Handing Over the Mirror

Nicole is a RN with Mercy Ships.  This post was reblogged from her blog, "The Floating Hospital".  Enjoy!

Group picture with the first 3 Thyroidectomies of the year.

Its been busy on A-ward this month! We are taking a break from obstetric fistula surgery. Our last fistula patients were discharge a little after the New Year. We will continue fistula surgeries in a couple of months, but currently we are caring for general surgery. While I do miss the fistula ladies, I am happy to be back at the surgeries I started with here on the Africa Mercy.

Over the last few weeks A-ward has had 2 general surgeons in separate ORs operating. This means we are doing 6 to 8 surgeries a day. Our general patients don’t stay long. Half discharge the day after surgery and the other half stay a couple more days. By the end of the work week we are filled to capacity and then empty out over the weekend, ready to start a new week. On top of the double general surgeries A-ward is also caring for 3 pediatric eye surgery patients every week. This was my favorite time on the ship last year so I’m excited to be a part of it again.

Why do I love general surgery so much? Our general surgery patients don’t stay long. It’s harder to build relationships with them, but that doesn’t mean their time here on the Africa Mercy is any less impactful. The last few weeks have been such a blessing as I’ve helped care for so many people after a variety of surgeries. Sometimes I get busy and forget to see the beauty and blessings that surround me in the hospital, but then I’m reminded in the small ways, the impromptu day to day happenings, how much of a blessing it is to work on this ship and know my patients for the short time they are here. The following is one story of how a simple moment can mean so much if I just take the time to listen.

One of our ladies with a larger goiter before surgery getting
excited when the anesthesiologist came to assess her.  

When the first thyroidectomy patient returned to the ward at the beginning of general I was on shift orienting a new nurse. Our thyroid patients come to us with similar stories. One day the gland in their neck starts to grow into a goiter and they are helpless to stop it. How we feel about our physical appearance is something women all over the world struggle with, but add to that a cultural superstition that a deformity is a curse, a punishment for wrong doing, or the sign of a witch not looking as everyone else can be even more socially isolating. Many of our women come to us hidden under their scarves so the world cannot see.

Left untreated these thyroids can continue to grow until they literally strangle a person to death, but removing the goiter does even more than saving her life. Removing a goiter hands a women her life back; it gives her hope that she can be accepted, free of this burden she has been carrying. This is why on days like this first day back to general surgery one of my favorite things to do is to hand our patients a mirror. Even when sleepy and uncomfortable everyone has the same reaction, and this first patient was no different. I handed over the mirror and as she looked at her flat neck for the first time, she smiled with surprise then breathed a sigh of relief as her whole body relaxed. She held onto the mirror even as we worked and life went on around her. That mirror showed her that yes, what she hoped for is tangible.

As I watched this women’s reaction to her image in the mirror and saw the tears in the eyes of the new nurse with me, I couldn’t help but think how this mirror is a metaphor for the image God sees of you and me when viewing us through the blood of Jesus. Like these women, we too all live with an ugly life threatening burden, a burden which isolates us from God; however, unlike these women, we did do something to deserve

this burden we carry. Left untreated and unforgiven this burden, this curse, will lead to our own eternal death; however, we too still have hope because of the gift we have through Jesus and his sacrifice for us. Because of this blood, God does not see our burden (our sin); the burden is gone, it’s cut away, and when we see our new refection the way God sees us now, we too will smile in surprise at what he has done and breath in relief of the hope we have for eternity.

Djazim

Thankful Thursday Update 2

Would you believe I got an e-mail from C early this morning?  She was checking in on ME because she thought finding her husband yesterday had to be pretty unsettling!  She was right.  And you thought I only liked her because she makes great salads and gives me hostas!

C gave me the K update - starting with he is expected to make a good/complete recovery for which I am thankful.  K has multiple facial fractures.  He fractured three ribs.  His left lung was slightly collapsed.  His spleen was ruptured/lacerated, but has been repaired.  He has a chip/fracture of a knee cap which C thought was not a big deal.  And then he has the dreaded concussion.  Pray for him, friends.  I am . . . 

Thankful Thursday Update

Just after dinner tonight I heard from C.  K had a procedure to repair a ruptured spleen and was transferred to the U of MN Hospitals - but no stitches!  Do keep them in your prayers!

Thankful Thursday!

"Thankful Thursday!" is coming a day early this week.  I generally always usually call my dad every Wednesday morning, but today his line was busy.  All seven times I tried to call it in an hour and a half!  The line was busy.  So I decided since it was close to 11:30 a.m., I'd walk Annie instead.

We headed north.  About five houses past ours, I heard what sounded like a crash, but I didn't think anything of it.  We're always hearing noises from Kenrick Avenue and I figured that's what it was.  Annie and I kept walking and right in front of K and C's house, I heard an owl.  "Hoo, hoo, hoo."  I thought, "How strange that an owl would be out this time of the day" and prepared to walk on.  But then I noticed a ladder on the side of the house, I remembered hearing the crash and I thought, "I need to check this out."  

We walked up the driveway and discovered K face down in a pool of blood, making that "Hoo, hoo, hoo" sound.  Praise God he was alive!  I rang the door bell and C, a nurse, came out.  I stayed with them until 911 arrived and now I'm (not so patiently) waiting to hear how K is.  My guess is a concussion, some stitches in the gash above his eye, with possibly broken ribs and a broken nose. 

Like I told Dad, I am thankful his line was busy this morning and that we were walking when we did.  C never heard the fall.  Thank you, Jesus, for nudging us to stop.      

A Neighborhood Party!

Yesterday, the weather outside was frightful!  The snow came and came and came and the snowplow did NOT!  Since we live at the bottom of the hill, we live where the cars get stuck.  The first car got stuck just before noon, but it got really crazy around 3:30 p.m. when we had at least five cars stuck on the road outside our house.  That's when the party began!

Sam got his truck stuck trying to bring Micah to work.  Kevin came over to help me push Sam out.  Tron came out and offered to give Micah a ride because her all-wheel drive would never get stuck.  It did.  So Greg came down the hill to help push. Tron's girls came over to help push. Tom and Nancy came out to join the party and three more cars got stuck.  Meanwhile, Brian at the top of the hill said, "My truck just has to make it around the corner.  I can bring Micah to work."  LOL!  They almost got stuck!

Micah made it to work, albeit late.  All the cars were pushed out and still the snowplow never came.  But we had a nice neighborhood party while it lasted!

If I could be . . .

Just one superhero at the Y, I would be . . .

(Insert picture of Mrs. Incredible - the computer won't let me!)

I have the most amazing swimming classes at the Y on Friday!  

My first class includes my crying best swimmer along with my crying worst swimmer and my "I don't need to hold on the to wall" child  and my "I'm going to try, but I can't do it" child.  What I wouldn't have given for those stretchy arms as I worked with them - hold one child on the wall, comfort a crying child, work with another child.  They would have been awesome!  Finish class.  Breathe in.  Breathe out.  

It's time for class number two.  It's a brother sister team and they make the previous class look easy.  I finally told the lifeguards who strategically moved right beside me - "If they let go of the wall, they sit on the wall."  I was even overheard telling one of the lifeguards, "Let her go under.  Maybe she will learn."  Finish class.  Breathe in.  Breathe out.

One class to go - only two students show up.  Smile.  Teach them their back crawl.  Breathe in.  Breathe out.  Go home.    

Come back on Saturday to teach CPR-PR to a class of just six - one with a job coach, two who knew what they were doing, two who had never had CPR before, two who's first language was not English.  I wanted those incredible arms!  Grab R. - "that's two breaths after thirty compressions".  M. - "did you breath twice?  You need to."  M. - "tilt the head back."  M. - "put your hands here when you do compressions."  I think one of the students said it best when she said, "_______ (we protect the guilty), if you ever try to save me at the Y, I'm going to come to and ask for someone else to help me out!"       

Breathe in.  Breathe out.  Go home!

Thankful Thursday!

I just got out of the shower at the Y today, and my friend, Mary, came up to me and said, "I've been looking for you!  Do you remember when I put lotion on your back a couple of weeks ago?  Today is my turn!"

Tell you what - dry skin is the number one locker room complaint at the Y and having Mary put lotion on my back two weeks was absolutely wonderful!  We're not sure if it's the chlorine or the weather or a combination of both.  So I put lotion on her back and she put lotion on my back and then she turned to the eighty-something year old lady who was standing between us and said, "Can I put lotion on your back?"  The smile and just happy "yes!"  made it all worth it.

So today I am thankful for friends who put lotion on my back so that my first words to my daughter and husband when they get home are NOT, "Will you scratch my back?"

NLM Ukraine 2017 Explanation

Finally, after experiencing internet service difficulties, computer repairs and life, we FINALLY finished a youtube of our time in Ukraine.  When you have five minutes, check it out and rejoice with me for the healing that took place in my body while we served there!

NLM Ukraine 2017

David

The Wildest Ocean

We sang this last night during worship and one of the lines drew me in, "Your love is like the wildest ocean, nothing else compares."  

And I thought, "Wow, how can that be?"  Have they never been on a ship, preferably the Africa Mercy, during a storm, where you rock and roll and toss the cookies, then rock and roll some more?  Where walking down the hallway is a near impossibility?  And eating lunch a challenge?  It's downright frightening and scary!  Maybe that's how God's love is to those who don't know Him.  It is frightening and scary.  To those who do, it's beyond comprehension, overwhelming, overflowing, never-ending . . . rather like a sail on the good ship Mercy!  

I also thought of how I love the wildest ocean when I am safely sheltered on the beach - to see the waves roll and crash, hear the rumbles, see the splash!  Maybe that's it - I am sheltered by the love of the Most High while in the wildest ocean!   

Thankful Thursday!

While walking Annie this morning in -10*F temps (with wind chills of -26*F), I realized I hadn't posted "Thankful Thursday" yet.  As I pondered what to write, it came to me.  I am thankful that I live in the climate I live in:

• After all, it is only temporary - these bone numbing temps do not last forever!
• I can dress for success and stay warm no matter how low the thermometer goes!  
• In Africa, I honestly couldn't take everything off to stay cool, but here I can put on even more to stay warm - and look like a technicolor rotund snowman! 
• I am challenged by driving in the snow, the ice, the sleet - and I think (hope!) it makes me a better driver!
• The snow is beautiful.  I can't say I like to scoop it, but it sure is pretty when it blankets every thing in a clean covering of white!

So as you're out and about over the next few days, be thankful for the weather.  It makes it much easier to enjoy!

"Blessed are . . ."

While serving with Mercy Ships, "Blessed are the flexible" became our favourite beatitude.  Imagine my surprise when today - fourteen years after we started serving with Mercy Ships - I finally heard the rest of the verse:

"Blessed are the flexible

 for they shall not be bent out of shape." 

Be blessed!  Be flexible!

The E-Mail Never Sent

I received an e-mail this week from the Native American Liaison for the school district.  He wrote, "I'm curious what Micah's ACT score was."  The mental response I wrote was, "And I'm curious why you need to know!"  Fortunately, I never sent that e-mail.  

When Micah came home later that day, she shared with me that he had called her into the office to tell her he had funds available and was willing to pay for her to retake her ACT's if she'd like to try and up her score.  Restraint is good!

The Winter Coat

Everyone in my house OWNS a winter coat; just not everyone in my house WEARS a winter coat!  

This week when our temperatures were bone-numbing negative numbers with incredibly freezing wind chills,  I noticed my beloved son wearing his jacket to work and out with friends.  I asked him what was up.  "Mom, it's cold out there!"

Meanwhile, number one daughter wore her coat to walk the dog AND she put it in her car when she drove to school.  Definite atypical high school behavior, but warm!

Mine, you know, is on until the temps are a bit closer to 50*F!

Then, there's that last member of our family who was chewed out by the school social worker for not having his coat on for bus duty!  Part of it is - he forgot his coat in Iowa last weekend (I know, go figure!).  The other part is - he's just not cold like the rest of us are!  Oh, to have that problem . . . 

Cake Wars!

Micah's culinary arts class at North had a cake wars competition this past week.  You'll be glad to know that her team won with their cake called "Winter".

With over seventy teachers voting for the winner, "Winter" garnered forty votes!  Congratulations, Micah and team!

Thankful Thursday!

Some Thursdays are far more thankful than others!  Today was one of them . . . 

. . . In my haste to get to the pool before the crowds arrived this morning, I missed putting my contact in my left eye - quite the easy miss at 6 a.m.  I couldn't find it anywhere, so I tossed in a new one, not sure if I had one or two contacts in my eye!  I was thankful for the text from Sam telling me he had found my contact.  Unfortunately, he did nothing to rehydrate it . . . 

. . . The pool was empty.  I had the most wonderful final early morning swim before I return to my regular hours next week - swimming just before lessons.  I was thankful for how lovely it was . . . 

. . . The glass I broke this morning caused damage only to the glass.  I laughed - thankfully - because it was a year ago that I got six stitches in my leg when I broke a plate . . .

. . . but I am most thankful that after my long walk with Annie at lunch in 0*F weather no less, I was able to get back into the house!  The keypad to our garage down only lets us shut the door, it no longer works to open it.  We're not sure why, but whatever "repairs" Sam has tried have not worked.  Unfortunately, I forgot to unlock the side garage door so I could get back in.  We were slightly numb when I figured that out - but I knew where our spare key was hidden!  I grabbed it, only to discover I couldn't open the key case.  Off to see my seventy-some-year-old neighbor Bernice who went after the case with a screwdriver, successfully opening it and getting my key out!  The poor dog's teeth were chattering so bad by the time I got her in, but I was ever thankful to be IN!

My sister-in-law, Debbi, sent me this from "Joy of My Heart", a daily devotional by Anne Graham Lotz.  I wanted you to enjoy it, too!

Because Your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. Psalm 63:3, NKJV No means of measure can define God’s limitless love . . . No far-seeing telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of His shoreless supply . . . No barrier can hinder Him from pouring out His blessings . . . He forgives and He forgets. He creates and He cleanses. He restores and He rebuilds. He heals and He helps. He reconciles and He redeems. He comforts and He carries. He lifts and He loves. He is the God of the second chance, the fat chance, the slim chance - Just give me Jesus!

Happy New Year!

I'm quite curious - 

does being awakened at midnight by the fireworks at Buck Hill

count as being awake to welcome in the New Year?