Here's the other . . .

Heather, a nurse from Canada, posted this on her blog today -

On Thursday, we had our last General surgery.

On Friday we had our last general surgery rounds, and discharged all of those patients home.  (You would think that means my job is done, but it's not, I still get to play with all the other not-yet-discharged patients that remain on my ward.)

This weekend was our last weekend with the hospital open.

And this Sunday we had our last ward church.... I'm not sure if I've talked about this before.  Every Sunday, the hospital chaplains hold a small worship time with a speaker, and it's normally on A or B ward.  All of the patients are invited, though not required to go (sometimes they are kinda surrounded in their beds though, if the service is happening in their area).  This Sunday... instead of a speaker, the patients were invited to tell their stories.  It started with two, told through 3-4 translators so as many as possible could understand.  Then more and more tried to tell their stories.  It was amazing, and heart wrenching, and beautiful.  To see this joy, these transformations, that's why we're here.

Many spoke of searching for years for help.  Problems that started as children, still affecting them as adults, and no one able to help.  Being told they are cursed, being ostracized.  One man went to almost every country in West Africa, searching for someone who could help... but no one could.  Another took his son to every hospital in the Sierra Leone for a growth on his eye, but they simply said he was cursed.  The stories kept coming, and each spoke of how their prayers were answered by a ship that does free surgeries.

One man spoke of his son, born with a cleft, called a devil by his mother and grandmother.  But a doctor gave the man hope, told him it was a medical problem, and she would find a surgeon who could fix it.  And so the baby was taken to a children's home, and the father waited.  When they could come here, finally, he sees the change in his baby. The lip is whole now, and the father wants more than anything to take his son home and show them that this is a human being.

Such a little thing.  Such a simple surgery.  And yet... it moves mountains.

Not all of our surgeries are simple.  Not all have perfect outcomes.  Many that spoke have gone through multiple surgeries.  There are many that we are praying for.  We pray that we will see a final, miraculous wound healing.

It is almost time to say goodbye, and it is when we expect the miracles.  We had 24hours of prayer a week ago for the plastic surgery patients, and most wounds had a sudden decrease in size.  Pray with us as we ask God for healing.  Pray for wounds to stop leaking, for wounds to shrink and disappear.  For infections to clear up, for patients to be ready (physically and emotionally) to go home.  We have until Friday.

From Sailing the Seas to . . .

On the good ship Mercy last summer . . .

To apple trees!

 

Okay, so it's not an apple tree . . . 

 Congratulations to Matt on his new job at

Applewood Apple Orchard!

May it be a fun time of raking, planting and picking!

Surving the First Day

This is the latest report from Save the Children - "'Surviving the First Day; State of the Worlds Mothers 2013".  I read it on my friend Tommy Farrell's blog.  Tommy and his family were our next door neighbors on the good ship Mercy in Sierra Leone.  They're currently missionaries in Ethiopia. 

 

The most dangerous day of a child’s life is the day it enters the world—irrespective of where it is born. More than a million children a year die on the first day of life, 15% of all under-five deaths, according to a report by Save the Children, a charity. But by far the riskiest place to be born is sub-Saharan Africa. The region accounts for 12% of the world’s population, but 38% of first-day deaths.

A big reason for this is that many African babies are born too early—in Malawi nearly a fifth of babies are born prematurely, the highest rate in the world. Many more are born too light. In Mauritania and Niger around a third of babies are born underweight.  Poor maternal health and serious undernutrition are big reasons for this. The prevalence of underweight mothers in Ethiopia, Madagascar and Eritrea is particularly high.

To make matters worse, African women often marry and have children at a young age, when their bodies may be too underdeveloped for child birth. About half of all young women in Chad and Niger were mothers by the age of 18.

The report highlights the correlation between low use of contraception, high fertility and poor newborn outcomes. Across sub-Saharan Africa the proportion of women who use modern contraception is less than 16%. In Somalia and Chad it is only 1% and 2% respectively. Women, on average, have five children each.  Health care is woefully inadequate, largely because of a severe shortage of health workers. The region has 11 doctors, nurses and midwives per 10,000 people—less than half the 23 considered necessary to deliver essential care. In Guinea, Niger, Sierra Leone and Somalia, there are fewer than two health workers for every 10,000 people. In Ethiopia up to 90% of women give birth at home with no skilled care. And even in Nigeria, which could soon overtake South Africa as the region’s biggest economy, nearly one woman in five has nobody—not even a family member or friend—to help during childbirth.

The report’s Complete Mothers’ Index ranks 176 countries on five indicators: risk of dying during pregnancy or childbirth, under-5 mortality rate, education, income and female political representation. The ten worst-performing countries are all in sub-Saharan Africa; Congo comes bottom.

Praise God He is sending the Africa Mercy to the Congo in August.  

Happy Birthday, Sam!

Today just happens to be my sweet hubba's birthday and in honor of the occasion,  Micah baked the perfect cake for a man who loves to fish!  Enjoy the pics!

 

 

The happy baker!

Fantastic fish eyes!

Happy B'Day Daddy!

Add caption

 

On Ward D . . .

My Australian friend, Deb Louden, a nurse on the good ship Mercy, just posted the following on her blog.  It's a story of two different patients and their progress - definitely worth the read!

Whether I want to believe it or not, this 2012-13 Guinea field service is quickly coming to an end. We only have two more weeks of surgeries and then one week of the hospital open, before everything in sight is packed up, pulled off the walls, bleached and put away for the sail.

Just the thought of doing those things gives me an indescribable feeling of sadness.

Every bed in the hospital that is packed down, means goodbye to every patient. On D ward for the last few months we have had some of the same patients stay with us while they wait for their healing. It is so lovely to walk into the ward each day and be greeted by the same faces, to see improvement each day and to smile and rejoice with every step nearer to recovery. Of course there have also been plenty of bad days, days that we have cried out to God for help, because this is so out of our hands. Nothing I can do, even with medicine, can help someone sometimes.

This hospital only works because God is with us, going before us and behind us. He brings the patients to us, walks with them while they are here and then as we discharge them back to their homes, where we most often cannot follow, we only have God to go with them.

Let's have a look at some of the journey’s of my patients this year:

This man we looked after from the beginning of the field service, back in September.  He came in to the hospital for another procedure a few weeks ago.

I saw the back of a man as I walked up the gangway and my first thought was, That looks like Theirno! But he's solid and not skinny. When I reached him, I was right! It was this amazing man! And he was solid and looking so healthy and happy.

The following day as I walked into my evening shift, instead of being in surgery like he should have been, he was patiently waiting in his bed. My eyes caught my team leaders and I asked her without words, What's going on? Her eyes welled with tears. Oh no... my heart began to sink. It turned out we needed further scans to see clearer what they thought was the tumour growing back. Unfortunately, the scans were right. Our surgeon who has worked on board for 26 years has never seen a benign tumour grow back so fast.

He was taken to surgery two days later, covered in prayer, for the tumour that had grown back, to be removed in its entirity.

 I was really surprised about his tumour growing back, but the thing is, we can never guarantee anyone's sickness won't come back and even if we save their life with a surgery, we can't ensure they're not hurt on the roads or by a different disease. But we can offer them a hope and a sure future with God as their saviour.

This amazing man was with us in D ward for such a long period of time, he saw us as we worked, not just with him, but with each other and cared for our other patients.

During this admission, one evening, as I was standing next to another dear patient in bed 1, he walked over to join the conversation. Now this beloved woman in bed 1 had also been with us for months and was having a bad day. These two patients had both, at separate times, had similar struggles. Both had had a tracheostomy, therefore they'd had their voices taken away at the hardest times. Both had struggled to put weight on to get healthy. Both weren't able to eat for months and were fed through a tube. Both had had bad days where they couldn't bear the future. But one, this man, had survived and grown stronger, not only physically, but mentally, emotionally and hopefully spiritually too.

As we stood by her bed, this man, a translator and this patient's sister, we talked about the road ahead. I knew it was hard for this woman, but I tried to encourage her that this man had been through things just as hard. Then this man spoke up, he said to her, "Take courage! They fought for my life." After the translation registered in my brain, my pulse quickened. I had written in one of my blog posts back in October '12, "...as long as this road is, HE IS WORTH IT!  His life is worth fighting for! " But to hear those words out of his own mouth! He knew it! He knew his life was worth fighting for, HER life was worth fighting for.

Since then she has made a lot of progress! Look at her beautiful face now.

Just in case you don't remember her, this is how she looked before we began surgery in February.

 She still has another surgery planned for cartilage to be put in her nose to give it some height. It will also take some time for the scars to relax and movement to come to make facial expressions. But when I see her face, I just think about the amazing journey that she's been on here with us and I feel so privileged to have been a part of it!

 

The Faces of Noma

Anna Blauw posted this most beautiful blog about "The Faces of Noma".  Enjoy!

On D Ward we have a variety of patients ranging from large facial and neck tumor removal, cleft palates and lips, goiter surgery, facial reconstruction, etc. However few patients have captured my heart like each one of our Noma patients. Maybe its just because the Noma patients are generally on the ward the longest, but I think that is because of their character and disposition. Each one of the Noma patients has come from a different background, but all have been severely disfigured at an early age.  Even though they have had to persevere through taunting and abandonment, through shame and hurt, they have all come through the storm with joy and kindness. I have learned so much from my noma patients, and I have grown to love them!

 

For those of you who are tuning into my blog now, Noma is a disease that causes a gangrenous infection of the oral and nasal cavities. It eats away the tissue of the face, nose, and mouth leaving survivors permenatnly and severely disfigured. They come to Mercy Ships to reconstructive surgery and skin grafts. Repairing Noma usually requires multiple surgeries. It can be very difficult for the patients because they usually end up looking and feeling worse before they ultimately get better. Each stage of surgery can require up to 3 or 4 weeks of healing before the next surgery can be performed. It requires a lot of patience and perseverance.

  

Delamou “The Ladies Man”

 

Delamou is a 6 year old boy that came to us from the forest region of Guinea. When he first arrived at the ship he was extremely sick. He had malaria and other infections related to Noma.  He was in such poor health that we were not sure if he would be able to have surgery on the ship. He was admitted for a few days and then sent to the Hope Center in order to recover and receive proper nutrition in hopes that he would recover sufficiently to proceed with surgery.

   Delamou made a fantastic recovery and had 3 subsequent surgeries. He has to wait to have the final steps of noma repair until he is in his teens and has stopped growing. Mercy Ships will keep track of him and arrange for him to come back to the Ship when it is back in Guinea or a neighboring country.

   Delamou quickly became a ward favorite! Not only was he adorable, but he went from being a reserved, shy child to a wild ladies man. He is best known for his practical jokes, incredibly dance moves, and voracious appetite. He really is a charmer! He has a reputation for winning the hearts of female nurses everywhere, only to break them again! One day he will be so adorable, loving and cuddly and the next he will be fickle hearted, giving his love arbitrarily to another nurse! I see a heartbreaker in the making.

Fodi “The Life Long Learner”

Fodi is another patient who has completely stolen my heart! Fodi has been on the ward for a few months, patiently awaiting each surgery.  However, he has not let any of his time go to waste! Fodi is in his mid fifties, but because of his disfigurement as a child he was never sent to school. When he came to the ship he could not read or write. It is obvious however, that even in middle age Fodi has a thirst for knowledge. He has used his time convalescing wisely and has learned all of his letters and numbers. He spends hours each day perfectly copying words to practice his writing.  He can now read basic street signs and the names of cities in Guinea. He is learning more everyday.

    Not only is Fodi determined to make the most of his time in the hospital, but he is also incredibly kind! He is known to many of the other patients and day workers as Koto Fodi, “Uncle Fodi.” Fodi will reassure those who are nervous about their surgery, lend his flip flops to other patients to take a walk, hold crying babies, and make sure the other patients are doing their therapy exercises.

   What I love about Fodi so much is that he is not letting life go to waste. He is living each day to the fullest even from a hospital bed! His capacity for learning, his caring heart, and sense of humor make D ward a better place!

Bala “The Punk”

Bala is 19 years old. He’s a typical 19 year old, aka a punk. He is surly and resistant, but hilarious at the same time. I just can’t resist telling Bala that he is such a baller and thus singing him the many rap songs involving the word. When I explained to him that “baller” is lingo for someone who is generally known to be a totally awesome  bad-ass in the States, he conceded that he in fact was a Baller and that his name was fitting.

Bala and Fodi do their stick exercises with the help of Trudi and Brian

                                       Mariatou “The Perseverant Queen of Silent Humor ”

Mariatou has had another surgery to open up her mouth since this photo was taken
but I don't have a more recent picture. She will have one more surgery this friday to
graft a piece of bone into her new nose 

I have already prominently featured Mariatou in previous blog posts, so I’ll spare you the long story! Mariatou has been on the ward for almost as long as I have, about 3 and a half months. Through 5 surgeries, pain, vomiting, weight loss, a trach, and other complications, this special lady has never given up. Not only has her perseverance been an amazing inspiration, but her humor has been a blessing to us all. Unable to speak for most of her stay on the ship, Mariatou has become the queen of non-verbal jokes. A few weeks ago she put on a nursing scrub top, filled her pockets with tube feeds, syringes, and other necessities and pretended to walk out of the ward with her feeding pump and IV pole. She has also been caught wearing a crown on various occasions, dancing, “weightlifting” using IV fluids, and giving her cousin Djeneba a hard time.  Now that she can speak again it has opened up a whole new world and it has been such an amazing thing to see her personality blossom!

Kadiatou “The Cuddling Kleptomaniac”

Kadiatou had her first stage of surgery almost two years ago in Sierra Leone. Noma had completely eaten away Kadiatou’s nose, leaving her with no nose and no palate.  She came back to the ship this spring to have further surgeries.  Like Delamou, Kadiatou should not have her next stages of surgery until she is finished growing. However, her father said that he would not send her to school or let her be seen in public until she “had her face fixed.” In this culture, education makes or breaks your fate, especially for young girls. Doctors aboard Mercy Ships decided to continue surgery, and give her a slightly bigger nose than usual in hopes that she will grow into it with time. Kadi is an adorable and cuddly child, who can be likened to a clinging koala bear. She loves balloons, stickers, and bubbles, and has an infection little squeaky laugh.  However, she also has a talent for mischievously stealing things from nurses’ pockets.  Can’t find your pen? Somehow Kadiatou stole it from your pocket and is coloring with it in her bed. Is your ID badge missing? Kadiatou is most likely wearing it. Many missing things have been discovered underneath Kadi’s pillow. She is a tiny yet stealthy criminal.

Kadi the Koala

Nonfadima “The Giggler”

Nonfadima and translator Augustin

Nonfadima is another young girl who suffered from Noma in early childhood. Her Noma affected the entire left side of her face all the way up to her eye. She had no vision from her left eye because of extensive damage and scar tissue. Even so, Nonfadima’s laughter can be heard almost constantly through out the ward. She is so loving and trusting. She rarely has visitors come to the ship, but she never loses heart. When you greet her she is full of smiles and giggles. She laughs at the nurses silly sense of humor and is always game for fun. The only time I’ve ever seen her upset is when she didn’t know how to turn the sink off in the bathroom and accidently flooded 2 of the isolation rooms!

Each of these Noma patients has beet the odds already! 90% of children affected by Noma die. The same perseverance that allowed them to survive the illness is so evident in each of their unique personalities.  I am so thankful to have had the privilege to care for and get to know each one of these special patients! They have taught me so much about living and loving with abandon and humor. They have given me more than I could have ever hoped to give to them. 

Blessing . . .

Meet Blessing . . . an eight-year-old from Liberia

Who had fallen on her way home from school and developed sepsis which turned into noma

 Noma is a flesh-eating disease.

Through the grace of God, 

coupled with a mother's prayer,

Blessing visited the ship not only

in Liberia,

but Sierra Leone

and Guinea, too.

Using the God-given skills of the staff on board

the good ship Mercy,

today Blessing looks like this!

To God be the glory - great things He has done!