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