Nancy's Miracle

Today the OR supervisor came to me and said that we would have to stay late because the surgeon was going to do surgery tonight after dinner. That was fine with me. I'm getting used to working 12 hour days in the Recovery Room. When I heard a screaming child, I looked over and saw a 3 year old girl named Nancy who had her left eyeball protruding outward. It wasn't even in the eye socket. How sad, it must be from a retinal tumor I thought. An hour later, when I received the patient in the recovery room I got the full story. Nancy is from the Ivory Coast, the next country to the west of Ghana. The family had heard about Mercy Ships from a missionary living in the Ivory Coast. After traveling for two days, the mom showed up at dockside this afternoon hoping for some miracle to help her little girl. Our surgery schedule is booked up until November so the only way we could operate was to do it tonight. When I brought the mother into the recovery room to hold her child after surgery she was most grateful. An eye shield had been placed over Nancy's eye. The protruding eye had to be removed and a prosthetic eye was put in its place. Nancy will once again look normal and the miracle that the mother was hoping for came true today.

Scottish County Dancing

Last night we had a Scottish country dance outside on the deck of the ship. Almost everyone showed up to see what this type of dancing is like. I had talked to a couple of Scottish people on board the ship and suggested that we do a Scottish dance party. Scottish dancing is similar to square dancing and is very easy to learn. We had someone who knew how to play the accordion and fiddle, we also had a Caller to call out the dance steps. It was a fun evening and everyone enjoyed the party. We will do it again next month. If I can find a partner, I hope to teach them swing dancing. We'll see.

Adopt a patient

Nurses have the priviledge of seeing patients get better. We see them before they go to surgery to repair the disfigurement that they have. We see them after surgery with bandages and tubes sticking out of them. And we see them when they look in the mirror for the first time as a new person no longer in shame. But what about the rest of the crew who don't see this transformation take place? They can adopt a patient. Mercy Ship children can adopt a child patient. Women crew members can adopt a woman patient and male crew members can adopt a male patient. After the crew member adopts a patient, they can go to the ward and visit with them for hours at a time. They can take the patients around the ship or outside if they are able to go. The patients absolutely love this kind of attention and look forward to these visits. The crew members also enjoy this type of interaction and to see the transformation take place along with the nurses.

Debbie's new look

Surprise!! I finally did it and got bangs, or how the UK people call it "fringe". We have a beauty salon on board the Mercy Ship and a volunteer hair dresser. She will cut and style your hair for free. This is her service to all the crew members on board. It would be very difficult to find someone in Ghana who knows how to cut and style non-African hair. What a blessing she is to all of us.

Transporting a patient

A cruise ship that has been converted into a hospital ship can be challenging when it comes to transferring a patient from the operating room to the ward. The operating room is located a floor level above the hospital ward. There are no elevators on the ship. The only way to transport a patient down the stairs is through a hook and pulley system. That way, the patient can remain completely horizontal throughout the transfer process. It may seem kind of strange but it works.

Osmond goes home

Tomorrow, Osmond the 12 year old boy who had the cleft lip and palate, goes home. His feeding tube is out and is eating well. He is smiling and so happy to look normal. I took care of him this past week and every day I saw improvement in the way he talked and ate. He has enjoyed going outside on deck to play on the swings and to watch the other ships come in. It has been a blessing to take care of Osmond as he recovered. We pray that his shyness will turn into confidence as he returns home a new man.

Hospital life

It's kind of weird sleeping, working and eating all in the same place. After I get up in the morning, all I have to do is walk 100 feet and I'm at work. When it's meal time, I walk up a flight of stairs and eat. There are some days that I don't even go outside. In the ward, we start the morning off with prayer. We pray for those who are ill and for the doctors and nurses. We then make our rounds and do our nursing duties. In the afternoon, we take those patients who are able outside on deck. They really enjoy the fresh air as we bring out the congo drums to sing and dance. We also show videos on the TV. I discovered today that the Africans don't like to watch cartoons. They have never seen cartoons before and can't relate to them at all. The photo is of me in the hospital ward before the patients arrived. The beds don't look this neat anymore.

Touching moment

I worked the day shift today in the hospital ward and took care of a 12 year old boy. He came in last week with a cleft lip and palate. He needed extensive reconstructive surgery and was pretty miserable this past week as he was recovering. Today, I found him playing with toys but still looking miserable. He said that he wasn't in any pain but I could tell that he wasn't happy. I removed the packing from his nose and cleaned his suture line above his lip. I then brought him a mirror and for the first time I saw him smile. He hadn't seen himself in a mirror since surgery without all the gauze and tubes sticking out of him. Now he looked normal and he was happy. He stared in the mirror for 15 minutes and couldn't believe what he saw. He saw a very handsome boy and tears ran down his face. A very touching moment indeed.

Afraid of heights

Last weekend a group of us traveled for 4 hours to a rainforest in Kakum National Park. It is the only place in Africa and 1 out of 7 in the world that has a Canopy Walk through the rainforest. They say that it is not for people who are afraid of heights as the rope bridges are 250 feet above ground. There are 7 bridges all together each one connected by a rainforest tree. It takes about 30-45 minutes to walk all the bridges. I'm very afraid of heights, ( I have difficulty climbing stairs or walking on bridges). But I was determined to do this. I was reassured that the bridges are completely safe. But when all you have to walk on is a plank of wood surrounded by rope netting it can get very frightening. Especially when the person behind you decides that it would be fun to swing the bridge back and forth or by jumping on it. I wasn't happy. In fact, I was having panic attacks and hyperventilating. Once you start walking on the bridge you can't go back. It took everything out of me just to focus on the tree in front of me. Each tree had a tree stand that you can stop at and take photos. I was in no condition to take any pictures, to look down or to view the scenery. I was a nervous wreck. But I did it. And I'm so proud of myself. Would I do it again? I don't know, probably. Although I know that I will go through the same emotions all over again.

What happens on your day off

Saturday July 8

Today was my day off and I decided to go to the local spa for a refreshing swim in their salt water pool. Many of the Mercy Ship staff go there on their day off as it is only 3 miles away and they serve American style food. I've never been there before so I needed to orient myself to the surroundings. I asked another nurse who I was traveling with where the changing rooms are. They are not labeled, but she told me that the one on the right is the Ladies changing room. I go inside to put on my bathing suit and as I'm standing there completely naked, a Ghanaian man walks into the room. He sees me becomes embarrassed and quickly leaves the room. I hear him complaining outside to the person in charge why they don't have signs indicating which area is for women and which area is for men. I guess you are just suppose to know. Later, when I'm fully dressed, he approached me and apologizes for the unfortunate incident. I told him that it was ok and no hard feelings. We said our goodbyes but I don't think we will look at each other the same way again.