Weekend Adventures and Agriculture

Last weekend I went with a few friends to Dolisie, a small town about 4 hours north of Pointe Noire. We took a local bus and the drive was absolutely beautiful. We drove through the rainforest up into the mountains where Dolisie is located. Funny thing, the bus cost $10, included a free drink AND it had air conditioning...for the first 30 minutes of the drive at least;) After that our driver turned off the air and said we couldn't use it if we wanted to have enough gas to get all the way to our destination. Of course!

We checked into a hotel and walked to the local market on Saturday. It was so nice to be out of the big city and in nature for a few days. The people were very friendly and excited to meet us. They weren't pushy, they didn't have an agenda, they were just happy to talk to us and share stories. It was so refreshing for a change. Life is pretty chaotic where I spend most of my days, so a change of scenery was appreciated. I found some cute shoes in the market and made a few new friends as well.

New friends in the market

On Sunday we went to the Mercy Ships Agriculture site. Each time Mercy Ships arrives in a new country the food for life program sets up an Agriculture site to help families and communities learn practical food production skills which directly reduces malnutrition. They select a group of trainees and work with them for most of the outreach teaching them how to improve crop growth and income which bring better health to the farmer, his family and the community. It's sort of like school where topics such as crop and garden planning, seed sowing and saving, natural diseases, pest control and water conservation and irrigation practices are taught. Using local resources, participants learn to make homemade fertilizers such as compost, they prepare the lands, plant seeds, and harvest when it's time. At the end of the class the trainees "graduate" and are expected to go and share all of the information they've learned with their villages...and the agriculture site is handed over to the local community to continue production after the ship sails away. It was so cool to see all the hard work that's gone into the ag site this year. They've been growing lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, carrots, eggplant, and many other veggies. They also have rabbits there! Because rabbits reproduce so quickly, it's a good animal to breed and sell for meat. Kinda sad to think about around Easter and bunnies and new life...but it's a great source of income in a country where survival can be difficult.

All around a great weekend! It was refreshing to get away from the city for a few days and spend some time in nature and it also gave me time to reflect on the last several months of the outreach, how plastics went and start thinking about where I want to go from here. More on that coming soon :)

Agriculture site

Day off

Darel before surgery

I had the day off yesterday and took the opportunity to visit one of my patients. His name is Darel and he's a 15 year old street kid. When he was 8 years old he fell out of a tree and broke his arm. It later became infected and although his mom took him to the hospital for treatment, they weren't able to fix it. He had 2 surgeries over the next 2 years, but both ended in terrible contractures. Some time after that he left home to live on the streets and take care of himself. I don't know much more about his past because it's still difficult for him to talk about, but I've heard similar stories in the past. When a person has a deformity like Darel's it can be difficult not only for them but for their family and friends as well. Often they are put out of their homes and abandoned. I don't know if that's what happened to Darel, but it wouldn't surprise me. Anyway, a local NGO that helps get children off the street found him this last year and brought him to our main screening in September and kept him at their center until it was time for his surgery in January.

during a dressing change onboard

Darel's surgery onboard wasn't an easy one and had to be done in two steps. Step one, the surgeon did a groin flap where he took a flap of skin and muscle from the groin area and attached it to the wrist/hand after releasing the contracture. It takes several weeks for a flap to get a good blood flow in the new area so it stays attached to both the old and the new site for 3 weeks. What I'm trying to say is that this boy's wrist was attached to his groin for 3 weeks. I've seen many facial flaps since I've  been here, mostly scalp flaps to the nose, but this was the first groin flap I've seen, and yes, it's as uncomfortable as it sounds.  Darel handled it like a champ though, and never complained. Three weeks later the surgeon released the flap and we began daily wound care on him. He had a few set backs along the way but last week we celebrated with him as he left the ship that he called home for 2 months and went back to the NGO center.

So yesterday I got to visit the center and check up on Darel. He's doing so well and was excited to show off his home and the people that take care of him. We took him to the local barber for a haircut, got sodas in the market and spent the afternoon visiting. It struck me as we sat there how much more like a boy he looks now. Darel has had a hard life, but instead of the hospital aging him even more, it seems to have given him back a bit of his youth. He wants to have a girlfriend, play football (soccer), go to school...and I believe he'll have all of those things and more one day. And what a blessing it's been to take part in his healing!

 

before

after

Catching Up

Looks like it's been a while since I've updated my blog. In December I had the privilege of going home to Texas for 2 weeks AND I surprised my family by just showing up to dinner one night. They had no idea I was coming home and it was fun to surprise everyone. I got to enjoy a little cool weather, coffee with friends, Christmas Eve service at Marvin UMC, and spend Christmas with my family! But the best part was getting to spend time with my brother! I wouldn't trade those 2 weeks for anything!

family game time Christmas day

I got back to the ship a few weeks ago and things are back in full swing here on the Africa Mercy. Plastics started out strong a week ago Monday with a screening day where we saw 64 patients and scheduled over 50 over them for surgery. And Tuesday we had our first ever Plastics Evaluation Day! We invited all of the plastics patients that had operations in the September-October round back to the ship to be evaulated by Dr. Tertius (surgeon) and the plastics team. It was a day of reunions and rejoicing! The patients got to be so close when they were on the ward, it was cool to see them reunited with each other. There were so many stories to share and they all quickly found their little group of friends from their hospital stay. And they were so excited to see the surgeon again. It was a joy to see all of our patients in one room together. We rarely get to see our patients 3-4 months after surgery to see how they are healing and to have so many in one place at the same time was just awesome. We got to see how their wounds have healed, how function has been restored, and how life has been given back. Most of them were very happy with their surgery results and grateful for their newly restored function. Thankful to God for the team I get to work with and the privilege it is to serve in this place.

Round 2 of Plastics is 2 weeks in, with 7 weeks to go. Keep us in your prayers as we see another 100-125 patients with plastic surgery needs.

Plastics Evaluation Day

A Father's Love

This sweet little girl's name is Aicha. She came to us terrified, scarred, and huddled under her papa's arm. She'd look at the doctors and nurses in fear every time we came close to her. Aicha was burned in a house fire just under a year ago. She lost her mother in that fire and most of their possessions as well. It's just her and her papa now, trying to heal and start over. She had burns all over her body when she came in and 2 of them were still open wounds and so sensitive. She came
back from surgery wrapped in bandages from her neck all the way down to her knees. Poor baby. Her frail little 4 year old body is getting stronger though. Each dressing change was an improvement from the one before, she began eating more, gaining weight slowly, and trusting us more and more.  After a few weeks she was riding her little toy car up to me every morning, she'd put our her hands and want to dance as soon as I turned the music on. She still cried out in fear each time we changed her bandages, or did exercises with her, but the rest of the day she became just like the other kids. Playful, smiling, happy.... And when her father looks at her, you can see the love in his eyes. He adores her, protects her and only wants the best for her.  Often seeing the two of them together makes me think of our heavenly father. It's such a beautiful image of how I imagine God looks at us sometimes. Complete adoration, love, wanting the best for his children even though sometimes that means exercises and wound care that's painful and scary.

Aicha is completely healed now and no longer needs dressing changes. She continues to come to the ship often for rehab though and I still get hugs and smiles from her and her daddy. She's one of the little miracles of this year.

On discharge from the hospital

Plastics Round One

Well, two and a half months sure did fly by since my last post! Sorry about that:/

We just finished a 7 week round of plastic surgeries last week and it was intense...but so good! This was my second time as the Plastic Surgery Team Leader and it was so nice knowing what to expect before it actually happened. I felt so much better prepared this year and it went really well.

My job started all the way back at screening day on August 28th. I sat in a small classroom at the screening site with our two plastic surgeons and hand therapist and for 10 hours we saw one potential patient after another. We had to decide if we could operate on them, would the surgery benefit them in the end (give them more mobility/better function, improve their appearance...), how long would their hospital stay be, etc. And then on September 2nd it happened - our doors to the hospital opened and the first surgeries were underway. It was exciting to see patients I had met at screening day come to the ward. I've said it before, but there's always a mix of excitement, anticipation and fear when patients first come onto the ship.

So, for the next 7 weeks we operated. By week 2, B ward was filled (20 patients), we started taking over half of A ward, and by week 3 there were plastics patients in A, B and C ward (and 1 in D because we didn't want them to feel left out;)) That's the intense part. Most specialties have 15-20 patients in the hospital at a time, they are quicker to send patients home so there's a steady turnover. Plastics patients take a long time to recover though, and need dressing changes every 2 days until healed. So, by week 3 there were 40+ patients in the hospital and it stayed that way until week 7. That's a lot of people to round on every day, write orders for, and change dressings! But, it also means more kids to play with, babies to hold and adults to share stories with. And we had an amazing team that helped get it all done every day!

In 7 weeks we did 95 surgeries and around 500 dressing changes. The average length of stay for a patient was 18 days with the longest being 56 days and counting. Congo is different from most of the West African countries we've been in. More people have jobs here and can't take months off to be in the hospital.  That's been a challenge with these long term patients. They've been so patient waiting for their wounds or their children's wounds to heal, but they also have jobs and families back home and it's a big sacrifice to leave those things and stay on the ship for so long. Each patient I've met in this 7 weeks has had a story to tell. A story about how they got burned, got a contracture, heard about Mercy Ships, left home in search for hope... and I thought I'd share some of those stories with you over the next few weeks so you can see who I've spent the last few month with. So stay tuned.

Sailing!!

In case any of you were wondering, 14 days of sailing with no land in sight is a LOOOONG time! I boarded the Africa Mercy in the Canary Islands and on July 27^th we said goodbye to Tenerife and our friends in Spain and started our journey across the Atlantic Ocean. It’s been an eventful sail, but we made it to the Congo and settled into our new dock space/home for the next 10 months. It feels great to be on solid ground and even better to be back in African.

Leaving Tenerife

My cabin (I have the top bunk)

 I knew coming back to the ship after being gone 7 weeks this summer would be different. It’s always difficult transitioning into something new. People come and go from the ship all the time and at the end of last outreach in Guinea, several of my close friends left the ship. So, coming back for me meant finding my place and group.  It’s always kindof cool to see what groups form at the beginning of a new outreach, connections that are made…. Being at sea for 2 weeks definitely sped up that process and created some great bonds with friends!

flying kites on the top deck

During the sail I did “a little” training. I completed BLS (Basic Life Support), ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support), and PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support).  All of you medical professionals out there can appreciate the amount of time and studying that went into that. I spent the first week of the sail either studying or sitting/rocking in a classroom.  One of my favorite things about sailing is that when dolphins or whales are spotted an announcement is made overhead and whether you’re on a break in the café, in a meeting, working, or in class everyone gets up and runs outside for the best view.  We might have had a few breaks for dolphin watching during that week ;) My brain has been stretched this sail and it feels great to learn and practice new skills.

Dolphins!

 One night, during a study session, a few of us started talking and at the end of the conversation, for various reasons, 3 of us decided to begin a 10 day detox diet based off the Daniel fast. What could we eat, you ask? Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and lots of water to drink.  We thought the sail would be a great time to do this since we wouldn’t have the temptation of restaurants and such. However, fresh produce doesn’t typically last 14 days and it wasn’t like we could go to the market and find healthy alternatives. So, for 9 days we ate salads, a large variety of fruits and vegetables, lots of almonds… On day 9 the ship ran out of lettuce and fresh fruit and that coupled with me being sick I had to call it quits.  I’m proud of our willpower and effort though. It amazed me how much of my satisfaction comes from eating good food.  The first several days weren’t too bad, but after that I lost my desire to even go into the dining room because I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat what I wanted. 

hammocks on deck 7

And I can’t talk about this sail without talking about crossing the line. Mariners have many traditions, but one of the bigger ones revolves around crossing the various lines that crisscross the globe. These are called “line-crossing ceremonies.” There’s a long list of them if you google it, but the biggest is crossing the equator (on a ship).  In the maritime world, someone who has yet to cross the equator is known as a Pollywog and then once they do they become a Shellback.  And when you cross the equator at the prime meridian you become what is known as a Royal Diamond Shellback (or an Emerald Shellback as the US Navy calls it).  It’s actually the rarest form of Shellback there is.  Kinda cool, huh?! So, Monday night we crossed the equator and prime meridian at 0.00 and 0.00 and in following mariner tradition, we had a “line-crossing ceremony” onboard the Africa Mercy. It wasn’t exactly the same, there was no hazing or anything like that, but it was fun. We played tug-o-war on the bow so that we could go “over” the line, we limbo’d and went “under” the line, and then we did a little “line” dancing ;) But that wasn’t quite enough for me and 2 of my friends (the same two that did the cleanse with me actually).  We decided we were going to get piercings to commemorate this special occasion. Two of us had our helix (top of the ear) pierced and the other had her nose pierced. We don’t have a piercing artist onboard (I guess that isn’t a big enough need on a hospital ship) so we recruited a few friends to do the job…and gathered some hospital supplies to improvise.  A few IV needles later and we had new jewelry J  It was a fun way to celebrate and definitely the highlight of my sail.

The limbo

Crossing the line

So, that brings us to the end of 13 days at sea. We docked in Congo yesterday and today I’m going to explore my home for the next year. 

Texas Summer

Well, the summer came and went so quickly I can hardly believe it. I spent 5 weeks in Texas catching up with friends and family and WOW I fit a lot into that time. A few weeks in Arlington, mission week in Tyler, 2 trips to Austin to visit Scott, poolside girl talk, brunches, dinners, running on real trails, dancing, fireworks and so much more. One of the biggest things I've learned living in Africa is that relationships are really what it's all about. Investing in people and just living life together. Possessions are temporary but people, they can leave a lasting imprint. I'm so thankful for the time I got to spend with everyone at home. It was truly refreshing for my soul.