The Kelliher Chronicles

Hi,

Bill got a new job opportunity to work at different account within the same company. He will be working 50 hours a week vs the 70- 75 hours per week with the account with Zephyrhills Water. He will be working from 3:30 pm to 1:30 am but it will give him more time at home and we will be able to spend our mornings together. I will probably be picking up some Monday's at TGH.
Today we were able to go to Village Inn to have breakfast with Jude and Rachel; it was nice having the extra time together.

This morning Jude was funny- he made a necklace out of a hairband and cap from a snack cup.

~Anita

Hi everyone,
Here is an update of New Day Foster Home in Beijing, China from an email - newsletter I received.
When we were in Xinjiang, China ,to get Jude ,I ran into New Day Foster Home- Director ( Karen Brenneman) who was there assessing the medical needs of the orphans there. She is a Christian woman who is from Chicago and she now lives in Beijing running the foster home.
Here is a portion of the newsletter I received today and I will also post a link to the page with the story from Karen Brenneman:

"In Tacheng (northwest Xinjiang province) there are currently 955 orphans in need of care. Many of these are disabled. Currently 46 are being looked after in an elderly care facility. In conjunction with the local government we are helping to renovate a facility and provide training for staff that will provide care for these orphans. "
http://www.newdaycreations.com/foster/goingwest/xjtacheng/history.htm

~Anita ♥

Hi all,
Dr. Ponseti himself emailed me back about Jude. Here is the email below:

January 20, 2006

Dear Mrs. Kelliher:

Thank you for taking the time to let me know how well Jude is doing. The pictures show the feet are well corrected. Did he walk before treatment was started? If you have any pictures of his feet before treatment was started, I would be interested in see them.

I have just finished treating another adoptee from China. She was 3 years 8 months old when we applied the first cast. She had been walking more or less on the tops of her feet. We were able to get an excellent result. The thing that was important to her was that she would be able to wear sandals. When she returned last week, she was wearing her beloved sandals.

I.V. Ponseti, M.D.


As you can see he is not a young man and will be 92 in June and works M, W, and F treating children at the University of Iowa medical center. His dedication to children all over the world who have clubfeet is truly inspiring . He established the method that corrected Jude's feet - well, it is an honor for us to have him review Jude's medical information and photos and follow it up with an email . He is such a sweet man. I will email him some more information that he requested and also thank him.

~Anita

Below is the response to his above email

Dear Dr. Ponseti,

Thank you for reviewing Jude's photos and information. It really means a lot to us that you would do that. I will put your email in Jude's baby book.

Well, to answer a few of your questions re: Jude : He did walk before treatment. Jude began walking at about 12 months of age , however, he did walk primarily on the front portions of his feet and outer borders of his feet. When he was evaluated by a non-Ponseti trained ortho. surgeon he stated the right foot to be moderately affected and his left foot to be minimally affected. He walked better with shoes and when he was without shoes the defect was so obvious and the achilles of both feet were extremely taute. Unfortunately, I do not have any photos of Jude's feet prior to Ponseti Tx; I cannot believe we did not take photos.

Thank you again for emailing us back.
God Bless, Anita Kelliher

LWB January Trip to China: January 2006

Hi the above link is to a blog of the Love Without Boundaries trip to China this month. For those who don't know, they are the organization who provides necessary surgery and medical care to orphans throughout China- a medical missions team. They are also the organization that is overseeing the compilation of the medical handbook that I mentioned on my blog arjmom. blogspot.com. I will be providing input in the orthopedic section of that book; it will be distributed to ~2000 orphanages in China. Two members of LWB's are in China right now presenting sample pages of the handbook to the CCAA ( China Center of Adoption Affairs) in Beijing . Click the link above to read about the trip. ~ Anita
p.s. you can also access their website through the link that is on this blog -at the column to the right.

Hi everybody, I started having some trouble with the other blog I have as it wouldn't line up properly and I actually can't change the template or lay out because it changes all the links , etc. But I do like to journal and post photos for those of you who are interested in what our family is up too. Right now I am reading three books: Riding the Storm: Pioneering Missionary Adventures with Operation Mobilisation by Deborah Meroff ; The Makers Diet : the 40 day health experience that will change your life forever by Jordan S.Rubin ; also Seeking Him : Experiencing the Joy of Personal Revival by Nancy Leigh Demoss and Tim Grissom.
The reason I am interested in the Makers Diet is because I have been dealing with an Anemia problem for the past 2 years and have recently been told by my doctor that is worse than it has ever been . I haven't really been taking it very seriously , but now I am. I have been on a Rx for iron supplements that I will probably take for quite a while and will go to the doctor next month to have my blood taken out again to see how everything is going. The doctor is also trying to rule out other diagnoses as the cause so we have a clear picture as to why the anemia exists in the first place. Anyway... maybe this was too much information ....
~Anita