16,002

That number . . . 

16,002

- logged in today - would be the official number of miles I've swum at the Y since I started keeping track of them in January 2008.  That's like almost 200 miles a year - if you take out into consideration time out for two foot surgeries, one car accident, one concussion, and four times of service with Mercy Ships!  Not bad . . . 

  

Embarrassing!!!

We brought Miss Annie in to the vet today to get her stitches out from her torn ACL surgery two weeks ago.  The vet couldn't find a single stitch.  Annie had eaten them all!  Embarrassing!

 

Thankful Thursday

Some days I just wonder, "Do you have a brain?  Can you engage it?"  

Matt finished working out this afternoon while I was cleaning the kitchen.  I heard him turn on the shower in HIS bathroom and thought, "Great!  He's hung up the shower curtain I washed this morning.  I don't have to!"

Except he didn't.  It was still hanging over the stair rail.

So when he came out, I asked him what he did.  Oh, he left his dirty clothes on the floor to soak up the excess water.  (Note:  We do have two other showers that were available to be used at that time in our house.)

Why am I thankful?  Well, he truly did clean up his mess.  When I went in there, there wasn't even a drop of water on the floor.  AND he hung up his wet clothes/towel in the basement to dry.

A Little Girl Called Gifty

This delightful post is reblogged from "Dunne's African Adventure".  The writer, mum Tammy Dunne, hails from Australia.  Enjoy!

Gifty - before

I don't get little girls.  I have spent the majority of my working life surrounded by men and, Mick and I have three boys of our own. I get boys. I understand them and how they tick. I like how they are loud, energetic and messy.  In fact, despite the fact that many of my relatives and friends have little girls - I have only ever changed one girls nappy (diaper).  So - I'm not used to little girls and I rarely connect with them as patients.

However, sometimes they connect with you.  Rewind three months to January, when we started back in our routine of visiting the HOPE Centre every second Sunday for the patients' church service.  Going to the HOPE Centre is a way for our family to see the Mercy Ships mission unfold before our eyes.  Patients who live far away, come to stay before being admitted to the hospital.  We see the befores.  Some of them are quite confronting to see - especially for our boys.  Of course, once you sit with the patients, sing with them, play games with them - you don't see the "confronting" at all - you see the person.  

 

Then later on, we see the afters when they are discharged from the hospital.  It is easy when you've seen the afters, to forget about the befores - such is the radical change for so many of our patients.

 Gifty in D Ward with Joyce - her incredibly strong albino Mama

So this is how we came to know Gifty - she sat on us at a service one Sunday.  She decided that Mick and I needed to be sitting differently and proceeded to rearrange us as she saw fit.  She climbed all over us - putting our arms on each others shoulders and my head against Mick's.  I felt like a piece of plasticine.  And all of this was done without talking - as Gifty had a very large cleft in the middle of her face.  Essentially, she had no nose or top lip shape.  However, what she was missing in facial features, she made up for in personality.  So that is how we became friends.

Gifty, and her mum, Joyce are from Liberia in West Africa.  They both speak English as well as their mother tongue.  It's always wonderful to be able to communicate with patients - but even easier when you are not using a second language to do so.

Wanting a photo of her "Ship Mum"

We followed Gifty into the hospital for her very complex surgery.  She had her cleft lip and palette repair, had a nose created and also some cranial manipulation around her eyes.  It was a massive operation for a little 5 year old.  And she was not very happy in hospital. She wanted to go back and play in the HOPE Centre again as soon as possible.  But first, she needed to rest.  This gave Joyce and I a chance to get to know each other during visiting hours.  We played a lot of UNO of course and some other games as well. Actually, it was easy to know when Gifty was starting to feel less pain - she wanted to join in and slither of her personality began to resurface, albeit for short periods of time.

Much improved writing

Finally, she was allowed to leave the hospital and return to the HOPE Centre - visiting Outpatients frequently to get her wound checked out and for any other issues.  And so the waiting begins.

Hospital waiting is dead boring in Australia.  People sit there for hours - staring out the window.  We really are at the mercy of medical professionals - as they decide the best course of action for our loved ones.  I have really come to appreciate that it is so not different on the ship - the patient is discussed with all facets of the medical community - all away from their home, their windows, in air conditioning and waiting.  How boring is that?

Always time to play

In the HOPE Centre, they have activities like singing, board games and craft.  There is a big group of people, united as they undergo a similar experience in physical transformation. Often this includes therapy - physical therapy to get seized joints working again or learning to do something for the first time.  For Gifty, once her physical wounds were beginning to heal, it was time to get working on speech therapy.  We don't have a speech therapist on the ship - mainly because our cleft lip and palette patients tend to be either adults who need no motivation to work on speaking correctly or babies - who if corrected early enough, won't have any speech issues.  Of course, there are always a few kids that fall into the gap like Gifty.  Which means they can already talk fine, thanks and they don't want to work on doing something that is hard when they could be playing with friends elsewhere. Then throw into the mix, Dieticians, who take on the task of speech therapy with a good guide; and some willing volunteers and you get the idea of how it works.

So how do you make talking fun?  With bubbles of course.  With straws. With funny noises.  With 

colouring in.  And with learning letters and numbers.  So that is how Gifty, Joyce and I really got to know each other. And wow did she improve.  She became really careful in tracing her letters, rather than just making lots of colours all over the page.  She was getting louder when she was talking, as opposed to whispering in my ear.  And she was back to her normal self, running me to greet with a big hug and taking my hand, ready to learn.

And just like that, I've changed.  A little girl has stolen my heart.  Joyce asked for my photo one day, so she can show her family at home, who Gifty's ship Mum was - it took me a moment to realise that she meant me. I'm no longer a Mum who sees herself as very much a Mum of boys - I have had the privilege of sharing the joy of the gift that is little "Gifty".

Numerically Speaking . . .

As of April 22, 2017, here is what has been accomplished thus far on the good ship Mercy in the Benin Outreach.  And you thought you were busy!

1,771 Surgeries

• 437 head and neck surgeries
• 78 orthopedic surgeries (bowed and other leg deformities)
• 182 reconstructive surgeries (usually for burn victims)
• 322 general surgeries
• 676 eye surgeries
• 52 women’s health surgeries
• 24 ambulatory surgeries

1,540 Medical Capacity Building Course Participants

• 689 WHO Surgical safety checklist training participants
• 134 Safe anesthesia course participants
• 74 Primary trauma care course participants
• 83 Essential pain management course participants
• 100 Sterile processing course participants
• 150 Neonatal resuscitation course participants
• 131 Mental health course participants
• 47 Glaucoma course participants
• 49 Nutritional agriculture course participants
• 83 Other medical course participants

89 Medical Mentoring Participants

• 10 anesthesia providers
• 8 surgeons
• 7 Ponseti method providers (for clubfeet)
• 20 maxiofacial surgery team members
• 8 pediatricians
• 8 opthalmic care providers
• 13 women’s health care providers
• 15 other health care providers

2 Medical Facilities Renovated

• Dental facility
• Outpatient facility

Direct Medical Services

• 13,202 dental care (tooth decay and infections)
• 214 dentures provided
• 363 Palliative care visits
• 315 Clubfoot corrections

Hospital Chaplaincy Visits

• 1,380 One-on-one sessions
• 146 HIV counseling sessions

Additionally, the medical screening team has seen 11,091 patients and Mercy Ministries has reached 5,640 people at local prisons, orphanages and other locations.

THE Cake

This is THE cake Micah made for her little sister's birthday!

Cute, eh?

Thankful Thursday!

Ah, things to be thankful for!  Like my friend, Chris (the basset hound rescuer!), who told me how to make a better cone out of towel for Annie so she would no longer have to wear the "cone of shame"!  She hates that molded plastic cone with velcro strips and she's been bumping into everything with it on!  But a towel around her neck, even though she's not happy, is working great and she's no longer licking her scar!  Thank you, Chris!

I'm also thankful, that after swimming with SIX people in the lap line last Thursday, I only swam with three people for two laps today which meant most of my time swimming was with just one other person!  I prefer that . . . 

A Most Excellent Time

This afternoon was somewhere around Micah's seventh attempt at giving blood.  She has been denied every single time due to low iron.  In fact, she was on iron pills last summer because of her low iron level which is genetic.  

Fast forward to last night, where she literally gagged down a cup of raw spinach in hopes of bringing her iron level up enough.  

They pricked her first finger today - 12.4.  She needed a 12.5.  Would she like them to prick her other finger?  12.6!  Miss Micah gave her first pint of blood ever in six minutes flat!  And felt totally great afterward! 

Happy Easter!

Happy 85th, Dad!

Annie girl!

The good news is Annie survived surgery yesterday on her torn ACL.  She was a bit loopy from the meds when Micah took this picture:

Today she got to wear the "cone of shame" as she tried to get her wrap off a day early.  We saved her dignity by not showing a picture of that, although that shaved thigh might be a bit embarrassing!

 

Thankful Thursday!

Today I am thankful . . .

• for a clean house,
• for the fact that the kids from Sterling Academy grasped the back crawl and now look good doing it - complete with shoulder rolls and "S" pulls!
• for a husband who cleaned the mud out of my jeans this morning,
• that Annie has surgery tomorrow on her torn ACL as she can barely walk,
• that Sam doesn't have hernia surgery tomorrow so Annie can!

Skiing at Sand Creek!

First of all, this is NOT an activity I would ever recommend - skiing at Sand Creek!  In fact, it is one I never thought possible - until yesterday!  

We had the Jordan High School Boys and Girls Track Teams out for the afternoon.  It rained the entire time they were on the low ropes course, leaving the road up to the welcome center a virtual mud slide.  And slide I did!  I only wish I had a picture to share as "Muddy Margo" was covered from head to toe!

I won't even go into how I drove my car home . . .  

Moses, Jonah, Peter and Me . . .

This is the story of why Micah needed her passport renewed.  It had expired in January.  January was the month they had put missions information in the church bulletin and Micah had asked, "Can we go on a missions trip?"  I knew without a doubt she meant Uganda.  She has been talking about going back to Africa for a good solid year now and I thought, "Why not?  Let's go!"  After all, Africa is always on our heart . . .

Except she wasn't thinking of Uganda.  She wanted to go to the Ukraine.  "Mom, I've never been there!" goes the reasoning of a seventeen year old.  I said, "Sure, we could look into it" and promptly did nothing with her plea because it was a music ministry and we all know how musical I am!

Fast forward to March 5th and she's once again reading that church bulletin.  It was so much easier when she couldn't read!  Applications were due for the Ukraine trip on March 12th.  "Mom, we have to get our applications in!"  "Sure . . ."  Just like Jonah when asked to go to Ninevah, I had no need or desire to go to the Ukraine.  I did mention it was a MUSIC ministry complete with acting - and that is not my spiritual gifting, so while I didn't get on a ship to Tarsus, neither did I fill out an application until . . . Friday night!  

Then I met with the missions pastor after church on Saturday night per his request, making sure he clearly understood that I was totally fine NOT being accepted to go to the Ukraine because I am not musically inclined nor do I enjoy acting.  Do you hear a bit of Moses here?  "God send someone else!" And to clinch our rejection, I played my trump card, "Micah has severe peanut/tree nut allergies."  Tim said, "Oh, really?  So does my oldest daughter.  In fact, yesterday I had to pick her up from a speech contest and bring her to the hospital . . ."

You know we got accepted.  But I was sure Tim had made a mistake - just like Moses was sure God had chosen the wrong man - and so I met with him last Wednesday to clarify why I should not go to the Ukraine.  

"I am recovering from a concussion.  I do not sleep consistently at night.  When I do not sleep, I am tired.  I am cranky.  I stutter.  I can hide it here.  I can not hide it there."

Tim's response, "So you're telling me, that when you're tired and cranky and stuttering, you have not had enough sleep and we need to put you to bed."  "Well, yeah . . ."

There comes a point when arguing with God becomes futile.  Either you walk in obedience or you don't.  I can deny God like Peter, or I can step out on the water like Peter and walk by faith.

I know why we were chosen.  We are part of a very small group with a very specific purpose.  We are the only females.  I am the least musically talented.  One third of us have traumatic brain injuries.  All of us trust God.  And we will see His plans for us in the Ukraine come July . . .

Thankful Thursday!

I apologize for not finding time to blog until now, but on Thursday, I was beyond thankful!  I had a 2:30 doctor's appointment up in Bloomington and my doctor was running forty-five minutes late.  I can't say I was thankful for that, but when I hit the freeway at 4:00 p.m., it was clear!  I made it to Lakeville in less than fifteen minutes and I was thankful.  I called Micah and said, "Straighten your hair.  As soon as I get home, we're getting your passport renewed."  We drove over the Service Center on Galaxy and were the first two in line.  I was so thankful for that.  Unfortunately, Sam had printed back-to-back forms. We had to use single page forms, so while I was re-filling a page out, Micah got her picture taken.  I was thankful for that.  I finished the paperwork, we testified under oath that she really was Micah and I turned around.  There were no less than ten to fifteen people in now two lines behind us.  But we were done.  I can not tell you how thankful I was for that!

Back at Sand Creek!

We returned to Sand Creek this weekend with staff orientation.  And of course, I have two fun stories to share with you - okay, make it three!

STORY ONE

Happened on Friday.  I can not make this up!  Every single person who came to Sand Creek was of Indian descent - as in from or related to someone from the country of India!  Our first group of a dozen high ropers were an all male bunch of spring breakers from Wayzata High School.  I know a total of ONE person who attends Wayzata and you know what?  My men knew him!  Is the world small or what?  Our second group was also from India - two newlywed couples who's marriages were arranged by their parents.  We had quite the conversation and it was good!

STORY TWO

Took place when we all arrived at work yesterday morning!  We were so excited - highs were going to be in the seventies and we were trying to "one up" each other!  

"I have my shorts in the car!"

"I have my shorts on!"

"I have ankle socks on!"

"Me, too!"

"I'm wearing a tank top!"

"I can rip my sleeves out and make my shirt into a tank top!"

Sadly, the wind was blowing, it was cloudy and it was cold!  So cold we started to grab extra coats to wear.  It wasn't until after four o'clock that it even started to feel warm.  So much for the seventies!

STORY THREE

I got to tour yesterday (I sent the group off to the first platform and then zipped down to the second platform where I sent them off again and then zipped to the third platform and so on . . . awesome!) with a bridal party from Vermillion, South Dakota.  They had come up to zip, eat dinner at Hell's Kitchen and attend the Casting Crowns Concert - a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, a teacher, a nurse and a communications specialist.  You know what I told them - "Have I got a ship for you!  And you have the occupations for a ship!"  To God be the glory!  

Coming up next?  Jordan High School Boys Track Team on Wednesday!  

     

Encounter with a Muslim Vampire

I have the common cold.  The version that comes complete with a hacking, barking seal cough; aching body; chills; runny nose; and monstrous headache.  So I missed my fasting lab yesterday.  But I was able to reschedule it for today - at 9:30 a.m.   

We are currently taking a class at Berean on how to share our faith with Muslims.  Sure enough, my "Vampire" today was Muslim.  I found out she was from Somalia and i shared that I had only been to West Africa.  We talked about Mercy Ships and she had me write down their web site for her when I left, sharing just a bit of Jesus.

I got home home and Sam met me at the door.  She had used the wrong vial, so back to the clinic for me for draw number two.  Note:  I did ask if this was an April Fool's joke.  

Same vampire, other arm.  Except it wasn't the "good vein" arm.  After the pain of proding and poking in an attempt to find a vein all the while I was trying not to hack on her and I felt like I was dying, I asked if she could just use my other arm again.  She did - apologizing the entire time.  I got to be Jesus with skin on, loving a lady who was having a bad day on my arms because that's what Jesus calls us to do.

After breakfast, I went back to bed.