Rheumatic Heart Disease...

This morning we wasted no time and headed out to our visitations. Today, we went to Purok 6. In the Philippines each city is made up of numerous Subdivisions. Here in Santiago, the devastated areas are usually named Purok with a number after it.

Anyways, we went to Purok 6 and started visiting patients. As we were walking this group of adorable, little boys started to follow us. Every time we would stop and look at them they would start to giggle and then pretend to beat each other up (this may have had something to do with the current Pacquiao boxing match going on (;  ) We would walk down the road a little bit and they would follow and then when we would turn around again they would giggle and start to push each other around. We finally managed to get them together for a picture. They posed with their lollipops in hand, looking "super fierce" lol. After LeAnne took the picture she said, "Wow, they look like the Dreaded Lollipop Gang." And the name pretty much stuck. They were so adorable and kept us quite entertained as we did our visitations.

When we were just about done, 2 ladies came to us and said, "Please come to our house. My little girl can't walk and she has been really sick." We followed them back to their house and they carried the girl out. She looked miserable. The little girl, whose name we learned was Cherry Mae, had missed school for the last couple weeks. At first it started as a sore throat and after weeks of dealing with it, suddenly her joints became weak and started to hurt and she started to loose her appetite. Wendy took her blood pressure and ask the family some questions. She realized that it was pretty serious and asked if we could take her to the Adventist Hospital, the family agreed and we went to get the truck to bring her in.

Cherry Mae was carried to the truck and then we brought her to the hospital and we carried her into the hospital. She couldn't even stand on her own. When the nurses did their check up, she couldn't even stand on the scale to be weighed. This little 12-year old was in so much pain, even when they would set her down after being carried she would cringe in pain.

The pediatrician took her in right away and looked her over and after hearing the symptoms diagnosed it as Rheumatic Heart Disease, but needed to get a specialist to come in and check it out, before she officially diagnosed her. Well, of course in the Philippines, where time is NEVER of the essence, we had to wait 5 hours for the doctor to come in. :/

What is Rheumatic Heart Disease? Well after sitting in the room with the medical professionals for 5 hours, I came to learn that Rheumatic Heart Disease is a condition in which permanent damage to heart valves is caused by rheumatic fever. Rheumatic Fever is an inflammatory disease that can occur after Strep throat that has been untreated or poorly treated (and theres your sore throat ):  ) Rheumatic Fever tends to develop 2-3 weeks after the infection and can cause inflammation to the skin, heart, brain or joints ( and theres your joint pain ):  ) As we waited we discussed with the pediatrician and the family what treatment options would be and she said that she would be on medication for the inflammation of her joints for the next 5 years and would have to come in for shots, every 21 day.

The doctor finally came in around 5pm and did an ultrasound on her heart and confirmed that she had Rheumatic Heart Disease. The family was relieved that we atleast found the problem but were sad about the treatment option. They didn't take her in or give her medicine for her "sore throat" because they couldn't afford it and now it had caused an even bigger and more expensive problem for them.

After prayers and discussion with the doctors they decided not to charge the family for the visit or for the ultrasound. Now the only problem was the medication. Wendy promised that she would do her best to get all the medication without costing the family so much money.

We ran around to a couple different pharmacies to get her the medications that she needed and then we brought them home.

I felt bad for little Cherry Mae, only 12 years old and the next 5 years of her life she is going to be on medication that her family can't even afford. I pray that God will continue to bless the PAMAS team with the money and resources needed to help this little girl and her family. Until then, I hope that the medicine will make her feel well enough to return to school and everyday life. But I know, with God ANYTHING is possible.

"36As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken. He said to the ruler of the synagogue. 'Do not be afraid; only believe.' 41 Then he took the child by the hand and said to her, 'Talitah, cumi," which is translated, "Little girl, I say to you, arise.' Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement."

~Mark 5: 36, 41-42