November Recap

The blog posts have been few and far between recently... Asafady (sorry in Malagasy).  A ton has been going on so it's been hard to sit down and write an update for everyone!  I'm working on some longer more personal posts but for now here is a quick update on all we've done in November!     November Recap    

    170 patients recieved surgery and were cared for on the wards 512 Inpatient Rehab treatments 165 Outpatient Rehab treatments Local surgeon and nurse preceptorship onboard the Africa Mercy Surgical Counting Course held at Hopital Be 105 Club feet treated using the Ponsetti Method 961 Dental appointments 143 Xrays taken 19 CT scans taken Gown and Gloving course held at Hopital Be 60 patients scheduled for surgeon screening in Mandritsara 47 patients scheduled for surgeon screening in Andapa Biomedical course held at Hopital Be Dental Course held on board 97 patients scheduled for surgeon screening in Toliara 53 palliative care visits 22 patients cared for at our obstetric fistula center      

 

October Recap

Just landed in Kenya this morning after a long 24 hours of traveling.  Very excited to get to work with Ohio State and Free the Children to educate nurses on how to better take care of neonates.  Not to mention getting to see a friend from home in just a couple hours.  My heart is happy to say the least.   Here is a quick recap of all we have done on the ship in October!    Fast Facts on October   170 Operations and patients taken care of on the ward 1,204 Patients received dental treatment 179 Counseling sessions 160 Patients from Mahajanga and Antsiranana will be scheduled for surgeon screening 198 Xrays completed 22 CT scans completed 79 Palliative care visits 46 Women cared for at the obstetric fistula clinic 158 club foot treatments by rehab 441 rehab treatments inpatient and outpatient Glaucoma course in Tamatave with 75 participants Dental course held on board with 21 participants Biomedical course held at Hopital Be with 6 participants Numerous primary Care Trauma courses held in Tana  Safe Obstetric Anethesia course in Tana with 39 participants Numerous World Health Organization Safe Surgical Checklist/Lifebox Team training courses throughout Madagascar     October was an incredible month on the ship.  Plastic surgery wrapped up and our orthopedic surgeries started on board.  I was lucky enough to participate in Orthopedic evaluation day which was a very humbling and eye opening experience.  Patients treated last year by Mercy Ships in Madagascar came to be followed up on.  After sitting down with me and answering personal questions about shame, marriage potential, happiness with their outcomes etc, they moved on to be evaluated by the rehab team and our orthopedic surgeon.  It was incredible to hear their stories and see the children running around with now straight, healthy bones.  Now with endless potential in front of them.   I'll leave you with some pictures of our plastics patients and some of my best friends on the ship.  Cannot even begin to tell you how much I love these kids.  After 2 months on board I can say with certainty that they have stolen my heart.  I will miss them so much.  

 

    I'll be spending two weeks in Kenya doing neonatal education with healthcare workers here and then will return back to the ship.  When I return back to the ship I will be moving wards and will work in our ICU and on D ward which is our maxillofacial ward.  I am excited for a new challenge and cannot wait to continue to share all the amazing things happening here!    

My First

You were my first.    The first patient to recognize me.  The first patient to break into a massive smile when we locked eyes on each other.    Me in the doorway, you in bed 15.    We live vastly different lives.  On the opposite sides of the world.  Yet our paths have crossed.   There is a part of me that doubted.  Doubted I could truly fall in love with a patient here.  Surely the cultural and language barrier is just too big.  Its too massive a gap to feat.  Too wide a bridge to narrow.  I'd continue to tell myself there is no way I'd make a connection.  Until you.  

    And you, this infectious little boy with a smile and a laugh that would leave me in continuous fits of giggles.  You'll never have before and after pictures.  You won't be a media patient.  Your condition is... well, too private.  This struggle you've kept hidden for so long is kept to a quiet hush.  I remember the first day I was assigned to you.  The terror in your eyes when I asked to see your incision site.  The shame.  The embarrassment.  It broke such a huge piece of my heart.   And that shift I'll never forget.  A last minute bedside procedure from a complication with your incision.  

    Your body seized in fear, your veins forming an endless map scaling up your arm.  You gripped my hand, your huge dark, seemingly endless eyes locked on mine.  And in that moment I would have done anything to protect you.  And you're not even mine.  Its that nurse instinct.  The protective, fierce love that could never be taught in a nursing textbook.  The IV was successful on the first, quick attempt.  You immediately giggled at the completed feat.  You looked inspired, awed and even captivated by your own bravery.    And then it was your chart.  In your results.  While silently praying for benign, I was greeted with that dreaded word.  Malignant.  And in that moment I realize we're not going to be able to save everyone.  I know deep in my soul that your days are numbered.  And I fight back these feelings of anger, of resentment.  And wanting nothing more that to figure out some way to protect you.   

     You don't get the endless opportunities and future that I've been blessed with.  We just happened to come into existence on opposites of the world.  Me in a lap of luxury, you in terrible poverty.  You and me.  We're really the same aren't we?  Just battling the realities of the human experience in different environments.  Disappointment, fear, anger, hope, resilience, acceptance, love.     I remember for a still moment that the world is broken and I can't save you.     I watch your beautiful momma with two babies slung on her hips follow chaplaincy down the hall.  Walking into a conversation that part of me would rather be left silent and unknown.  Let's go back to before.  When you didn't have to know the possibilities.  When a huge, white hospital ship came ashore in your home, promising hope and healing. When you expected healing.   And she moves on.  Your mother, I mean.  Resumes the only role she knows, her role as a mother.  Like the earth didn't shatter onto her shoulder from a conversation five minutes ago.  I remember staring at her in awe.  I was witnessing the bravest person I'd ever met.  That language of motherhood that knows no cultural divide.   

     She proceeds to pick up her devastation off the floor, kiss you on the head and decides to continue fiercely loving you, just as she did before we came ashore.   We can never promise physical healing.  But we can promise spiritual and emotional healing.  You are just as loved, just as accepted as those we are able to physically heal.  You are just as important in our eyes.  Just as brave.  Just as inspirational.  Because your laugh, your infectious, playful soul that walked off this gangway is still intact. It's teaching us resilience and love in the face of a harsh, broken world.  

    Hopefully you left us with hope.  With a profound sense of being loved.  Not only by us, but by a God who restores our broken world.  For while the world may be so incredibly broken, it is also so incredibly beautiful.             “We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I'd thought.” -Kathryn Stockett  

September

Here is a recap of all the incredible things that have happened in the month of September! It's not only important to give testimony to some of the miracles that have happened here but I also want all of you who have sacrificed so much for me both financially and in prayer to see where your support has gone.  I wish I could bring each of you here individually, show you around the ship, take you to Deck 7 where our patients get to play and breathe fresh air and teach you all the malagasy words I have been learning!

Fast Facts on September 2, 193 dental procedures were completed Plastics, Maxillofacial and General Surgery screenings started 129 patients recieved free surgeries that were life changing and in some cases life saving procedures 88 cases of club feet were treated using the Ponsetti method Clubfoot and Intensive Ponsetti method training for Malagasy health workers held Essential Surgical Skills course held for Malagasy health workers in the capital, Tana The Obstetric Fistula clinic opened 2 World Health Organization Checklist classes held for Malagasy health workers  
Screening for plastics was held and surgeries have started!  I currently work in the plastics/ortho ward (A ward) at the moment and I cannot even begin to tell you how quickly I fell in love with plastics patients.  We have had numerous patients with burns to their necks, faces, arms etc. that we have been able to graft and release their contractures.  Contractures that have created intense shame and the inability to perform simple day to day tasks.  Many of our patients walk onto the ward wearing clothing or scarves to hide their burns and my heart breaks at their shame and fear.  I want nothing more than for them to leave this ship knowing they are truly loved and that their burns are not ones of shame but scars of survival.       

In addition to plastics, A ward has had its fair share of general surgery patients.  This included a lot of hernias, circumcisions and benign tumor removals.  These surgeries are generally quicker and less involved but nonetheless have powerful, life changing outcomes.  Large hernias and benign tumors can impede every day life in a significant way in developing countries.  The inability to remove or surgically fix these problems can lead to multiple negative effects including public shame, isolation, and the inability to work which can thrust an entire family into even further poverty.  Some of my favorite, impactful patients were here only a short while...

Meet Mariette.

Man was this woman incredible.  She came to our gangway with a large lipoma gracing her back.  If ever I needed a smile or an encouragement during a stressful shift, she would be who I'd turn to.  It's incredible that despite the communication barrier, love didn't need a common language.  With a reassuring squeeze of my hand or giving me a huge smile that would light up the ward, she never ceased to remind me why I've left so many I love.  She was the reason.  She was so deserving of this chance to receive free surgery.  Many would see her as the lucky one, yet I saw myself as the one receiving so much blessing from her.  

Mariette rejoining her family, lipoma free!

The Ponsetti clinic opened!  The Ponsetti method is a non surgical approach to managing and correcting congenital club foot.  By creating long leg plaster molds we can correct club feet in a slow, non surgical manner.  We are not only treating patients with the Ponsetti method but we are educating Malagasy health care workers so that they can carry on the Ponsetti clinic long after we sail away.

This is only a small glimpse of the life change that is happening on the ship and I am so very blessed to be a part of it. 

We do not want merely to see beauty, We want to be united with the beauty.   To pass into it. To become part of it.  -C.S. Lewis