Tropical Beaches . . .

Or not!  Check out our play area in Togo!  Almost inviting, eh? (:

A "Glory!" Story

Yesterday afternoon, I received an e-mail from Lynette, our church treasurer and it was a "GLORY!" story, for you see, God has provided through you, our friends, in just two weeks time, 2/3 of the support we need to join the ship in Togo!  And all we can say is "GLORY!" and "THANK YOU!"

Summer Plans . . .

Wednesday night when Sam came home from work I told him I had the whole summer planned except for one day - one lousy day!  And it just wasn't coming together!  So Thursday I cleaned instead of planning and on Friday during my run, I just prayed that God would give me something - anything for that last day!  He gave me three ideas - all were okay, none were long enough for a day, but they'd do okay for short bits or fillers.  So after my shower Friday morning, I opened an e-mail from  my partner from last summer, Melissa from Australia, who asked if she could plan a day this summer.  Naturally, I e-mailed back a large resounding, "YES!" and hit her up with a few questions.  Now it's Sunday evening and I just opened a response from Melissa to my questions with a few questions of her own: 

 "If I send boomerangs, is there anywhere the kids could throw them? Would you be able to book the international lounge for an afternoon bushdance? Does the Academy have cricket bats? Is there a space to chalk out a handball game on the dock? - This would be about 6 large squares. My thoughts so far involve some australian animal art and craft, pin the tail on the kangaroo, some tim tam jenga team work and mintie wrapper creativites, watch an episode of Skippy, the bush kangaroo - a big hit in the 80s (maybe for the littlies and the younger grades!! Outdoor activities with Australian handball, boomerang throwing, elastics, tunnel ball and races involving cheesy-vegemite sticks. I thought some lamington baking for the older students (maybe while the others are watching Skippy), which can be served for afternoon tea for parents perhaps with iced vovos, Anzac biscuits and jaffas. And if you are really game, I reckon a bush dance in the afternoon with parents (or maybe invite some Aussies as well....Oh, did you know Aussies is said like 'Ozzies'?? we can't speak quite right!!!), just before the afternoon tea would be fun. At school, we all learn bushdancing, every year. It's so fun. I can send the music with the calls for each steps. Would this kind of stuff work for you?"  

I am praising God for Melissa and her enthusiasm and what looks to be quite the fun day, "Hoodwinked Down Under"!  Thank you, Melissa! 

P.S.  I have no idea what a vovo is or lamington baking or tim tam jenga, but doesn't it sound great? (:

I'm Going to the Right Ship!

Her voice resonates in the hospital ward on the Africa Mercy. Her song was one of joy and praise. Everyone pauses as they hear her voice ring out - the medical staff looked overjoyed. For Modi Assenou, her prayers have been answer. For the medical staff, there is amazement over Modi’s ability to sing so soon after surgery. For all, Modi’s joy spreads throughout the ward.

Four years ago, Modi started having pain in her neck. Gradually, a lump started to form below her chin. Before long, it was clear that Modi had a big problem. Modi suffered from an enlarged thyroid gland; also know as a goiter. While the goiter did not cause her any pain or breathing problems, the affect it made on her appearance was clear.

Neighbors would mock her and constantly give her a hard time. While life was becoming difficult, Modi was surrounded by a good support system. Her close friends would give encouragement and help her out. They would say to her, “One day, by God’s will, you will be healed.” Not only did this encouragement give her the resolution to face each day, so did her husbands loyalty and support. Every step of the way, he has supported Modi, giving her love and care. He even traveled with her to Mercy Ships to act as her caregiver so that she would not have to face it alone.After waiting in line for several hours, Modi was finally seen by the doctors at the mass medical screening in Lomé, Togo.  When it was decided that she would receive surgery, Modi was overjoyed with the answer to her prayers. Even though she would be experiencing so many new things, none of this scared her. “No matter what is going on around me, I am so happy now, nothing can take that away!”

After receiving surgery, Modi began to heal very quickly. After the removal of the thyroid, it may take a little time for the patient to start talking again. For Modi, this was not the case. Within a day of her surgery, she could be found singing in the ward. Her song echoed in the hearts of many patients as she sang, “I will thank the Lord; I will thank the Lord forever!”

Summer Supplies Set Sail Soon!

For the first time ever in our history with Mercy Ships, we are sending our summer arts and crafts and special events supplies on the container.  We are NOT carrying big blue tubs (well, maybe one . . .) - nope!  We planned early this year and everything was put on the container Tuesday morning.  Of course, I had a few phone calls Monday night - "Margo, when you said you wanted this, did you mean . . .?"  "Margo, good you're still home.  Can I substitute this for . . . "  It was kind of fun.  We have a few more items to get - and one more day to plan, but I'm actually looking forward to going through customs this time!  (:

Running to Ghana

Last summer while we were on the ship, I ran with my next-door neighbor, Tiffany, who also happens to be from Minnesota.  This summer, we'll have one weekend together on the ship before she goes back to Minnesota for a visit and we've decided to run from Ghana to the ship - because our friend, Sally, says it's a nice flat run and we thought it sounded cool - it's a little under a 10K so, you know, we'd have bragging rights!  Last week, Tiffany introduced me to her "Befriend-a-patient" that she and her daughter, Savannah, are spending time with while she is on the ward having surgery.  Lumen is a five year old girl who was burned severely on both feet when she was four months old and her little feet ended up in the fire.  One foot contracted up and the other contracted down, leaving her with feet half the regular length and no toes.  Surgery will release the burn contractures on each foot.  She'll have wires put in place to help retrain the tendons and muscles not to curl the way they have been for five years.  And she'll have a lot of painful dressing changes, physical therapy and skin grafts.  Meet Lumen:

 Makes running to Ghana seem silly, eh?

On the ship . . .

A good friend told me about Mercy Ships Links - connecting me to all sorts of blogs from people on the good ship.  I read this last night - and while it is long, I'd like to challenge you to read it, too: 

 

Tell your family, tell your friends what God has done for me.  If I had not been here at just the right time, I would already be dead.  When I go home I will tell everyone in my church and all my friends how God has saved my life. ~Dandy (name changed for privacy)

Dandy's story starts like so many of our other general surgery patients...An exam from a doctor at screening, an appointment to come in to admissions to be admitted for a hernia repair, a patient card as a golden ticket for entry to the port and to the ship.  But there, the story began to change.  Shortly after Dandy showed up for admission, the intestine bulging out into his hernia would no longer go back into his abdomen where it belonged...it became intensely painful, and the pain started to get worse and worse as he waited just outside the admission tent.

I first met Dandy in an Emergency Medical Team call a few minutes later, a sweaty, scared man that Dan and I reassured as we covered him with a sheet and moved him onto a stretcher for the quick ride up the gangway and down into the ICU.  Our doctor had already alerted the operating room, and the general surgeons were just finishing up on their case.

It was a 90 minutes strangely reminiscent of my time in the emergency room...frequent vital signs, changing him into a patient gown and a basic nursing assessment, IVs and labwork and OR consents explained and signed in a hurry and then morphine and more morphine and a surgical scrubdown and prayer before we loaded him on a stretcher and whisked him off down the corridor to the operating room.

Afterwards, still in my pajamas from sleeping in that morning, I sat down with my charting and prayed that we had been in time.  Would he be coming back to A ward missing a part of his intestine because it had been cut off from its blood supply for too long?  I found out soon enough - after some lunch and a shower I headed down to A ward for my regular shift.  A sleepy, pain-free Dandy rolled in the door on a stretcher shortly after my shift began, sporting a small incision.  We were just in time, the OR nurse told me later, much longer and we he probably would have needed a bowel resection.

All week Dandy greeted me in perfect English from his bed, told me he was doing well, remembered my face from the pain-filled haze surrounding his time in the ICU.  We talked about his experience, and the perfect timing of God in sparing his life.  Had this happened anywhere else in West Africa, he would probably already be dead.  He asked me to share his story with you, his life as a living testament of the goodness and sovereignty of God. 

We were just in time...only an hour or two more and the story might have ended differently.

Looking at Dandy now, less than two weeks later, only a small scar and a few steri-strips remain as evidence of his miracle.  He has been discharged from the hospital, and is just waiting for his incision to finish healing before he goes home. 

Of all the places in West Africa to have a hernia strangulate, Dandy was in the perfect place at the perfect time.  We had general surgeons already on ship, with the operating rooms and bed capacity to receive patients.  Our surgeons had just had their surgical schedule open up because of several cancellations that morning, and were closing a case just in time to prepare for emergent surgery.  Even though we are not set up as a full-fledged hospital with emergency room, our emergency team and ICU nurses were in place to care for him before surgery, and we had a bed with surgical nurses ready to receive him afterwards.  And on top of it all, things started happening after Dandy arrived on our dock, giving us just enough time to get him into surgery immediately.

 Even just an hour more waiting for surgery, and part of Dandy's intestine would have died.  Just an hour, and Dandy might have left with a colostomy.  Much longer than that, or anywhere farther away from a surgical hospital, he would have died in agony somewhere on the streets.  Praise God for his goodness, and for his perfect timing.

Good News!

Yeah!  I heard from my endocrinologist today and it was good news!  The labs showed that I do have "anti-thyroid antibodies".  These antibodies are responsible for the hypothyroidism I have and potentially also responsible for the goiter.  Yes, that is my doctor's terminology for my enlarged thyroid - goiter!  The word is if my enlarged thyroid is not bothering me , then I do not have to do anything about it.  Especially since the ultrasound does not show any nodules (which could be cancerous).  However, if I do have symptoms such as snoring (my family says I do!), sleep difficulty (someone tell me what sleep is!), swallowing trouble, or voice changes (let me know if you notice that!), then I can have it surgically removed.  So, I'm off to Africa with an enlarged thyroid!  Thanks for praying! 

Name that country!

Half the fun of knowing people on the ship is knowing people from around the world.  Can you guess what country this friend is from?  "Saw your arrival notice come through the other day!!!   See ya soon mate!  Love, Jodie"

Happy St. Patty's Day!

From our Irish children to you - a very Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Isn't God good?

I picked up a friend for lunch today and when I went into her house, she asked me to grab the cookie jar on her counter.  I'm thinking, "Alright!  Cookies!"  And she says, "We need to take it to the bank.  That's your Mercy Ships money."  The cookie jar was filled to the brim with change - $306.95 to be exact.  And after we turned in the change, she wrote out a check - we are blessed.

Why?

Our support letters started going out this week.  Friends and neighbors all around the globe will be receiving them.  If you're wondering why?  Why do we do this?  Why the good ship Mercy?  I think the ship's long-term Maxio-facial surgeon, Dr. Gary Parker, said it best when he said, ". . . Every person has the right to look human . . ."  To God be the glory.   

Looking good!

Matt and I quickly dove outside during last Sunday's brisk temperatures and had our picture taken for our support letters.  The second shot was this one - we both approved - and we'll put our letters in the mail early next week!

Yesterday's Doctor Visit . . .

Yesterday I saw an endocrinologist because there is something going on with my thyroid.  To quote the good doctor, as he felt my thyroid from the front - "your right side is a big enlarged".  Then he felt my thyroid from the back and that was even better - "Wow!  Your left side is HUGE!"  Fortunately, you can't tell by looking at me (:  So he sent me down to the lab where they drew six - yes, I counted them all - vials of blood so they could check for all sorts of things that could be causing my thyroid to be enlarged.  It may be something as simple as a sodium or Vitamin D deficiency or it could be as serious as cancer (doubtful, but they have to give you the worse case scenario).  I'm having a scan done tomorrow afternoon and hopefully some time around St. Patty's day, we'll have an idea of what's happening!  Thanks for praying - don't stop! 

Flying Missionary Rate!

Matt and I got our tickets for this summer - last Thursday actually!  We worked with a wonderful travel agent through Raptim and she was able to get us tickets at an amazing price - $300.00 less per person than we originally thought!  Of course, when you fly missionary rate, you must translate it to "scenic route"!  Matt and I will be able to spend quality time in the following airports:  Minneapolis/St. Paul, Philadelphia, Brussels, Togo, Tenerife North, Madrid, London and Chicago - fortunately not ALL on the same trip!