The ex club foot club

What a prince Tane is. He’s been three nights in the hospital, the last two in pain, and yet when we came to pick him up and release him, he was calm and composed, sitting on the floor eating Twisties (as breakfast) with his Mum.    Last night he didn’t squirm or cry at all, they tell us. But poor Robert is still crying, apparently because one cast is too tight, so the doctors had to change it this morning. The little girl Stephanie, from Bogia, is the third member of the ex club foot club, aka plaster cast kids (Cherry Vanilla lives on) and is even younger than Robert. She's sitting up in one of these shots. Three double club footers have had surgery in Madang, we learned, and two in Wewak. I have to say Tane has been heroically brave and drinking his meds unflinchingly, every 4 hours. A regular Miss Puerto Rico with pepper-rash and an ice pack. As I entered the haus sik this morning I glimpsed the young man I had seen in the clinic line on Tuesday, the one whose legs are so bowed they make him walk like a chimp. But today he was hauling duffel bags and bedding with what I took to be his mother, setting off again, after what must have been a disappointing consultation with the Australians. As a giant fist clenched my heart to see him I realized how lucky these three little kids have been to have these surgeons here in Madang at just the right time in their lives.  How lucky Tane has been to have Zach Simonsen, Susan Salinger, Vivian Rieger and others whose names Tane may never know but who contributed dollars to the hat Zach passed for his travel, surgery and recovery.  Today we said our goodbyes to the two other members of the ex- club foot club and brought Tane back to the house for a more comfortable recovery. Annette smiled for the first time in days. The very last shot here is Tane giving the thumbs up after getting settled in with his radio and pillows back at the house.

When I remember the trials of having Tane's Uncle, Leibert, in the hospital a couple of years ago (and his running away twice---to be found at the bus stop both times, spitting out meds, throwing off his clothes and generally rebelling against the whole process) I am astonished at how calm and poised, if that's the word, little Tsne has been. A more deserving beneficiary of everyone's goodwill I don't know...