The blind see . .

The following quote is from Pam Porter, the perioperative eye team coordinator (note:  an older woman is generally referred to as a "mama" in Africa and an older gentleman a "papa"):

Incredible… The time to see the results of the first eye surgeries had finally arrived. The air was charged, full of anticipation, and excitement! The day crew who had worked for two months screening many patients and scheduling surgery were all there. The patients that had waited and prayed, and hoped and waited for healing were there. It was time to “see” the results.
As the first day crew member slowly and gently pulled off the eye bandage, everyone was almost holding their breath; then quickly papa jumped in the air, “Hallelujah!” “Hallelujah!” Nancy, the day crew member, held up one finger and papa said “un”. She continued to hold up different amounts of fingers and papa correctly said the count. Each time he answered, everyone in the tent area celebrated, with words, some with dancing, and many with clapping. Then papa continued singing, with arms raised and many “Hallelujah’s!” He did not want to stop and it was contagious to everyone.
Then the next mama, actually our first surgery patient of the year, also jumped up in response to being able to see. She also gave the correct count of fingers! Then in response to being able to see, another mama kept requesting her Bible!
The air was filled with excitement, clapping, and praising. And as I glanced around, I noticed some of the day crew wiping tears from their faces…tears of profound emotion and joy!
Then, as one mama looked up at the big white hospital ship, she gasped in amazement, voiced an equivalent to “ayy yii yii” and exclaimed that she couldn’t believe that she could see such a big ship when she could not see it the day before.
Finally, upon entering the eye room, several mamas broke out in song and dance, celebrating their sight. It was an awesome, inspiring, spontaneous Celebration of Sight, orchestrated by the patients themselves in delight and joy at their new-found sight.

John 9
25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

What a tale . . .

Reblogged from Nurse Amy Humphrey's blog, "The Promise of a Brighter Day."  Love it!  

 

Gather 'round, my dear friends, for it is story time.

Once upon a time, in a far-off land...

...there was an oddly wonderful village. Now this village was unlike any other village. It was a floating village-- the whole village lived and worked on a majestic ship, full of character, called the Africa Mercy. There was something enchanted about the ship, but the real magic happened on the ship's third deck: the hospital. No one would enter without coming away changed, often drastically, for the better. 

The time is now. The land is Congo. The people are real. Meet them, pray for them, celebrate with them, LOVE them!

Alvin.

Alvin had a small benign tumor in his mouth/neck. I say had because it is no more. :) The tumor made his little cheek puff out, quite fittingly like a chipmunk... which you just have to laugh about. I got to send him to the OR for the first surgery of Mercy Ships' field service here in Congo. When we prayed for him on the bench where all patients here are offered prayer before heading into surgery, I remember having an overwhelming feeling of being right where I was supposed to be. After a quick recovery, Alvin was back to hogging all the toys and stealing the nurses' hearts. He is now home with his family, probably getting into more mischief than ever before... "Aaaaaalviiiiiiiin!!!" Sadly I don't have a photo of Alvin, so this one will just have to do. :)

Merveille.

Merveille means 'wonderful' in French, and he is quite wonderful. Merveille had a palatoplasty done to fix his cleft palate. Can you imagine going 12 years of your life with a hole in the top of your mouth? He wasn't a huge fan of the NG tube (who would be?), but he still weathered the recovery like a champ. He also wasn't a fan of the soft diet (no rice!!) he had to adhere to post-op, but I'm a picky eater myself so I really couldn't blame him. He loved to laugh at me as I tried to count in French and Kituba while he did his palate exercises. Merveille's dad was the best coach one could ask for, by his side every minute and encouraging him in his recovery, in his speech exercises, and in the game of UNO. Oh my goodness, I have never seen a kid have so much trouble learning a card game. Every time he tried to put a green 7 down on top of a red 3, I just couldn't help but laugh! To be fair, I was attempting to explain the rules of the game in VERY broken French and Kituba, with a lot of reliance on hand gestures. :) Please pray that he continues to develop his speech, as he is having to learn a whole new way to form sounds with his now anatomically-correct mouth!

Alistera.

This sweet one has captured my heart. And not just because she is from my home-away-from-home, Uganda. :) She was brought here by a local doctor who is doing some pretty incredible things for disabled Ugandan children through his non-profit EDYAC-- you can check it out here! Admitted for severe burns she experienced as a young girl, her first surgery (of several planned) is today! She is very self-conscious of her scarring and shyly keeps the burned side of her face turned away-- BUT she is gradually beginning to come out of her shell, slowly starting to lift up her gaze, and us nurses couldn't be more thrilled. We sing through her dressing changes, and I tell her how beautiful she is, praying that she would know that she is SO loved. She teaches me to count in her local language while she compliantly takes her daily cocktail of less-than-tasty nutrition supplements to aid with wound healing. We turned one wall of her room into an art gallery displaying her superb coloring skills, and you will often find her bandages covered in "flair", like stickers and pipe-cleaner flowers. 

Alphonse.

Alphonse has been with us for over two weeks now. He serves as our ward's DJ, keeping us entertained with Congolese, Nigerian, and American tunes played from his phone. It is not uncommon to hear his voice singing out while I'm giving a tube feed on the other side of the ward or when we are giving shift report. He had a surgery that required a giant skin graft to be taken from his leg and placed on his face. He carefully watches each dressing change with a mirror, surveying our technique and never once complaining, though I am certain it is quite painful for him. Pray for Alphonse as his skin graft is not taking well right now.

Vernel.

Oh Vernel. I dare you not to fall in love with this 6-year-old's smile. He is just as full of life as these photos depict! And he gives the best hugs. One of my favorite moments of him was after his surgery when he was having trouble keeping down any food. I finally sweetened up some yogurt and gave it to him, and he just devoured it. As in, almost ate the spoon itself. The whole ward was laughing and he responded with a tiny yogurt-covered smile (difficult post-cleft lip repair, as you can imagine). He is heading home tomorrow after spending the weekend recovering at the HOPE center. He lives pretty far up-country and a few members of our media team are traveling with him to document his home-coming. Not that he was shy before, but I can imagine now he will be quite an unstoppable force in his village! Hopefully, I will have some photos/footage of that to share with you in the coming weeks!

Pressley.

Baby Pressley was one of the first of many precious babies with cleft lips to come through our ward. I didn't get to be his care nurse, but I did get some good snuggles. Just look at him!! What a blessing that he will spend the rest of his life without a lip deformity!

Gercia.

Whew, does this girl have a personality. Vehemently stubborn, for a while we couldn't tell if her "altered mental status" was due to a neurologic complication after her encephalocele repair, or just her ignoring us because she didn't like us nor anything we were making her do. Then one weekend my friend and fabulous fellow nurse, Becky (pictured above), discovered the power of tough love and bribery by cookies... and she got Gercia to walk up 4 flights of stairs to go outside on deck 7! By the end of her stay with us, Gercia was still her obstinate self, but she wore a smile much more often-- especially when bubbles were involved. And God bless her Grandmomma. Pray for Gercia's continued healing and that her stubborness and determination will be used to accomplish great things! :)

Thersia.

I was more than happy to welcome this cutie back from her cleft lip repair and, like a typical 6 month old, she did NOT like me or anyone else at first. Poor baby girl would cry, which would hurt her newly repaired cleft lip, which would make her cry more. But as we got on top of her pain and put some milk in her tummy, her smiles returned! Pray for her continued recovery and for the cleft palate repair she will need when she gets a bit older. Often these babies are very malnourished because it is nearly impossible for them to create seal in their mouth in order to suck. Thersia, however, is the picture of health... a testament to the good care provided by her young mama!

Emmanoel.

This dear boy. Read his full story here. Emmanoel was the very first patient I saw. We were driving up to the screening site on 'Patient Selection Day' and from the back of the Land Rover my inner nurse radar went off. I saw a mother holding a little boy at the side gate, and this boy was using every part of his body that you shouldn't need to use to breathe. In the medical world we call this 'retractions', and even from a distance I could see all the signs of severe respiratory distress. His eyes were tired, his body limp, he was barely conscious. Before I could even attempt to get out of the vehicle, I saw our pediatric anesthesiologist and another pediatric nurse rushing toward him. I prayed, knew he was in capable hands, and didn't see him again for the remainder of the hectic screening day. Late that night I asked about him, afraid of the answer I might be given. I was overjoyed when I found out he was still with us and that his respiratory distress was caused by an operable! tumor which was nearly occluding his entire airway. His was one of the first surgeries scheduled, and even then I was praying we weren't waiting too long... we all were. I don't think many of us slept well his final night before surgery. Emmanoel certainly didn't, having to work so hard for every breath-- it was one of the most heart-wrenching things I have witnessed. I hate to think what might have happened had we found him even a week later. Thanks to an exceptional team in the OR, his surgery went very well, and he didn't need a tracheostomy! 

Meeting of the minds: Dr. Mark Shrime, Dr. Gary Parker, & Dr. David Levy

I received Emmanoel postoperatively and, after a brief 'set-back' requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation for just under 2 days, he went on to have an incredible and full recovery. Huge thanks to everyone back home who prayed for him during that time! :)

Just look at these pictures of him from his most recent outpatient visit. So amazing to see him smiling and playing as an almost-3-year-old should! God is surely with you, Emmanoel!

*All photos courtesy of the infinitely talented Mercy Ships photographers

The correct answer is "YES!"

Reblogged from Nurse Amy's blog, "Promise of a brighter day . . ."

 

In case you were wondering if we ever have any fun around here... :)

the most wasted of all days is one without laughter. 

[e.e. cummings]

Abundantly more . . .

The 2012-13 school year was full of challenges for Sam.  Knowing this year could be even worse, we collected a group of "Prayer Warriors" to stand in the gap for Sam.  These men, women and children are not only lifting him up in prayer, but also . . .

Last week Sam's schedule was changed from third hour prep to first hour prep due to the addition of two new teachers in his building, meaning his fifth grade students would go from 10:10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m. lunch without a break.  Knowing that we financially could not afford to provide 26 students with daily snacks (it is a lower income school), Sam asked our prayer warriors if they would consider helping out.

Our first response came at my Bible study last Monday.  One of our prayer warriors handed me cash and said, "Costco".  Now, we don't have a membership, but one of Sam's co-worker's who LOVES to shop does - and she shopped and she shopped and she brought in mountains of food for his class - with change included.

On Wednesday, one of our prayer warrior neighbors dropped by with granola bars - she said it was a great special and she couldn't pass it up.

Then on Friday, Sam got a call from the office - he had a package.  He said he'd send down a student to pick it up and the secretary said it was a big package and he'd better send down at least two students.  One of our prayer warrior teams (we're suspecting a husband and wife) - and the secretary won't tell us who - dropped off tons of snacks for Sam's classroom.

Abundantly more . . . to God be the glory!

Blessed be those who bless His children . . .  

Love it!

Only on the Africa Mercy

do they call the blood bank "the crew"!

Why, O, Y?

I was suppose to teach Oxygen Administration at the Y this morning.  I went to my classroom and started to set up when I noticed - there was NO oxygen!  The tank was missing!  And so the search began . . . I called my supervisor while she was on vacation - no response.  I called the second in command - voice mail.  I talked to the deck manager - no clue.  I talked to the front desk who wanted me to call the Director of the Y.  I was ready to call the manager on duty when my supervisor called back.  The tank was supposed to be picked up on Wednesday and re-filled with oxygen and returned by Friday.  It wasn't, and so I taught Oxygen without any!  Hmmm . . . 

Meet Ebenezer . . .

Sometimes you wonder, "How hard is it - really?"  Read Ebenerzer's story and find out . . .

Ebenezer was one of our first patients before we even knew it.

Ebenezer is from Nigeria and was unable to afford medical care in his home country.  He searched the internet for a way to get help to remove his tumour and found Mercy Ships on line.  He read about the ship being in Conakry, Guinea and decided to go and seek the ship, hoping that somebody could help.  Unfortunately he got to Guinea too late and the ship had already left, but that didn't deter him.  He heard that that the ship was going to The Republic of Congo so he started to make his way to Brazzaville.  By the time he got to Brazzaville he had no money, he couldn't speak French or any of the tribal languages of Congo, but God intervened!  A fellow Nigerian passenger on his flight offered to pay for his lodging and onward airfare to Pointe Noire.  On arrival some Mercy Ships crew "happened" to be at the airport collecting incoming crew when they found Ebenezer.  They took him to the Hope Centre to stay until the ship arrived.

Ebenezer became the first patient of this outreach and was welcomed on board by President and Founder, Don Stephens.  They prayed together in the ward before he received his surgery and now he is on his way to healing and a new outlook on life.

He is currently staying at the Hope Centre ashore which houses 150 patients and caregivers.  His bandages are removed and he will continue to recover until his next stage of surgery to graft bone from his hip around his new titanium jaw.  Continue to pray for his ongoing healing.