Hello! Well, since I didn't blog anything yesterday, I guess I should catch you up. Yesterday morning Maggie and I both woke up not feeling sick, just not exactly feeling ourselves, so we decided not to go into the hospital. We had to go to the photo store to get some pictures developed for the burn center, and then we went to lunch. The rest of the afternoon we spent here at the apartment, reading and relaxing. Then we joined some of the med students for dinner at an amazing steak house. By the time we got home from dinner, I was so tired (probably from eating too much!) that I just went straight to bed.
This morning however, we returned to the burn center. Maggie helped the workers file and organize the pictures we had developed while I got to play with the kids all morning. It was such a sweet morning, especially seeing how some of the children have improved throughout the week. Here is another picture of Richard, he is still just as sweet, and not nearly as sad as he was earlier this week. In fact, today I started tickling him and he even smiled! This other picture is the girl, Katerin, that I had to hold down on Monday to get her blood drawn. I didn't think she would remember or hold it against me, so we played together all morning. She's pretty wild, probably from being cooped up in a crib for so long. As soon as I walked up to her she leaped off her bed into my arms, wrapping her arms and legs around me. I couldn't understand most of what she said, but if I could guess one phrase based on her actions it would be, "Let's wrestle!" Then in the midst of our play, she grabbed my arm, took one of her blocks, and pretended to draw blood from my vein - she did remember! We played this game for awhile, with me crying when she did it and her "bandaging" it back up. It was pretty tiring trying to keep her occupied and in her bed. It was a really fun morning, but of course as I left all of the children started crying again - it's just so hard to leave!
There is a rehabilitation home that is associated with the burn center, where some of the children live for awhile while they are undergoing physical therapy. This afternoon Maggie, Nurena (one of the med students), and I went along to help take the children to the park. There were 11 children that went and 6 volunteers, which sounds like a pretty good ratio, but we sure couldn't have done it with any less help. The park was great, it not only had lots of big playgrounds, but a roller coaster, aquarium, and lots of rides. The kids had so much fun; they loved getting to run all over the park, which of course kept all of us continually counting the 11 children to make sure none had escaped. The title of this blog, would have been a helpful phrase to know, "Come back, children!" Although the children were full of energy at the park, almost as soon as we all piled in taxis to return home, many of them fell asleep. It was sweet to just cuddle with the boy who fell asleep on my lap, but when it came time to carry him up the stairs to his bed I thought my arms were going to fall off. You can see in the picture of me with the little girl, Sellini, that she has a compression mask on to help decrease the scarring from her burn. None of the kids like to wear them, but they really do help!
We returned home to freshly baked, hot cheese bread from Juana - just what we needed after so much fun. I think we're going to spend the rest of the evening here at the apartment reading and relaxing.
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