Gifty Discharged!

Gifty is home from the hospital!

I apologize for not telling you all sooner, but I've been busy, and blogger hasn't been very cooperative as of late. But in keeping with Gifty updates, and since I know so many of you are following her journey, I thought tonight would be a good time to share.

Gifty was actually discharged on Wednesday morning! Elana, the pediatrician, actually left Liberia on Wednesday to go back to Spain after being in Liberia for 10 months with MSF. I think it was her personal mission to see that Gifty was discharged before she left! So Elana showed up at the hospital, a few hours before her flight, and in jeans, to say goodbye to us and to Gifty.

The discharge process took about 2 hours, but it was cool. We chatted with Elana about her time in Liberia and about how much she's going to miss it here. We visited with the other paitents in Gifty's room. We met with the new peditrician who's taking over...let's just say, he's overwhelmed!

We finally got the papers, and out the door I carried Gifty! Gifty was known around the hospital as 'Grandma' because so many paitents came and went this past month, but Gifty remained. Alot of people were saying their good-byes to 'Grandma'...I think Gifty won over that hospital!

We went straight from the hospital to the feeding program at ACF (Action Against Hunger). I held Gifty for the car ride and at first I don't think she was liking it....but then the cool breeze came, and then there was the music! She was tapping her foot and dancing! I even saw a smile or two. Her and I play this game where I kiss her hands....she holds them up to my face and I try to kiss them. She finally gave up on the dancing and the hand games and fell asleep.

The road the the feeding program was pretty muddy, so we had to get out and walk for the last part. At the clinic, Gifty got weighed and looked at by a nurse. Gifty's weight was the same as last week, but we all have noticed that she's fatter. The nurse said something about remembering Gifty's face, but she didn't know her by that name. Debbie and I looked at each other, and then explained to the 3 staff in the room about Gifty's situation and how we're desperately trying to find her Aunt. I called Andrew to get the spelling of her real name and as soon as I showed the name to the staff they all said it was the same child! It was alittle burst of excitement, and they told us we could check their old records at the Action FAIM offices in town; then they changed their minds and said they'd do it for us. We'll check back with them next week.

So, Gifty got her Plumpy Nut, bulgarwheat (which we won't feed her) and split peas, and then we took her to her new orphanage home! It was so great to settle her and her caretaker into their own room at Fatu's! Gifty was curious about all of the children, and I could tell she was watching everyone. Debbie and I stayed and played for awhile...and then Andrew and Cramer showed up for playtime too, haha. We visited for awhile longer, and then figured we'd let Gifty get some rest--she had a big day!

Please keep praying for Gifty! Pray that she would stay healthy...we don't want anymore trips back to the hospital. Pray for us, as we try to find her relatives, which is needed for the adoption process. We've had a few announcements run on the radio, we've got people searching for people who might know her Aunt, but all we have is a name and a general area of where she might be. Pretty much we're looking for a needle in a haystack! But we're praying hard for a miracle!

Anyway, this is a really long update, but I wanted to fill you all in. I leave you with a picture of Gifty and her Plumpy Nut self.