One and a half weeks left...

Surgeries have now ended and the hospital closes in 5 days!  Everything is slowing down, yet we still have a quite a few patients that need to heal.  We have a lot of little kids that are going crazy staying inside for most of the day in a place with no windows, so we’ve had lots of dance parties and it seems like the nursing care has been more about wearing the kids out so they sleep at night J.  It’s been a lot of fun though and as nurses we all feel like we’ve had more time to talk to our patients.  Today was the last ward church service and the patients were able to share their personal stories if they wanted.  Quite a few shared and it was amazing to me how many had been ostracized from their families because of their burn or tumor.  For those that are Muslim, it is seen as a punishment from God.  One of the female patients has been homeless for quite some time as she was orphaned and then rejected by her siblings and friends because of her facial deformity.  She had no skill to make her successful and so the only thing she could was beg on the streets.  If you looked at her though, you would never have guessed that was her life.  She’s a beautiful woman with a great smile and always seems to have joy.  The free surgery she has received more than restores her physical appearance.  It also restores her status in her village and gives her back her dignity.  Hopefully her family and community reaccept her.  I wonder though, does she know that this disfigurement is not punishment from God?  Does she know she is deeply loved rather than despised by God?   I hope and pray that she knows the truth.  I hope she felt his love through all the staff here and I pray that this experience has truly changed her life. 

Psalm 10:17 "You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted, you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,"

Psalm 22:24 "For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help."

Sally, the little girl with lymphoma started her second round of chemotherapy this week and is doing quite well.  She’s doing so much better this time around and continues to have a smile on her face. 

This past week, I had my last stretch of night shifts and then had a three-day weekend, which was much needed.  I spent one day at the beach, one day at the market, and one day just relaxing on the ship.  The beach day was nice as it was a little overcast and so I didn’t get burned like I normally do. 

After the wards close, we’ll be doing a lot of cleaning and packing up to get ready for the sail to Ghana.  That’s what I’ll be doing my last week here.

Thanksgiving is this week!  Thankfully, we will be getting a real Thanksgiving meal on board so I won’t be to terribly depressed being away from family!  We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving in October and so I know we’ll get a proper meal for American Thanksgiving.  I was actually able to find pumpkin here and so will be able to make a pumpkin pie to share with my friends, as I don’t think that will be part of the meal provided. 

Happy Thanksgiving!  Thankful for all of you who have supported me on this journey.  Thanks for all the prayers.  

3 weeks left!

Where has the time gone?!?!?  My apologies for not blogging for several weeks now.  I’ve been trying to blog and just couldn’t figure out exactly what I wanted to share.  Anyways, things are starting to feel like we’re winding down here as the last day of surgery is November 17^th, and the ward closes on the 24^th.  With that said, I was talking to the Max/Fax team leader yesterday and she said this is the busiest she’s seen the wards this close to the end of an outreach.  We’ve had three max/fax surgeons here for the last 3 weeks and so it seems like our ward has been slightly crazy, which it has.  About 2 weeks ago now B ward transferred an eight year old with Burkitt’s lymphoma with the hope that we would start chemotherapy treatment and could monitor her more closely.  Sally, the eight year old, had a large growth popping out of her eye that was about the size of a golf ball.  Her abdomen was and still is very distended and taut as another tumor resides there.  It was a difficult decision to start chemotherapy so close to the end of an outreach.  I didn’t even think we had the right drugs, but apparently we did.  It’s one of those situations where you have this beautiful, eight-year old sitting in front of you and you know without treatment she is going to die, but at the same time if we give her one round of chemo and she doesn’t get any more doses, then she will die and what have we accomplished?  At what point do we say, this situation is bigger than all of us, start treatment and pray that God will provide some sort of way for her to receive more doses of chemo?  These are difficult questions that I don’t have the answers to.  So…long story short, we started the first round of chemo 2 weeks ago, we will give another round this week (I think), and then when Sally leaves she will receive further rounds of chemo from a clinic in Guinea, which is close to where she lives.  Even though we’ve got a plan in place, there are a lot of things that could still prevent Sally from getting the treatment that she needs.  Her mother is 22 and has a two-year old as well and Sally’s livelihood depends on her mother’s ability to take her to Guinea.  All the treatments are very time sensitive as well.  Please keep Sally and her family in your prayers.  She responded really well to the first round of chemo.  The tumor growing out of her eye was completely gone after a week.  You could almost see it shrinking hour by hour.  Sally has gone from being a sullen, depressed child to smiling, laughing, and dancing.  She has some sort of joy back in her life.

There are still quite a few patients with infected wounds that need to be healed before we leave, so please also keep them in your prayers.

Apart from work, I was off almost two weekend’s ago and so I spent one day at the beach, which was great.  On Sunday, my friend and I went with two others to a church where many of our translator’s attend.  It was their Thanksgiving service and lasted 4 hours!!!!!  We first had to hike up a hill to get there and by the time we got to the top, I was dripping sweat off my face.  So gross, but I’m getting used to it here.  It will definitely be nice to be back in a place where I don’t sweat every time I step outside!  Fortunately, we sat underneath a fan in the church, so it helped cool us off somewhat during those 4 hours.  I couldn’t even tell you everything that happened.  There seemed to be a lot of singing.  They took about 4 or 5 offerings, and then there was about a 30-minute message at the end.  Although it was long and hot, I’m glad I went as our translator’s really appreciated the fact that we came.  Besides, when am I going to be able to attend a 4-hour service in Sierra Leone again? ;).

I hope you all are well!