Erto Updated

We are getting closer.  The doctor in South Africa is keen to get started, but was concerned about Erto’s seemingly not trying to walk much, and wondered if there were other hidden problems. He wanted xrays.  Cathrine took Erto to Lobatse for xrays. They wouldn’t do them and told her to go to the hospital in Gaborone. She went there on a Friday and they told her to come back and see a specific doctor on Monday. On Monday, that doctor said he wouldn’t do xrays that were going out of the country and that the doctor is SA could do them. Too bad they didn’t tell her that on Friday, right?

Now mind you, each of these trips require Cathrine to pack up herself and her son, put him on her back and walk to the bus stop, which is about a mile away, if not a bit more.  In Gabs she then has to take a khombi and try to get to the hospital at 7:30 when they open so she can stand in line and hope to see the doctor by noon.  All this with little (well not so little, he will be 2 in April) Erto in tow. They don’t give appointments in the government clinics or hospitals –first come, first served. Each trip to Gabs costs P27, which adds up when you have no money.

Well, Tshepang, the mother who had her own child treated by this physician and has been willing to help transport Cathrine and Erto to SA for treatment once it starts, scheduled xrays with a private doctor so that she could take the xrays herself on her trip to see the doctor this week.  He now has the xrays, will see the nature of the problem and hopefully schedule treatment to begin.  Then we just have to find housing for them during the 8 weeks so they don’t have to travel back and forth each week. That would be a nightmare.

With any luck, treatment can start in February and be completed by his second birthday in April. Then, he will have to endure wearing a brace almost constantly for 6 months or so, but he will thereafter be running around just as nature intended.

I can’t wait for the next step, pun intended. Thank you everyone who donated to his cause.  There is a real need for physician training in Botswana so kids won’t have to travel out of the country and Tshepang and I are talking about how we might help the STEPS organization make the connections here so they can train some doctors in the treatment method.