We are In!!!! Project Smile: Official starts
Yesterday, Christy and I packed up a child-life suitcase of goodies, went to the store to buy more things and arrived at the hospital at about 1:00 p.m.  We went up stairs without our things as security is tight and we did not want to draw attention to ourselves and risk the chance of someone stopping us before we reached the kids.
When we got upstairs another Pediatrician was documenting on his patients, we explained the reason for our presence. He gave us the green light to go ahead and asked if we would work with his patient aswell.
We went back down stairs and got our things, returning to start therapy with 4 year old Kevin. Kevin was severely burned on his legs and also lost his little two year old sister in the fire. His mom said he was acting aggresively. Poor little guy, way too much stress!Â
With Kevin we played with playdough, iced a cake and decorated it and then he became the Dr. Working on his teddy bear who also just happened to have leg burns and bandages. It was obvious throughout the therapy that Kevin is scared of his burns and does not want to see them.Â
Our session ended well and the mom and grandma were very happy with what we did.
We then went to see 3 year old Dana. Dana too is acting out in her frustration, fears and stress of all that has happened to her. Just before we walked in she was screaming at the top of her lungs. At first she did not want to play, but once we brought out our match the farm animal game she was ready to go.Â
Dana cannot use her arms at this moment but she was amazingly agile with her feet. She rolled snakes out of playdough with her toes and even checked her teddybears heart with her toes. Dr. Dana did a great job! Dana, like Kevin, is scared to pull our her newly unbandaged arm. Having the bandage off is a good sign, as it means no more skin grafts for now and that the arm needs to heal, but, it also looks pretty awful and scabbed, so it scares her. I told her the teddybears arm was the same as hers could she help him as a Dr. to not be scared. She just hid her own arm more. I hope to bring before and after pictures of burns so that these two kids can see that their burns will look better soon.
We left the hospital at 4:45.
Today we went into see Dana again and 4 month old Sofie. With Sofie it was much more about talking to her and sensory stimulation, helping her to move. We had a chance to talk with and pray with the mom. What a horror story her and her husband have lived. Sofie and her brother (who was killed in the fire) had only been in the daycare for 15 days. There mom went to work as their dad had lost his job. He continued to look for work. They saw it as a temporary thing, now a decision you can tell she feels guilty about. She also explained the horror of running from hospital to hospital trying to find her two children along with hundreds of other desperate parents. Then the sadness of having one severely burnt and one dead. In Mexico it is custom to bury the dead in 24 hours, that meant desperate trips to the hospital with a little baby in critical condition, and trying to organize a funeral. As she was leaving the cemetary she had a call, they were transferring her baby to another city 4 hours away, the hospitals did not ahve the ability to handle all the kids here in Hermosillo. She arrived home from the funeral, packed a bag and drove to the other city, she does not really remember the drive there. Now her and her husband were alone, far from family, worried, grieving and desperate. As she talked to me she said, “I’m glad we got sent back here, but I know I am stressed out'”, “Look” she said as she ran her fingers through her hair. Her hand was full of hair. “My hair is falling out.” I knew that that was my cue to ask if I could pray with her. She agreed and I prayed for peace in the situation.
So our first sessions went well.
Tomorrow, Christy and I will leave for Phoenix to a burn center with Child life thereapists, on Monday we will observe their program and have a chance to talk to Dr.s and nurses as well.
Pray for Christy as she is on a quick upward learning scale on Child Life Therapy, but she says she is content and has peace.