Today is Dr. Gary’s Birthday!

This morning on the wards we took a small time out to celebrate Dr. Gary’s Birthday. A week ago when I had told the patients that Dr. Gary’s birthday was coming up, they were all so excited. We decided to make cards for him, and it was quite a sight. ALL of the patients were up and out of their beds. For several hours they bent over construction paper, crayons, stickers and markers writing and drawing beautiful things for him. For those who know how to write, there were beautiful messages speaking life upon him. Thanking him, saying he was sent from God, wishing him many more years. For the majority of our patients who have never had the opportunity to have an education they drew him beautiful pictures and attempted to write letters and numbers that they copied off their neighbors page. Today we handed him those cards all bound in a book. In addition to the book, the patients all decided to have the day workers write “joyeux anniversaire” on their bandages and head dressings so that as he did rounds to check on them they all could point at their bandages and smile boldly. We sang him Happy Birthday in English which was followed in French by our patients and dayworkers. They all clapped, cheered, came forward for hugs and hand shakes, thanking him and sharing blessings on him in their native languages. I just couldn’t get over the moment, standing there watching the 16 patients and all their caregivers coming forward to thank the man who has changed their lives, who has given them a second chance, who has given them the opportunity to be treated as a human, given the opportunity to be loved and accepted. Dr. Gary, one of the most amazing men I know, has helped hundreds maybe even thousands of people celebrate many more years of life throughout his 25 years onboard. He has added countless years to many, and for some he has been the person that gave them the opportunity to simply live to their next birthday by removing their tumors. So here’s to one more year and Dr. Gary’s day of birth! 

Breaking News--not really, but kind of......

So there’s this small-small piece of news that I have stewed over sharing for last few weeks. I don’t really know how to go about telling it in a way that does it justice, so I’m just going to put it out there......Are you ready? One, two, three------I am coming back to the ship for another outreach. Big deal right? After hours and hours of prayers, conversations with friends and family, and just listening to my heart, I have re-committed to another 10 glorious months aboard the Africa Mercy. This time sailing with the ship into the Republic of Congo. After almost nine months on this floating vessel, I have realized that this place is ingrained in me, has captured my heart, and I just simply am not ready to close this chapter of my life. I absolutely love our patients, the African way of life, and this melting pot of a place with crew from all over the world. I have made amazing friends, have poured into amazing patients, and have learned so much about this culture, and myself. Even single ounce that I have given has been returned to me ten-fold. Patients and friends have crossed all borders and have become family, people who I will never forget.  The idea of working in a Western hospital sounds amazingly unappealing, and I was honestly getting a belly ache simply thinking about it. As much as I miss people and the comforts of home, I know that God has put it heavily on my heart to stay. I’m not sure of the exact reasons I feel so strongly, but I just do. I feel certain that this is the correct place for me to be and to continue this season of my life......So I’m stepping out, jumping, leaping, lunging, skipping, falling, whichever mode of transport you choose, and trusting in His plan for my life. All of that said, logistically I’ll be home June 11th through July 23rd for a jam packed 6 weeks of catching up with friends and family, sharing my experiences, doing life alongside people I love, and soaking up every second before returning to the ship in a new role. I am honored to announce that I will be a Clinical Ward Educator this coming year. Fancy title, all to say that I will working on a team alongside two other amazing women to orient all of our new nurses coming through this place. We are responsible for equipping them with everything they need to be successful during their time here. I am so excited to share my passion for this place, to share my love for these people and this way of life. I am beyond jazzed to make the transition period one in which people feel supported, encouraged, and ready to do what they were called here to do from all sides of the globe.  Another aspect of my job will be focused on Community Health Education--I’ll share more about that later, but basically I will be working with a small team to develop a curriculum to educate local nurses in the Congo. Our program will consist of both classroom and ward time, and essentially we are striving to empower and educate local nurses to enable them to care for their own people. Exciting stuff right? So there it is---the big news of the day. I know that I can’t do this on my own and I am going to continue to count of the support, prayers, and words of encouragement from all of you amazing people at home. So thanks for keeping tabs on me, for loving me, for standing behind me day after day and most of all for caring about me enough to let me go fulfill my dream......

Two Teeth

They have been mentioned in Christmas songs as something a child longs for (“All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth”)  and we all have that dreaded picture in the first or second grade with a crater between your canines that people think is super cute when you are seven. However, somewhere between ages seven and twelve it becomes very awkward to be missing those pearly whites. Of course they are import for eating, and one of the first things people notice when they look at you. However, during my entire career as a nurse and quite possibly my entire life, two little teeth have never caused so much trouble. Tonight on the wards, two teeth- two small, jagged, pointed, bottom teeth that reached clear up the the underside of her nose were the source of three separate 15 minute conversations shared between three doctors, three nurses, four translators and six languages. “Mama” as we call pretty much any woman over the age of 30, was born with a cleft lip. Because of where she was geographically placed on this earth, her lip has remained split, for 51 years. She was admitted today for surgery tomorrow to bring her upper lip together and radically change her appearance. The first conversation was between her and her nurse just minutes after she came onto the wards as they went through what would take place in the next 24hours. “Mama” who has exactly 5 teeth came to the ship with a dream to leave with a full set of pearly white chompers to go with her new lip. Unfortunately that is just not a service we can provide. We are able to take out rotted teeth or crooked teeth, but we can’t replace them due to funding and supplies. The nurse explained all of this and Mama seemed satisfied, but not for long. The anesthesiologist came by later and she, full of joy and feisty spirit, asked him the same questions. To her dismay, he came and got me--who gave her the same answers. A few hours later Dr. Gary came by, and I asked him to set her mind straight so that she wouldn’t wake up disappointed by what we had enforced earlier in the evening. The conversation went something like this. Dr. Gary asked her would she like him to take out those two bottom teeth while she was asleep tomorrow. Yes, she exclaimed! Get rid of them! Wait, no, don’t unless you’ll replace them......will you replace them?.......are you sure you can’t?.......what if I want someone else to put new ones in?...That would be just fine, said Dr. Gary.  But, I’m just a farmer, how could I afford that, Momma asked? Then without hesitation she added, well-- I am the third wife of my husband, which means he loves me most, maybe he’ll pay for my teeth when he sees how beautiful I am!? A few second pause, she changed her mind again...No leave them, she said- just in case he wont pay for it, even though I’ve won his heart she added. Dr. Gary asked, is that your final decision? Yes--wait, no, okay--final answer, out they go!! By this point we were all laughing, watching her animatedly go back and forth. We received consent by her thumb print on the piece of paper, and quietly the humble Dr. Gary added, I think this was a longer consent process than what we have for patients who are about to have half their face removed!! But it was all worth the time and laughs, because today after 51 years, she had her lip made new-bringing together two pieces of flesh that have never touched in her life--and when I saw her tonight after her operation she was absolutely beautiful.....

The tube feeding situation of 2013

Well, we are in Africa, right? These past few weeks I have been reminded how amazing lucky we are to have what supplies we do. After smooth sailing for 6 months, we finally ran out of Ensure for our tube feedings. (Yes, here in West Africa we put that vanilla flavored drink you would give to the elderly or nutritionally deficient down feeding tubes) We had been making do for a few weeks with canned Pediasure (same idea, but designed for kids) and supplementing it with a few other things in order to give our adults the required protein and nutrients.---we moved to mixing up powdered ensure just 3 weeks ago and then just a short few days after that---bam, our blissful operation came to an end--We have now been successfully making our own tube feeding concoction! Yes you heard me, smoothie king would be put to shame by our mixing skills. Milk, peanut butter, sugar, liquid vitamins, a little fiber and a blender are all it takes to give our patients the required nutrients. Creative--yes... Functional---Not exactly. The peanut butter we use had to be bought locally in a large tub and is much more textured than something of the creamy variety you would purchase back in the states. This seemingly small task of feeding our patients often leaves us with the biggest frustrations of the day. As a nurse, we like efficiency, knowing we can hook up a bag and trust that it will deliver all of what we intended to our patients not run back 10 times to “mix it up” so that the peanut butter will flow through the tubing. The second problem with this method stems entirely from it’s composition-because the African diet is not typically strong in the dairy group we have had a few lactose intolerance problems----our answer to even this curve ball---make it with SOY! As we mix up liters of NG feedings a day, the common phrase is “if only my friends back in the ICU at home could see me now”. Never in the Western world would we mix our own feeding--it comes it’s own pretty little plastic bottle ready for attachment to a patient--easy as that. It’s things like homemade nutrition that cause “Africa Mercy Problems”......every single day here is an adventure---and I absolutely love it. See my friend Anna’s blog HERE  for a creative poem pointed at the tube feeding situation on board. 

Added note: Saturday we found out that the container of supplies from Texas sitting in customs may have ensure on it---best. news. of. my. week.