This week at Dorothy's

Remember Johnny Joseph, the little boy who I examined in May that got taken to Dorothy’s and turned out to be HIV positive? He is such a serious little baby; I had been living with him for nearly a month and I still had yet to see him smile. Well, this Tuesday, I was walking by and he threw out his arm in my direction, as if he was calling for me. I walked over and held my hand out so that he could touch it with his. Instantly, his whole face lit up into a wide open mouth smile! I now know that his favorite game is high five and once you get him started, he doesn’t want to stop. I even got him to laugh out loud! Happy day J

Johnny’s been running low grade fevers and having some ear infections recently, so we have sent him to Grace Hospital to have his CD4 count checked. He may need to be started on AIDS medications. Please be praying for Johnny.

Emmanuel was sick the week before I left for Gonaives. The nannies brought him to me with a fever of 102 on Sunday late afternoon. I kept him upstairs with me, giving him doses of Tylenol and ibuprofen, keeping cool washcloths on him, and even giving him a full bath until the fever broke around 8pm. The next day, his fever was 104 at 4pm! We went through the same routine (with a little more urgency!) and once more, his fever broke in the early evening. I decided that we would test him for malaria if he ran another afternoon/evening fever, but he was fine on Tuesday. I left for Gonaives on Wednesday and, thank God, he didn’t have any more fevers after I left. He has been perfectly healthy since I got back.

Levinsky is our newest addition to the house. He came from Gonaives a few months ago, but he has been in the hospital for nearly 2 months and just got released to us. He is HIV positive, possibly blind in one eye due to his mother’s gonorrhea, and despite that, a very cheerful baby. Like Johnny, we will take care of him as long as we can and pray that his HIV does not progress to AIDS quickly.

Emily is Tasha’s little princess. Tasha was the one who received her and nursed her when she first arrived from Cabaret weighing 5 pounds though she was probably 6 or 7 months old. Now, Emily is almost fat, she adores Tasha and she is a character. She blows kisses and imitates words and puts her head on her hand while she’s sitting in her high chair like she’s trying to show off how much attitude she’s got.

This is Jimson. He has been having some diarrhea lately, but nothing major. He’s an adorable little guy who tends to fall asleep on the floor during meals.

JJ came from Gonaives as well. He was so malnourished that his skin looked like it had been burned all over. And now, he is the fattest kid in the house! He is starting to walk steadily now, but sometimes, he just plops down on the floor mid-step. We joke that it’s because he is so fat that he can’t handle his own weight!

Cha-cha (Richardson) is almost 4 years old and he has been with Dorothy the longest (besides 10 year old Kevs). He is sweet as can be, loves giving out kisses and being cuddled with, but he also has a mischievous streak that makes him the ring leader of the preschoolers and the recipient of many spankings on the bottom.

Gerty (Jetline) is the oldest of the kids downstairs. She goes to school at TLC Barefoot School, the school for needy children where Dannae teaches. Gerty feels very special because she gets to leave the house for school from 11 to 3:30 every day. She is a sweet little girl who is generally very well behaved and just wants to make you happy. When she gets punished or upset though, she howls! I hope that she becomes a singer when she gets older because she has quite the set of lungs.

Isna is the third member of the preschool gang and she is the least developed. She doesn’t talk too much but whatever the older two do, she wants to do too. She is potty trained so she gets to come to church with us on Sundays. Isna has an adoptive family in the States, so once her paperwork is done, she’ll be heading home.