Donations:

In this newsletter:

FLORENTIN IN HOSPITAL
FIRST 10 DAYS OUT
QUICK NEWS

FLORENTIN IN HOSPITAL

On Wednesday, April 17th, at 7 am they started moving Florentin's bed through an underground tunnel to the main hospital next to the children's hospital. I did not leave his side as we walked and walked and arrived at the operating room where I had to say "see you later". I was sent home and told I'd be called afterwards, between 12 and 1 pm.

At 1:45 pm - after 45 anxious minutes - the doctor called to tell me that everything had gone as planned. Praise God! And thanks to all of you who prayed! What they actually did was to remove his pulmonary heart valve (smaller, with less pressure at its position), placing it in a prothesis that they then put in the position of the shriveled mitral heart valve. They used human tissue to replace the pulmonary heart valve with. The doctor said that he had NEVER before seen a child with a heart valve like that and that it was amazing it was doing its job at all. Also, that it was the result of an untreated angina when Florentin was small.

I was told that they kept him sleeping longer and that there was no point coming in the same day. Thursday morning (picture) I came in right away and was amazed at the shape Florentin was in; as if nothing had occured the day before. Later in the day things caught up with his body though.

On Day 2 after the operation they moved Flo back to the children's hospital, to the intensive care unit there (picture). They had to turn on the external pacemaker for a while, which is totally normal. They also had to put in a second drainage to relieve his lung pressure. So he had two big tubes coming out of his body, a catheter and the cables going to his heart.

On Day 3 Florentin scared me big time. He was doing really well, and his surgeon came by saying that they could remove the drainages. Since that is very painful, they put him to sleep. I was allowed to stay, but chose to look away as I faint at the sight of blood. (In total I nearly fainted 3 times during Flo's stay at the hospital, one of the times that day.) They pulled the tubes out, and then suddenly his heart pressure shot up. It had been 160/50 since the operation, but now it was at 260/50. The surgeon's comment was, "If his new heart valve can take that kind of pressure, I've done a good job." It seemed to take forever before they gave him medication to bring the pressure down, and he continued taking that medication for a few days.

Day 4 (Sunday) was the only day I could not see Florentin as I was preaching in another town, and I felt bad for it. Thankfully there were a few other significant people that visited him regularly.

On Monday I was back, and Florentin's constant impatience was very obvious as all he wanted was to get out of intensive care. He was still getting oxygen at times to help his blood's saturation, but he was sitting up and had actually already gotten up once.

On Day 6 he showed off his ability to stand, and was overjoyed when he was informed that the time to move to a regular room had come. He also told me to ask everyone to pray that he'd be released before Saturday which was the day I was scheduled to leave town. At first we were told that's impossible, then someone said maybe.

On Day 7 Florentin took this picture of his scar himself, after they had FINALLY removed the external pacemaker which he had impatiently been waiting for, and which is very painful. Isn't his scar beautiful! This was also the day when he was informed that his prayers were answered - he'd be leaving the hospital the following afternoon. Instead of two weeks as scheduled, he'd be out only 8 days after his operation.

Day 8 was long, as there were final tests to wait for, and we ended up leaving 3 hours later than told. In our final conversation, I was told that his medication dosage prescribed in Mali had been way too high causing his vomiting and stomach problems. They could not find anything wrong with his digestive system. Already while in the hospital, he was eating way more than before his operation.

Leaving the hospital, all he wanted was to have pizza. We returned home to where I was staying and walked up the two flights of stairs. Florentin was amazed that it felt "like 3 steps" when he before he was out of breath walking up there. As for me, I was amazed at how well he was doing, as if nothing had happened, and at his ability to eat multiple times the quantities he used to eat. By the way, he gained 2.5 kilos the first week after leaving hospital! (That's nearly 5 pounds.)

That first night out, Florentin talked to Paul on skype for a long time, and both him and Paul had tears of gratefulness in their eyes for all God had done for Flo. As for me, I was listening to Florentin's side of the conversation, and even though I did not understand everything, I was also touched at all that Florentin said. It seems that my being at his side all day long whenever I could had had a deep impact on him.

After one night, it was time for Florentin to move in with his host family. I'm so blown away by the amazing, just PERFECT, family God provided for him! That Friday, Flo was not doing so well, being tired and weak; but it was only to be that one day.

When we arrived at the family's house, he loved it! And then it was time for him to fulfill a long life dream: hit a soccer ball with his foot. I had to stop him from overdoing it.

It was hard having to say good-bye but I knew that he was in good hands.

FIRST 10 DAYS OUT

Florentin has been enjoying his time with the host family, and has been doing amazingly well. Except for an incident yesterday when he scared us all.

Also, he brought up that he has toothache, and we discovered that he urgently needs dental care. His family ended up taking him to a dental emergency room where they started a root canal. Next week they should be finishing it somewhere, once we've figured out who could do it for free.

Another big shock was the price of one of his medications that he needs to reduce his still elevated lung pressure. A box lasting one month costs 800€, i.e. $1,050, and he needs 4 boxes. Please pray we can find a way or someone to cover the expense.

In a few days he will return to hospital one more time for a final evaluation. They will check his liver again since it's been working hard to compensate for the over-medication and the strain from the heart. They will also decide how much longer he will have to take the other medications he is taking besides the expensive one.

Please pray Florentin continues to recover well. Since he's doing so well, I have decided to take him with me on a ministry trip to France as well as the south of Austria.

MINISTRY IN EUROPE

This past month has not just been busy with me being at Florentin's side, but I have also been ministering in between. There have been awesome times of ministry where God was speaking and touching His people, bringing healing and restoration, as well as salvation to the lost. And there is much more ministry ahead. Please pray for me, especially as I'm feeling pretty exhausted physically.

Check on the left and on our CALENDAR page to find out when I'm ministering where.

QUICK NEWS

•       Provision - I'm so grateful for how God has taken care of me and Florentin. I had a place to stay, a car to drive, and Flo found the perfect family. I want to specifially thank Florentin's sponsor, a lady who has been sponsoring him for years and who was excited to finally meet him in person and has treated him as if he was her son. Thank you!

•       40th Birthday - On May 14th I'm celebrating my 40th birthday in Vienna. I'd love to see those of you on our mailing list who can come. Email me for location and time.

•        War in Mali - A few days ago they arrested 15 people of a terrorist cell in our old neighborhood where Paul's family still lives. They had planned to do terrorist attacks in the capital. Thank God for bringing this to light, and protecting our city, as well as us!

•        Back in Mali - Please pray for Paul and the kids during the next few weeks while I'm gone.

•        Construction - Rebuilding the walls has finished. Praise God!

•       Volunteers - We need volunteers in Mali who can stay a few months or more. If you'd like to come help us, please contact me.

I am the Lord who heals you. (Ex 15:26)

Amazed by HIM,

Claudia