Saturday, April 7, 2012

MedikaMamba

JohnLove spent over a month on my peanut butter diet and didn't gain any weight. In fact, he lost weight. I got suspicious.

There are diseases that can make a child fail to gain weight; I sent him to the hospital but HIV and tuberculosis, our biggest culprits, were negative. The other factors that would make the peanut butter be insufficient are all related to the staff at the orphanage: inconsistency in giving it, maybe witholding other food, giving too little or sharing it with other children or staff...There are lots of places, such as Dorothy's or HFC, where I have complete confidence in the staff and know that my instructions will be followed to the letter, but I don't have the relationship with the Genada's orphanage yet.


Fortunately, an American we call JTP has started volunteering at the orphanage and he has become our point of contact for all things medical. With him there, I trust that supplements will go to the right child at the right times and so we've been able to start JohnLove on MedikaMamba. MedikaMamba is a calorie-packed, vitamin-infused, protein-whopping peanut butter paste that we use for severe malnutrition and protein deficiency in Jubilee. It's wildly expensive but wildly effective - if it's given correctly.


On Tuesday, JohnLove had his first appointment. We start him out at 30.1 lbs (only 0.3 lbs more than what he weighed on January 19th when we first met) and we'll see how much he gains by next Tuesday. Fingers crossed!

3 comments:

bpf said...

tell jtp to keep it up!

Sondra said...

When I met with the dietician at the hospital she asked how I was able to put weight on Oyis so quickly. I showed her the Cream of Coconut I was dosing up his labouie with! LOL She said it is very calorie dense, and to keep up the good work! Same to you my Friend, Blessings~

Anonymous said...

How's this young man doing Keziah?