Jester Update!!

So I have had many questions about how Jester is doing... And she is doing amazingly well! My running joke with her parents is that they have switched her out for a new child. They are so so SO incredibly happy. And always have huge smiles on their faces. There is a great photo of the four of us....but internet is too slow right now! So Jester had a pseudomonas infection that was gangrenous of her chest. When I started taking care of her, she was getting a gauze put on it maybe every day. She was on a random antibiotic, without a culture of the bacteria or even a discussion of what it could be. It was obvious...neon green and sweet smelling. So I had it cultured, switched the antibiotic. She wasn't even on any pain medications or something to bring down her fever. The antibiotics kicked in enough that we brought her into surgery to clean out the infection. It was such a deep infection, all the way to her chest wall. She then went for daily bandage changes in the OR where they would put her under first. Now it has healed enough that she can have bandage changes on the wards. It looks so much better! I can actually see the bottom of it! And she looks like a different child....gone is the child I could barely get to open her eyes. Now there is a smiling child sitting in bed, chewing on a corn cob, playing with bubbles and balloons. Thank you for all of your prayers. This is bigger than just Jester and her family. One of the Zambian doctors I have been working with saw the change in Jester and the other children I have been taking care of. He spoke up in a meeting last week and told the head American doctor how poorly the pediatric ward is run and listed off all the ways we do not follow WHO standards. The pediatric ward had a ten percent mortality rate last month. They are now going to have a meeting about it. This is the change I want to make: inspiration.