Rainbow Families Foundation Newsletter - August 2003

August 2003

Jose Antonio is doing fine and continuing with appointments to the doctor and testing to be sure everything continues to function properly and we have no risk of infection. His mother is pregnant with her sixth child. She is only 28 years old. Because we were so busy with his medical problems we did not have the opportunity for her to get an operation. I want to see if it is possible after her baby is born. She and her husband both want her to get an operation. I am meeting with an attorney this afternoon to see if he will donate his services to help me get her cedula. This is the dominican form of identification. I suppose like our social security cards. If one does not have a cedula the children cannot get birth certificates when they are born. Therefore, none of her children have birth certificates. In turn, if the children do not have birth certificates they cannot continue to high school. It is a difficult process. Fortunately she has a birth certificate and the process should be more smooth than if she didn't. If this attorney won't donate his services then I know another attorney to ask. Her husband does have a cedula, thank goodness. We have had a lot of rain and high winds lately. Thus the breeding of mosquitos. They are attacking my legs right now and I have to jump up and move around to get relief. Dana from Minnesota was here and brought a lot of doantions for Jose Antonio's family and the school in Mozovi. I wanted to take the school supplies to a school in Arroyo de Leche but the truck we were in got stuck in the river and it took 3 hours to get it out. I didn't want to continue to Arroyo de Leche because we would have to cross two more rivers and didn't want to take the chance. Therefore, the school in Mozovi was lucky to get the donations. I have received other donations of school supplies and want to take them to Arroyo de Leche when I get a break in time. I am still seeking donations to pay for all the expenses associated with Jose Antonio's surgery. Politicians and people have made promises but have not yet come through with the money. The doctor continues to be very outstanding and I would have total confidence in him performing surgery on me if I ever needed intestional, colon or esophogas surgery. Communication is sometimes difficult so I must have Grimaldy with me when we go. Grimaldy is educated and understands very well and understands how to translate my questions very well. One time I had to go to Santo Domingo with someone else to translate and it wasn't a very good experience. Grimaldy and Jacobo are like my brothers and are able to cope with my temperment when I am not having a good day. Their families have adopted me. Corina, Grimaldy's mother, tells everyone that I am her daughter. She is such a loving person with such a big heart for everyone, no matter of what race, color, religion, etc. My time has been spent traveling to Puerto Plata, Santiago or Santo Domingo. Jose Antonio is doing ok. I am concerned everyday that something will happen. When I was young and knew the Sharfenacker family that lived near my Mom the one son would call people pheasants when they were stupid. I now understand the meaning of this word in that the family of Jose Antonio have nearly the intelligence of pheasants. When the doctor explains something to the mother she pretends like she knows and understands everything. Five minutes later she will be ignorant of what the doctor explained many times. For this I am very concerned that something will happen to this little boy after all we've been through. He is still at risk and requires tests and much care with cleanliness, cutting his food very good and getting proper nutrition. I am better with pink eye and my chest pains are nearly gone. Only when I lift something heavy. Jacobo is still having severe problems with pain in his back and leg. He doesn't have the money to go to the doctor. I suspect he has a pinched nerve. Jannie was sick with severe pelvic infection but I think she had a run of 2 weeks antibiotics and better now. Tomorrow I will go to Santiago with the little girl's mother to look for medical records when she was in the hospital. We are preparing to get her strong before she can undergo surgery. Jacobo didn't say much about the accident, only concerned that I didn't go to the hospital. I wanted to but do not have the money but now I am nearly 100% recovered. No, he didn't know the girl who hit me. I have seen her a couple more times around town. I need to try and get back the money that I have paid out. I think she is no longer with the guy whose Jeep she was driving so it is my tuff luck to be out the money. Jose Antonio is doing fine, however, his anemia still persists. He looks much better and gaining a little weight. He is so precious. The little girl is taking 3 different medications and a liquid dose of vitamins. She is too weak to undergo surgery. Jacobo and I have been visiting the family. When she was 5 years old she had rheumatic fever which caused the damage to her heart. She was in the hospital two different times the past month. Her chest is swollen and her heart beats rapidly. She is dreadfully thin and weak. Jacobo has been taking corn flakes and bread to the family so ensure she has something to eat. There are five other kids and they are all thin. The mother is only 34 and she looks like she is 50. They live way into the countryside. Jacobo drives his truck as far as the path allows then we have to walk a ways to the house. A woman who was here from Minnesota is coming again in January. She wants to sponsor a family. Jacobo and I got all the information for this family and I will email this info to Dana to start shopping. I am sorry to say I have some bad news to report. First I got pink eye in one eye and then the other the next day. It is an epidemic here and invariably I had to get my turn with it. Jacobo and all his family have had it and I am sure I got it from them. I tried the home remedies without success. Somebody told me to swim in the ocean and the pink eye will be gone the next day. Well, I swam in the ocean, which I never do because I do not like the salty feeling on my skin. The next day the pink eye did not go away instead both eyes were infected, seeping puss in the corners and blood red. I look like the devil. I wear heavy tinted sunglasses in the day and lightly tinted in the evening. Then somebody told me to use a natural soap made with guayaba fruit. I tried this without success. Yes, the soap helped to relieve the pain but I never got any other results. Finally I went to the doctor and got a prescription for medicine. The whites in my eyes are still blood red but the skin around my eyes and inside my lids has cleared up quite a lot and not so painful. People do not want to me around me so as to not contract it, which I do not blame them. I was hesitant to be with Jacobo but we had to meet with Dr. Nunez when the doctor is available to speak about one of the little girls who needs surgery. The next bad news is I had an accident in the rental car. I was traveling slow through a traffic light and an 18 year old girl ran the red light at the intersection. She left the scene of the accident and a motorcycle taxi went to look for her. He said he knew who she was. She was driving her boyfriends 2001 Mitsubishi Montero. My little car was not driveable. The front end was dented into the engine and the front end was pressed against the tires. A tow truck had to take it to the police station. The Montero had minor scratches. Anyway, the motorconcho found her and brought her back to the scene of the accident. She did not want to file a police report and wanted to wait until the next day so she can talk to her boyfriend. I suspect that she was not sure if the jeep was insured since he boyfriend just bought it the same day. She said her boyfriend will pay for everything. The next morning I went to the police station and they were there waiting. Today I spoke to the rental car company and they said the Chase Visa insurance will pay for the damage since I declined coverage through the rental car company. I will have to pay the rental car company a deductible of $63. The insurance for the Jeep will not be responsible for any coverage since the rental car company has the contract direct with the visa card. I have incurred additional costs but I doubt that the guy who owns the Jeep will reimburse me. Luckily I was wearing the seat belt and did not get hurt too bad. Upon impact the seat belt tightened across my chest and I am sure that I bruised my breast bone. It hurts when I breath, cough, sneeze, etc. You know when I eat and then take a first drink of something I always hiccup. When I hiccupped I had sharp pain in my chest. Otherwise, I am fine and dealing with this. I understand that Chase Visa will reimburse the $63. Incredibly the girl will not be charged with anything and we do not have to go to court, unless I file a claim to recover the money I have incurred with tow truck-600 pesos, motorconcho to find her - 100 pesos (I thought the motoconcho was being a nice guy and was helping out of courtesy so when I offered her 40 pesos for his time he demanded 100 pesos), public car and motoconcho transportation - 40 pesos, tax to file the police report - 52 pesos, photocopies - 4 pesos, phone calls 300 pesos and quien sabe cuanto mas.