting. About 2:30, Alexia was taken for her surgery; when she came back to the recovery room, Jose was prepared for his procedure. Alexia was moved to a room, while Jose was taken for his surgery about 4:30 p.m. We are not posting any pictures today from today because both Jose and Alexia were uncomfortable and pretty unhappy after their surgeries. We left the hospital tonight while children slept, thanks to their pain medications. Their mothers were busy caring for their children, they seemed pleased that the surgery was done and were happy for their children. More tomorrow!

Surgery day...........

We arrived at Dr. Rick Smith's office this morning at 7:30 a.m. He and his staff were ready to go! The day will be filled with excitement and emotion. We will leave for Ingham Regional Medical Center at 10:30 to begin the preparation for the surgeries Alexia's procedure will be at 1:00 p.m. and Jose's at 2:30 p.m.

The start of the week!

We met with Jose and Alexia on Saturday night after they arrived at the Courtyard by Mariott. It became very clear right away that Jose and Victoria have a special connection. Alexia surprised us all! She is so bright and happy. Everyone was happy to have warm clothing! The sizes were just right.

Yesterday was a busy day. The entire afternoon was spent doing interviews withe the Kathleen Lavey of the Lansing State Journal and with Tiffany Teasley from Channel 10 and Mona Shand of TV 6. One special part of the day yesterday was that the evening dinner for the group was prepared by our classmates, members of the LCHS senior class, Peter Decker, Nick Lemmer and Maddie Stumpos. Here are a few pictures for the last 2 days. More will follow as the days pass.

It's Official! The Dates are set for the surgeries

We have worked with Cheryl in Dr. Rick J. Smith's office to finalize the details for scheduling the dates of the surgeries. As of today, Dr. Smith will do the surgeries on Jose and Alexia's hard palates at Ingham Regional Medical Center (IRMC). IRMC has agreed to waive the fees associated with the surgeries.

The travel arrangements are being finalized now so we anticipate that the group from Mexico will arrive on Saturday, October 18th. Both children will see Dr. Smith for pre-operative visits on Monday morning and the surgeries will be performed on Monday afternoon. That will allow for a full week of healing before they return to Mexico on October 28th.

A very special thank you is extended to Mr. Steve Wickens, father of Victoria and Gabrielle. Mr. Wickens is providing the lodging for the everyone from Mexico, so the lodging is provided for Jose and Alexia and their mothers, and their translator and the President of Angel Notion Lavonna Redman, and Dr. Gabrielle Ayala Velazquez, the medical director for Angel Notion.

We're excited to watch the next week as it develops!

Some backgroud on Spreading Hope

Lauren and Hannah worked on a project in the Yucatan in November of 2007. Several pictures from their trip are included here.










At Kairos in 2007 Lauren came up with the idea for "Spreading Hope." Then she and Hannah devised a plan to share with others the many advantages that we have; we learned first-had in 2007 that our lives were very different from other children in other parts of the world. Our project in Mr. Moore's class last year addressed the need for available health care for everyone, and from there we wanted to "spread hope" for the children that we met Mexico.

Update: September 16,2008

The meetings with local health care providers to arrange some of the surgeries are ongoing. Lauren and Hannah met with Dr. Rick J. Smith, a plastic surgeon, last week to ask for his help and participation. He agreed to perform the surgeries without hesitation! Here are 2 pictures of the children who will come to our community very soon.

Alexia:


Jose:



Both of these children will have clefts of the hard and soft palate repairs completed here.

Thank you!

Thank you to all of the LCHS students, families, teachers and staff for making Spreading Hope a reality! You will find updates and comments from Lauren and Hannah here, too.