Dressings!

I think it is about time that I told you all what I am actually doing on the ship now that the hospital has been up and running for 7 weeks. I am working in B ward which is where the plastic surgery patients are. At the start of the hospital being open I was a ward nurse, looking after the patients pre and post-operatively. It was a great time to get to know the patients, learn new skills and new ways of doing things. Working with different nurses from around the world makes for interesting times, discussing how we do things at home and what they call it, I didn't realise how many ways you can call Paracetamol!

The good thing about working on the ward is that we start the day with prayer, the handover time were the nurses from the shift before and the nurses taking over have a chance to share information and then give the shift over to God. This is so different from back home, but it makes for a good start to the shift! Then I do all my checks of the patients and the paperwork, during the shift Patient life come in and start a worship time right in the middle of the ward. The patients all start singing and praising God, I love this time of day. Then the rest of the shift continues on until the next handover!





One of my little patients, playing on deck 7!



       After 3 weeks of being on the ward my role changed from a ward nurse to a dressings nurse, for those who do not understand what this means, it does not mean dressing someone! It means I  change bandages and look after the surgery sites/wounds post operatively. I really enjoy this work and having experience from work at home it has really helped. Things are different but it is a rewarding job most of the time. As you see the patients wounds healing and being able to discharge them from the ward, but in some cases they are slow to heal as they get an infection or their bodies have not got enough nutrients to heal their wounds. I am so happy that I can make a difference in someones life even if it is a small part, and as some dressings take over an hour to do you get to know the patient very well, in that time you try and talk to them, through a translator (as my french is not good enough), some have had a hard life but hopefully having this surgery will change this. They are so thankful at the end of the dressing change, even after I have hurt them (as unfortunately it does hurt sometimes to change their dressings).



A patient who has just had a dressing change!



I work with a great team, in the dressing area we have Physician Assistant from the USA (who changes the dressings with me) she is a great encouragement and and so helpful. Then we have the physiotherapist from South Africa, she makes the day so much fun. We have also an OT (occupational therapist) from Australia, who makes all the splints for the patients who need them! We have such an international team doing the dressings, and this is not including the nurses who come with their patient from the ward!



Well that is a small overview of what I am doing on the ship! But this is going to change as the Plastic Surgeon unfortunately has left, so as the patients heal and leave the ward there will be less dressings to do. I will be moving back to the ward to start the next surgery which will be VVF, I will explain this in a later blog!



The middle of nowhere!

The day started well, my friend Julie and I met at reception, we walked off the gangway, we made out of the port when a landrover stopped beside us and offered us a lift to near the place we where headed to, the Benin Embassy. As we started chatting, they told us they were headed to a village to do some evaluation work. They work with the agricultural team and they are following up on projects they did in Togo in 2010. The driver then told us he would take us to the embassy as he is from Benin and he would like to see where his embassy was. We were so grateful for a lift all the way to the embassy, they dropped us off, we said our goodbye's and then Julie and I walk in to the office to be told the lady who deals with the visas was not going to be there until 4pm, the time then was 10 in the morning. As we walk out of the embassy the driver who had given us a lift tells us that won't get the visas and would we like a lift to the main road. We of course said yes. So we got back in the landrover. As we drive, they ask us what we are up to next and we explain we had to go to the craft market to pick a few things up, then no plans after that. They both then say if we want to join them for the day and go an hour away north from Lome. Julie and I look at each other and say yes!!!!!!! (the market can wait!)

So all the plans were changed! It was great to leave Lome and head north, to see new places and see the differences as we leave the city to the fields. As we turn off the main road, the road becomes a dirt red road we pass one village and then nothing for a few kilometres. We turn off this road and go through a smaller village, at this time I am thinking to myself should a car even less a landrover go through here, as there is no clear path for a car!

But then we leave the village and we head into the bush, the path is just a walking path, and thank goodness we have a landrover!! We stop and get out and are met by a farmer who then takes us to his field where him and his dad farm. We walk for about 10 mins (and this is in the middle of nowhere!) he shows us what he is growing and how the teaching he had in 2010 has changed the way he grows his crops!

We sit underneath a tree, next to a stream. It is a beautiful place to sit and discuss the way they are farming and how it has improved their life's by changing it. They both agreed that it was a better way of farming as now they have food to feed their families and to sell, this was great to hear. The family then started to come to see us and they even made us some corn on the cob to eat! Straight from their land! I even got to have a cuddle with one of their children who fell asleep in my arms!

One of the good things about the project was that they taught some farmers so they could go and teach the other people in the village, the project is called food for life, and that is what it meant to be teaching new techniques so they can have food for them and their families for life and be able to live from it too.

After the food and the discussions we head back to the landrover, we drive for a few minutes and stop at another farm. We are not as long at this one as time is going fast and we still have to go and see a King!

Yes it is right I did write King! The last village we had come through has a King and he had been to the ship to see if he could have his eyesight fixed, so we where going back to see the outcome. As we walk through the village all the children look at us and call out "Yovo" (meaning white person). We get directed to where the King is, he is sitting in what looks like the village conference area. It looks like they village men are having a meeting but they let us sit down. The King then starts to explain what had happened at the ship, unfortunately they are unable to do anything about his eyesight, but we get a telephone number so we can call to let them know for definitely if this is true. They make us feel welcome but unfortunately we have to make our way back before it gets dark, they offer us a place to stay the night, but we decline nicely!

We head back through the dirt road and then meet the main road to Lome. We make it in time for dinner and before it got dark! Julie and I thank both for a great day, and I let them know that I would love to do it again!

It was a great to be in the middle of nowhere in Togo and meet the people living there!