Waiting in line

 He waited in line for hours, sun shining down on him, an the heat of the day rising up. He waited patiently just to ask a question.
As he got to me, he was asked what was his  problem, what was wrong with him medically. I waited patiently as the translator asked the questions. Instead of replying with "I have a hernia, or I have a lump on my back". Instead he had waited in line to ask a question. He wanted know if we could operate on a woman who leaks urine all the time. I replied back, yes we can, They can come here and we will see her and hopefully give her an appointment to see the surgeon. He explained how the women is in a village a few hours away from Tamatave, but would bring her the week after.

A new week started in the screening centre, One morning I continued screening patients and asking them questions, The pre-screening had already been done outside. now we where inside screening the patients with more in depth questions, to see if we could offer them an appointment to see the surgeon. This women and man came to my area. As I started asking questions it was clear the women was suffering with VVF (Vesicovaginal fistula). After giving birth to her second child she started leaking urine. She had been in labour for 2 days and lost the baby through it. As I looked at the man next to her I realised I recognised him. I asked him if he had been in the line the week before. He replied yes and that this was his mum.

So he had waited in line for hours for his mum. He wanted his mum to get help and to get better. I was so glad I could give her an appointment. She will come to the ship, be screened by the surgeon and hopefully be admitted for surgery that will change her life.

The wards ready for the patients 

What a week!

Where do I start to tell you about my week? A week full of anticipation, excitement, hope, happiness. But also a week with sadness, desperation and anger. Yes it has been a week full of emotion that I don't know where to start or process it.

Why so much emotion, well I am helping out at the screening centre. Instead of having one big screening day, this time we have a centre, which will be open Monday to Friday for a month. My job is to screen patients to see if they are candidates for surgery. Fortunately most of the time I get to give them hope, by saying yes we might be able to help you, and then give them the card with their name with an appointment to see the surgeon! You see their faces light up, then the smile comes and the thank you's. That's my favourite part of my job to say yes we can help! 

I see them crossing the room towards me and if they have a tumour or a cleft lip (problems that are visible) my heart jumps and I get excited, as I know we can give them hope. I start taking their history and their details through a translator. Sometimes the history is hard to listen to, they have been through so much, but they are survivors and it's so good to give them the card to come to the ship!

Unfortunately we cannot help everyone. And those are the hardest, they have a sadness in their eyes when you look at them. When they have this longing to give them their last hope, and you take that away from them. It breaks my heart to say no to them. The comfort I take is that we can pray with them, we also have a wonderful prayer team that can help them find some peace and healing.

I feel privileged to have been asked to help with the screening team. I get to meet the patients that are going to be on the wards soon. Actually tomorrow, our first patients will start walking up the gangway to the hospital! We are starting with orthopaedics, can't wait to see the children all walking with their casts on!

It starts all over again tomorrow, hoping and praying the right people come along. That we will be able to give them a card with an appointment.

Madagascar

We are on our way to Madagascar! We left Cape Town, South Africa on Friday and we should arrive in Madagascar on Saturday the 25^th of October. We will be there until June offering free surgical care to those in need.

It has been a long time since I wrote in my blog, this is due to the last few months being a strange time of waiting and leaning on God. As some of you know we were due to go to Guinea in August but due to the ebola this was postponed. Then Benin was our next country to serve, but then we waited to see, as the ebola virus came to Nigeria (Benin is right next to Nigeria). After some time and the management seeking advice it was decided that it would be safer for the ship to go somewhere else. Congo was thought of, but that door closed. Then came Madagascar and it has been great to see God open one door after another.

It has been tough seeing West Africa in so much pain due to the ebola. It breaks my heart to see them suffer. Praying God will do a miracle in those countries affected.

I will be glad when we arrive in Madagascar, then we can start surgeries again and see lives change.

Baby crèche

This week I was able to join one of the Mercy Ministries that go out in to the community in different projects. I joined the baby crèche, where for an hour and half we just love on the babies. These babies are left here for different reasons, some do get picked up by their parent once the parent is able to. Others once they have reached a certain age will go to the bigger orphanage.
Here I met a little boy, they are not sure of his real age, but they think he is about 2 years of age. As I walked in to the room this little boy caught my eye as he was trying to get our attention. I picked him up,hardly weighing much! As they told me how old he was, I looked at his huge big eyes and his skinny little body. Realising he looked a few months old not 2 years of age. This little boy was precious. He wouldn't let me put him down he just held on to me tightly for the hour and a half. When time came to leave the crèche, I had to lay him down on the bed, as I walked away he started crying, my heart breaking at his little crying, ohhh how I wish I could pick him up and take him with me.

Healing wounds

As the last plastics patient was discharged from the ward, I was so happy, that was it I had done my job, all the dressings had finished! but I also felt a bit of sadness as I realised I would not be seeing the patients every day that I would only get to see them occasionally while they came back to have their physio. The last few patients took awhile for their wounds to heal, in that time I got to know them better. It was great to see them and chat to them every day while I did their dressings! 

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 This was the second block of plastics patients, we screened them at the beginning of January and then surgeries began the next day until March when the Plastic surgeon had to leave. In that time we had over a 100 patients have plastic surgery, to release burn contractures, to remove neurofibromas,  to remove lipomas and more! It is exciting to see the patients have their surgery and then see their skin grafts heal which then helps them move their hand or arm for the first time in years, or their neurofibromas removed from the faces and the joy in their eyes at the realisation that the thing growing on their face has gone and they can go back to their families and the communities!

I feel so privilege to be able to do a job that I love, to see wounds heal and to get to know the patients. Also to work with an amazing team of nurses and physiotherapist (and OT's), and not forgetting a plastic surgeon who is so dedicated to what he does, it's great!

So here are some of the photos from this round of plastic surgeries and the patients I have come to love and will miss dearly!

Amazing team!

A beautiful smile

Sometimes you get a patient that really touches your heart. In some ways you shouldn't have favourites but really who could resist this teenage girl with her huge smile and laughter! I don't think she will never really understand what an impact she has made in so many peoples lives.

This girl has gone through so much, too much in some ways. It didn't start with her coming to the ship to have release of contractures it start with her getting burns and then getting contractures to her neck, both axillas and elbows.

But you would not know the pain she must have gone through cause the minute you meet here she gives you this smile and cheeky eyes. She wouldn't say much at the beginning, but if you could hear her now, she even speaks English!

beautiful

She had a huge operation in January to release her neck and both axilas and elbows. At home this would have been done in stages but here we have a time restraint, so she had it all done in one go. It has taken her a while for all her wounds to heal, but this week I had the privilege to do her dressing and tell her and mum they can leave the ship, the smiles from both were infectious, who could blame them for being so happy, they had been here since the beginning of January! I feel like I have had been on a roller-coaster  journey with her, from setbacks to praising God for the healing taking place to her quietly crying with pain. To her tickling me and laughing one minute to her trying to get away while I tried to do scar massage, I miss this girl so much already, but at least I know she can do a lot more now than she was able to do when she first got here, and that I had a very small part in that!

with mama

farewell party

Sweet Precious Moments

Today was a day with moments that I wish I could film and let you watch it, but instead of seeing a video clip or photos I am going to try and describe my day.

Plastics started 6 weeks ago, and since it has been a flow of patients having their bandages changed, some have big areas where they have been operated on and these are the patients we get to know well as they take a bit longer to heal.

We have had a little girl coming every other day to the inpatient dressing room, some days are good and others are not so good, but today was a sweet day! I picked her up from the ward she is on and took her down to the dressing room, already in my arms I stand her on the trolley ready for her to have her bandages taken off and her skin grafts cleaned. We decided it was best for me to distract her and make her comfortable and the other nurse to do the dressing. It didn’t start so well, had a few tears but eventually she cuddled into arms and laid her head on my shoulder, I started patting her back and then a few minutes later she started patting my back, then I could feel her body relaxing. The dressing finished and I took her back to her ward, all the way down the hallway she had her head cuddled into my neck and her little hand patting my back, my heart melted and did not want to leave her there on the ward, I wanted to continue to hold her in my arms.

Today is one of those days I will never forget, as moments like that are precious.

What made today even more special came in the afternoon. There has been a patient on the plastics ward for about 5 weeks. I think this girl has touched many people just by her smile and her beautiful eyes.

 She had a huge surgery to release her burn contractures and she is still recovering from the surgery. But today was a great day! Not only did we leave a donor site (this is where they take skin from and then put it where it is needed to release the contracture) open to air as all healed but we also left her arm open to air too, this arm has been covered in dressing since the operation. This all means that those wounds are healed! To celebrate this huge milestone we were all dancing to music, her smile was huge and her eyes were beaming with pleasure at watching 4 nurses, a physio and an OT dancing!!!!! I would have loved to know what she was thinking looking at us!

As we took her back to the ward I told the nurses the patient wanted to show them something, as she walked in the nurses could see she had no more dressing in her arm, they all clapped and cheered for her even the other patients started clapping! It was such a great sight to see her smiling and hugging everyone! The community which is the ward congratulating her, where else do you get that?

She has a long way to go to fully recover from her surgery but today was a huge step in her recovery and I am so grateful I could be there to see it and dance about it!

Time

Time seems to be rushing away from me! I was meant to have written this on New Years day, so it's only 19 days late!
Christmas was spent working on the ward with patients who had had surgery a week before and some who were waiting for their life changing surgery. It was great to be able to share Christmas with them all!

The ward on Christmas day! 

One of the patients waiting for surgery.

New Years Eve

New Years Eve was a bit different this time from my usual, I spent it at the local church I go to every Sunday, and where I feel at home!

I have been going to the Assembly of God church here in Pointe Noire. This is the first time in Africa that I feel at home in a church, the worship is amazing and the presence of God fills the church, I might not understand every single word of the song (as it is in French) but that does not matter when God is in control and His presence fills you. The teaching is like what I get at home in my church in Swansea, and feel God speaks to me through it.
Then there is also the people who attend, they have made us feel like part of the family. I am so grateful for the church and really feel it is where I am meant to be .

Pastor Gary and Mama Janice with the 3 of us

Also which has been such a blessing and I do not think they know how much it has meant to me being part of their family for the last few months is getting to know Pastor Gary and Mama Janice. They are a missionary couple from America, they have been in Congo for 20 years and most of that has been building this church up. Unfortunately for me and for the church they have been called to go and work in Gabon. It has been amazing to see how well loved they are by the church and how much they are going to be missed.  They have made me and my friends feel really at home and they have welcomed us into their lives even when they were so busy packing things up to move. Going to miss them a lot but I am sure I will see them again someday!

The ladies group giving the Pastor and his wife a gift as a leaving present

An amazing worship group

On their last Sunday the church had a special service for them, it was such a special moment, so glad I was able to be part of it. A few days later I was back at the church to bring in the new year. As I was not going to be back in time for curfew on the ship, I signed out for the night and Mama Janice sorted a bed for me. This meant I could spend a bit more time with them before they left the next day, which was a bonus for me.

New Years Eve service was so good, worship and prayer before midnight, with an amazing presence of God, what a way to bring in the New Year! Then midnight came and everyone started hugging, singing, shouting and dancing, it was fantastic! The music kept going more worship songs and dancing, at 02:00 Mama Janice and I called it in and headed to bed. The service kept going till 5 or 6 in the morning. Once in a while I would wake up to them singing a worship song, ohh my heart kept rejoicing at hearing them.

Celebrating the New Year by dancing and singing

It is so hard to put in words how I feel, just thinking about it makes me smile and my heart filled with so much love for God. You see New Years to me has always been something you do, never really liking it much. But this has changed for me, and I am so grateful for the church family, for making me feel welcome but really all praise goes to Jesus and for what He is doing in my life.