It started with a Gotcha Day celebration. The weekend before the 1 year anniversary of meeting Tegegn we had 2 of the families that we traveled to Ethiopia with over. It is always nice to catch up, and reminisce of the time we spent in Ethiopia and watch the children grow up. One year ago there was 2 babies and one very small shy toddler. Today there is 2 toddlers and 1 almost 5 year old little man.
Next was a trip to the dentist. Tegegn had some pretty major problems with his teeth when he came home from Ethiopia. Malnourishment and no dental care can rot your teeth very quickly. We knew that he would have to have surgery to correct the problems, but we wanted to wait until he was secure within our family before we made him go under again. Going under anesthetic after he broke his arm was not a good experience for him nor I. June was the month we decided on, after 3 failed attempts at the dentist. He did amazing. After the X-rays, we realized the damage to his teeth was even worse than we originally thought (he wouldn't let us do X-rays previously). Here is a recap of what he had done:
3 front teeth removed (one was so bad that there was almost no root left)
1 root canal
1 abscess
all top molars are capped
all bottom molars are filled from cavities
Thank you for insurance!!! It was a big bill. I spoke in great length to the dentist after the procedure. My main question was "how is it possible that he wasn't in any pain". Tegegn had never once said or implied that his teeth hurt or we would have brought him in for surgery sooner. The dentist explained that there was no way he wasn't, however he probably lived with it his whole life, so the pain was normal. That sentence broke my heart. The fact that children have to live in pain and deal with it is heartbreaking to me. I have never had a cavity, but my husband has and he tells me that the smallest cavity shoots pain up the tooth with every bite of something cold. I regret not doing the surgery sooner.
Gotcha Day was great. We spent it at the Guelph Multicultural Festival. I had a booth there to sell our products for Chance For Change so my friends volunteered to watch my booth so that I could have dinner and spend some time with my family. All day I kept looking at Tegegn thinking WOW, your here. It was such a long hard road to this point, and it's like it never happened. It feels like he has always been with us. Tegegn is a normal adjusted 4 year old Canadian. The only time he shows any signs of insecurities is when he is around other children of colour (people with brown skin as he says). That is when I have to reassure him that he is part of our family and that he isn't going anywhere.
Last weekend we had another Chance For Change event at the KW Multicultural Festival. We did great. We have had amazing support from the Ethiopian Community. They are all very happy that we are helping "their country".
Chance For Change is doing great. I have recently received an e-mail saying that we have raised and sent enough money to Ethiopia for the washroom facility at our sponsor school to begin ( Our Goals for 2011)
It's incredible to think that by selling some scarves and jewelry in Canada we are able to provide basic sanitation to 1215 students in Ethiopia. Thank you for all the support you have all given our organization.
Well, the month isn't over yet. Today I go for surgery. This is stemming from an injury in 2009. It is a day surgery, so should hurt to bad. My hope is that this will be the last one and I can put the memory of my injury in the past. Here's hoping. We have decided to take a short 5 day vacation up to our cottage after, so we are going to celebrate Canada Day on the beach. Not a bad place to recover from Surgery I think! I will keep you posted and upload some more pic's soon.
If you get a chance check out Chance For Change on our website.....
Chance for Change
