Mauricio and his mother, Ancelie, returned to Port-au-Prince this past Friday. The cardiologist in St. Louis cleared him medically earlier in the week. Mauricio had had some fluid around his heart, but this wasn’t too abnormal and a regimen of time and ibuprofen took care of the fluid.
I am sure Mauricio’s family was happy to see him and his mother. They were in the States for about seven weeks. But I wonder if it was at all hard for Ancelie to board that plane in St. Louis. Life in Haiti is so hard, even without tropical storms like Noele. For most people there, it’s a fight to stay fed and well.
We are happy that Ancelie is returning with a healthier baby, albeit one who will need surgery again at some unknowable point in the future. Will he be able to return to America when he needs to? Will we be able to find a hospital willing to care for him? Right now, these are also unknowable. But for today, we will rejoice in Mauricio’s healthier heart and hope that it beats strongly for many, many years
