Dr...

Returned from a Dr Visit for Cindy and José yesterday afternoon. Both have birth defects that need surgery to correct. Cindy has a cyst on her tongue/thyroid that looks like an oversized adam’s apple. We were waiting till school let out to do anything and our school year ended last week. After checking her this time, the Doctor suggested an operation in December and was surprised how much it had grown. As it grows it gets more entangled and becomes harder to separate without more damage to surrounding/connected tissues. If left alone it could be the sized of a grapefruit in a few years making talking, eating and breathing difficult. There are a few people on the street here who beg for money with this growth. Cindy cries each time she sees the lady who has one so large you can see it blocks away. The Doctor said the operation would cost between $1-2000 dollars depending on how long he rents the operating room and how complicated it is. If we return her to child services they might arrange it through social medical but it could be a long time waiting and/or place her in another ministry somewhere with deeper pockets. So if we are to keep her, we basically need extra funds on top of all the other things we are in need of during December. José’s defect is a cleft inside his nasal passage and can wait for now. It just means he gets sick more frequently, talks, breaths and snores unusual. Cindy is the older sister of Asyln 4, Elmer 6 (had seizures a while back) and José. She is mentally a little slow (maybe slight downs syndrome but undiagnosed) and was sexually abused (with persons in jail a long time). She is a handful but craves true love and attention. This is the first stable environment she has been in and she is finally starting to respond in the right direction, though it has been an arduous journey battling some of the “programming” she came with. Whatever we do it is in the hands of the LORD and how he choses to work because we cannot do it ourselves. If anyone wants to give an abused little girl a Christmas present…this would be a big one.