Today is the day that her bracelet came off......

Today I was able to admit and care for a woman who was brought to us promptly after our upcountry screening completed this past Saturday. For 2 weeks a team of nurses, security, and translators were traveling all over upcountry Guinea trying to find those patients who were until now unreachable. These are patients who would not otherwise even know we are here, untouched by the world outside their village. So many others will come over the next few months, but they made her come quickly- not knowing how long it would be before she died of malnutrition or lack of air. Her tumor was large, stemming from the roof of her mouth and expanding back into her throat. She, like T, had been suffering from this for years--she has lasted 13 years with a tiny area to eat, drink, and breathe from. She is malnourished, far underweight and for being 32 years old, the width of her wrist is roughly the size of three of my fingers. How I know exactly the size of her wrist is where this story begins....... She was admitted in a hurry and planned to go to the Operating Room almost immediately. Because she comes from so far upcountry I have found only 2 people here who speak her language. Both are dayworkers who also came from the forest region of Guinea so many years ago. Both men are on our hospital patient life team and were simply angels today. They helped me to explain everything in her new environment to her- including how to use running water and a toilet. Kokoi went with me to hand her over to the OR staff, and there we learned that no one inside spoke her language. He happily suited up in the appropriate gear, and headed in with her so that he could explain everything that would be happening. They needed to put in her trach while she was still conscious for fear of loosing her airway, something that is scary even if you can understand what is happening to you. As we sat on the bench before we headed in I noticed she was wearing a bracelet made of string. I asked her if it came off, and she motioned to cut it off. I went to retrieve scissors, and after I had made the cut, she began talking. It was a long story, long enough for me to ask Kokoi- What did I just cut off? He smiled, and this is what he told me: Years ago when her tumor first started she tried everything she could. She saw countless doctors, visited clinics, and finally resorted to seeing a healer. At this point her tumor was opening up, bleeding, and causing her great pain. The healer tried many things, and finally one day told her that if she wore this bracelet that her tumor, and along with it her pain would go away--never to return. For years she has had this visible reminder on her wrist, living every day hoping that she would be healed. She has never taken off the bracelet....Until today. After he shared all of this with me I told her that it was okay, because today was the day that her bracelet came off.....That her wish was coming true. That all she had hoped and prayed for was happening, and that when her surgery was over she would be made new. She would have a recovery period, but then her mouth would be healed to eat and breathe. I told her that tomorrow, we can make her a new bracelet to place on her wrist as a reminder of the day that her tumor was taken away...