Celebrating life

Every day the ward is getting louder and louder. The first day you could hear a pin drop and it took a lot of work to get even a smirk out of the kids. But as each kid is on the mend, their lively spirits start to return and it is hard to wipe the big smiles off their faces. The kids have been up blowing bubbles, playing with balloons, kicking the soccer ball, flying kites and make me feel tired just looking at them.

Today is the last day of operating, we have completed 16 operations so far (18 by the end of today if all goes well) with only five still in ICU.The fast pace in which these kids recover is astounding, there are some up and flying kites only four days after open heart surgery. The team have done an amazing job!

One thing I have noticed is the unity between the families, even though they had never met before this experience they have bonded over a key ingredient – their children having surgery. I was amazed to see one of the parents come into ICU after their child had already been moved to the ward, they had come to check on the other patients. The parents laugh together, cry together, get news together and want their photo taken together. It is a beautiful sight to be seen.

Hopefully tomorrow some of the kids should start to be discharged. As I walked into the ward this morning Felix pointed at me with a big grin on his face and started clapping straight away. He is doing extremely well considering he only had surgery on Sunday. Yesterday afternoon I sat on his bed and blew bubbles with him, he squealed with delight and clapped and echoed my “Yay!”

As things wrap up, it is sad to think we will be leaving soon. But it’s comforting to know that the team has come and worked as hard as they have. Walking into the ward this morning and seeing bright, happy faces makes this journey all worthwhile.