Goodbyes are tough!

Tiffanie is awesome! The End!

Haha! Today was a long hot day, but I think it was successful. Tiffanie did all the work, but I was happy to show her the correct way to go. We left around 9 am to visit one of my favorite Ghana PTs, Lewis. Tiffanie had her first experience on an old trotro. She realized how luxurious the one we took from Accra to Kpando was.

Tiffanie brought two huge suitcases with her to Ghana filled with OT donations. We spent about an hour sorting through the stuff to figure out what to bring Lewis. Lewis was so thrilled with all of the stuff. He especially was excited to use the splint material. There were two patients who needed splints.

The first patient was a 4 month old little girl. She suffered a brachial plexus injury at birth and has erb palsy, partial paralysis of the right arm. It is important to splint the arm initially to avoid contractures, along with good therapy. Lewis had been splinting with cardboard. Tiffanie brought him thermoplastic splinting material. It is neat stuff. The plastic is soaked in 130 degree water and it becomes malleable to shape it into a splint.

The next patient we saw was a 2 year old burn patient. She fell in hot oil when her mother was cooking. She suffered burns to her armpit area. It was important to create a splint to keep her arm from scarring to her armpit as she heals. This little girl was not a happy camper. She started to cry as soon as we looked at her. Poor little thing. Therapy is so painful when you have burns, but it is so so important if you want to have functional use of your arms and legs again!

After we left the hospital we stopped by Millie’s school in Ho. I wanted to say goodbye to her since I leave Ghana soon. She was so sad and started crying. I feel terrible. Her friend said I shouldn’t have come because I upset her. I thought it would be worse though to not say goodbye. I guess it’s hard for Millie. She has had volunteers stay in her house since she was a little kid. She gets close with them for a few months and then they leave. Often times she never sees them again. I tried my hardest not to make any false promises with her or the other people I’ve become friends with. I will try and call every few months on skype. I will try and volunteer again in Ghana. However, there is no guarantee to either. I know when I went to Germany in high school I kept in close email contact with many of those people for almost 10 years. I hope as Ghana becomes more connected to the internet, Millie and I will also be able to do that.

One more week. L Goodbyes are not easy. I’m trying to say see you later!! God willing (they say that all the time here), I will be back in Ghana!

Love, Kari