When the Boss Says, "No Way!"

When my boss looked at my first swimming class of the day - two sets of twins, one set identical, the other set boy/girl - and said, "There is no way I could ever teach that class!  Far too much energy!", should I have been afraid?  I mean, they were challenging, but then I got my second class!  And that made my first class look like a piece of cake . . . chocolate cake with chocolate frosting!

The Amaryllis . . .

There's a man in my home town they call the "Amaryllis Man."  If anyone has a question about an amaryllis plant, he has the answer!  He's been raising them since 1978.  We just call him "Dad" or "Grandpa", depending on who's calling him!

There's a man in my house we call the "Amaryllis Killer".  He has taken out more amaryllis plants than anyone I know. He over waters them, under waters them, or just plain lets them sit in water.  We call him "Dad" or "Sam", depending on who's calling him.

I sent Sam to school today with my last two amaryllis plants from Dad.  He wanted to do a science project with his kids and amaryllis plants are great for that!  You can do estimations, guess-timations, and if you're lucky, germinations.  I'm just hoping they come back alive . . . but in case they don't, I've already checked with Dad.  He has a couple more plants that he could give us for next year! 

Thankful Thursday

It's been almost sixteen hours now and I'm still ever so thankful!  For what you ask?  Healing . . . and the possibility of returning to my tri-focal contacts!  I met with Dr. Les Alsterlund yesterday morning and he ran me through a battery of eye tests and my eyes are doing quite well.  So well, in fact, that he's slowly letting me slip in my favorite contacts (the tri-focals) to see if I can go back to them.  I wore them three hours yesterday and the first two and a half hours were great.  Then I started to get a headache.  So I'm trying them again today for three hours.  The ten minutes I've had them in so far have been just fine.  Later this weekend, when the temps drop, I'm to go to Target or Cub in the tri-focals and see how I do with the fluorescent lights.  If that goes well, I can try them at work on Tuesday.  If I'm fine, I'm good to go.  If things are not fine and the light sensitivity or headaches come back, then I'm so see my eye doctor, Dr. Ben Stout, and see what we can do as far as fitting me with contacts that work for me.  So I'm thankful.  Thankful that i don't have to drive to St. Paul again to see Dr. Alsterlund.  I'm thankful for two glorious months without headaches or light sensitivity.  And I'm thankful that there is the possibility I may get rid of my cheaters once and for all!  To God be the glory!   

Pride: A speech from a nurse educator.

Today's post was reblogged from Nurse Amy's blog, "Throughaporthole".  Enjoy!

I stand here today incredibly proud. Proud of those before me. Less than one year ago I sat in the hospital directors office and panicked. We wondered how we would set up a clinic and staff it with Malagasy nurses, where would we find the nurses?  Where would we start? I drew a time line on the white board and we started making plans. Plans that seemed somewhat inconceivable. But I knew that just has he had been in my past, that God would be with me in my future and all things will be possible through him. After countless prayers, meetings and emails, things started taking off. 

In the last weeks of May I interviewed around 50 people for a place in the OBF training program. Some were impressive and encouraging. Some were worrying, offering bribes and not really having a clue. One qualified nurse answered my question “what is a fistula?” by replying “a fistula is a tree that grows inside the womb, it grows and grows until the women dies” and so we had many interesting encounters. Many of you may think that during that interview, as you were nervous and all dressed up, that there was a right answer to all of those questions, but you would be wrong. I trusted God to lead me through those interviews, I trusted God that he would bring the right people. All of you are here because you first impressed me with either your knowledge, your outlook on life, your attitude or your efforts to speak to me in English even though you had only just started learning the language the week before. But for many of those questions there was not a right answer. I was looking at the heart behind the answer and I believe God has brought you all here for a reason.

One questions I asked you all, lets see if you can remember, was ..”what do you think makes a good OBF nurse” I explained that the patients would be emotionally distressed, outcast, smelly and I asked … “what makes you think you could be an excellent OBF nurse”. Many of you told me with confidence that you can do it. That you are trained and will work hard and that you can do it. I believed you then and I still believe you. But I think that during this time your answers may have changed. I think that now you would answer that it is not just knowing how to physically nurse a patient. It is not just how to empty a catheter or how to remove a vaginal pack, but it is more. 

I hope that you have and will continue to learn that nursing is not just a science. It is not just drug calculations, fluid balance charts, vital signs or pain scales. It is about loving others, having compassion when no one else will, educating someone to save their life, carefully and tenderly breaking bad news, encouraging countless patients to continue treatment, take their medications or simply love them selves. None of these things are measurable and they are not science, this is where Nursing becomes an art. 

Maya Angelou the author and poet said:

“As a nurse, we have the opportunity to heal the heart, mind, soul and body of our patients, their families and ourselves. They may forget your name, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” 

You see nursing to me is an expression of Gods love, he loves us so that we can love others, he walks with us in our biggest trials and hardest moments so that we can walk with others, he comforts us under his wings when we have nothing left to give so that we can comfort others, he makes us sore on the wings of eagles and empowers us to take bold steps, so that we can encourage others. 

Florence Nightingale said this:

Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter’s or sculptor’s work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God’s spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts.” 

Preparing the materials required for a catheterisation, thinking through an explanation for your patient to keep them calm and carrying it all out with immaculate sterility for the wellbeing of your patient is art and science, hand in hand. And I am with Florence Nightingale that it is a very fine art.

You have each shown courage and bravery during this time of training. You have stepped into a different culture, a different way of thinking, where everything you did yesterday has now been changed and modified in to something new. You have learnt everything I can possibly teach about obstetric fistula and you have done it all in a language you started learning less than one year a go.

I get excited when I see you comforting patients, encouraging patients and showing compassion as that is something that is so lacking in this world. I get excited when you get drug calculations right and when you teach other nurses what to do.

This is why I am proud. 

But . . .

This is not a time to grow comfortable. To stop learning. This is only the beginning. You have been given an incredible opportunity, to learn from a state of the art hospital ship, to work with some of the most experienced fistula surgeons and nurses in the world and there is more. 

The future for you is exciting. You have a chance to be the beginning of the end of fistula in your country. You can do more than nurse fistula patients, you can educate on prevention or carry out research on treatment. I have high hopes and this is just the start. So don’t stop in this war against fistula, don’t stop learning and don’t get comfortable. Don’t ever get hard to the stories you hear, those stories that break your heart and bring forth compassion are so important. 

It is this that reminds us that fistula is not just a hole, it s so much more. 

So think again “what does it take to be a OBF nurse” 

because you are one….

You have completed the exam and passed, you have worked hard in practice and have succeeded but, I urge you to continue… continue to learn because there is always more to learn, continue to grow because there is always room to grow, and with each passing day refine the art of being an obstetric fistula nurse that cares with a love that God reveals to you and that can only come from Him. 

Educator out.

January 3FT

If you'll remember, this is the year of "3FT" where once a month, we'll have "Forced Family Fun Time".  Our good friend, Heidi, joined us yesterday and she brought the games.  

The first one was found on Pinterest and was just a hoot!  She used stretch wrap and wrapped up a bunch of fun, inexpensive gifts up into a ball, starting with the grand prize in the middle.  Sadly, I had just cut my fingernails the day before and unwrapping was a challenge.  Of course, you didn't get a turn to unwrap unless you rolled doubles with the dice - which I didn't do too well with either.  We passed the dice, we passed the ball, we hooted, we hollered and we had just a grand time!  Imagine fighting to get an Avenger kleenex pack!  We did!  And we fought over M&M's and a Hershey's bar and pencils and paper and more!  It was awesome, Heidi!  Thank you!

Heidi brought the next game, too - "Wits and Wagers".  It's a board game that was just as much fun as the saran wrapped ball!  Who knew Benjamin Franklin was 68 when he signed the Declaration of Independence?  None of us, that's for sure!  It's hard to explain, but definitely fun to play! 

We're open if you ever want to join us!  After all, we like to have fun!

Somaya's Second Chance

 . . . reblogged from "Through My Porthole" . . . 

Journeying with Neny and Somaya recently has been a huge privilege which has impacted me greatly.

Neny is a young woman who has seen brokeness and tragedy in her life, but her daughter Somaya was cocooned from the harsh world by Neny’s courageous love. Somaya needed healing in her body, but Neny needed healing in her heart.  They found both on board.

Somaya need both a cleft lip and palate reconstruction. Pic: Ruben Plomp

Neny’s life seemed to fall apart at every turn. When her daughter Somaya was born, Neny was deeply shocked to see her tiny baby’s mouth marred by a cleft lip and palate. She had never seen anything like it before. Somaya’s father was outraged. “This is not my baby! No one in my family has this,” he ranted, “It is not mine!” He abandoned them both and moved to another village.

When the tearful Neny came home from the hospital, neighbors told her to get rid of the baby. “Give her away to an orphanage. Send her away!” they said over and over. But Neny would not listen. “Somaya is a gift from God,” she replied.

Neny continued to pray for her baby. She remembers the day a few months later when she saw a program on TV about Mercy Ships. Surgeons were fixing people with the same problem as Somaya – with no charge to the patients. With no money to pay for a surgery, this was exactly what Neny needed to hear. It was announced screening for patients would take place soon in a town nearby. “This is an answer from God,” she thought.

Early on the screening day morning, Neny took Somaya to be accessed. This was the first time she had seen another person with a cleft lip. She was encouraged they were no longer alone. When Neny was given Somaya’s appointment card to be treated on the Mercy Ship, she was overjoyed.
Again Neny’s joy turned to despair. Two days before her appointment there was a fire in her house. No one was hurt, but everything Neny owned was lost.  She explains. “Of course I was sad that our home got burned, but I was thinking more about the appointment card because it was about the future of my baby. Her lips should have been fixed, but the appointment card got burned.” This additional tragedy weighed heavily on her shoulders, and Neny felt like abandoning all hope.

Somaya was beginning to talk, but her malformed palate made forming words very difficult, and made eating and drinking a challenge. “She had a problem even drinking water, the same for eating. It was going down the wrong way. She was often sick. She was always coughing,” her mother recalls.
Neny’s hopes soared when a radio broadcast confirmed Mercy Ships was returning to Madagascar. Receiving a second card was easier than she imagined. Two-year- old Somaya was once again scheduled for surgery.

In the hospital ship’s ward, the Malagasy mothers of the cleft lip babies were a comfort and support to each other. “We had a good relationship because all those kids had the same problem,” Neny reflects. “We are asking each other, ‘How is your baby doing? And how about yours?’ ” There were no more harsh words, only words of mercy and hope. Finally someone understood.

Somaya’s new rose-bud lips are only the part of her healing. Pic: Katie Keegan

“Now she is healthy!” declared the relieved Neny after Somaya’s cleft and lip restoration. “Now she can eat and drink normally. Before the surgery she was just able to say Mumma. Now it’s starting to be clear when she wants something. She says, ‘Water Mamma!’ ”

Somaya’s new-found abilities are healing for Neny’s bruised heart too.

Neny was full of anticipation as they prepared to their return to their village. She could not wait to show her neighbors  Somaya’s sweet new smile. “They will be amazed to see her back with these lips,” she says with a grin.

Please pray with us that our patients come to understand the unconditional love 

they experience on board is a mere reflection of the Father’s heart for them.

Thankful Thursdays

Knowing thankfulness is an area I need to grow in, I hope to post every Thursday something I am thankful for.  Silly as it may be, I'm thankful I was not Linda (one of my swimming buddies - she shared this with me on Tuesday) the day after Christmas when her real Christmas tree tipped over and fell on the hardwood flooring, smashing all of her ornaments and leaving a big puddle on the floor.  Everyone else was in bed, so she was the lucky winner and she got to deal with the mess.  The saddest part of the whole story?  She had just put her tree up on Christmas Eve because she and her husband had been traveling and she had only put up her favorite ornaments.  Now they were gone, save one that she thought she could still glue together.

So while I'm thankful I was not Linda the day after Christmas, today I am thankful for 

• a clean house; 
• relatively warm weather;
• and the wash machine repairman who is coming tomorrow - for the third time but with the right part this time.  I know it's the right part - it's sitting on the wash machine!