I had a shocking moment of realization today when I looked at the calendar and realized that there are a mere 16 whole days before leaving the Africa Mercy. I'm not the only one for sure, the Sierra Leonian visit of the Africa Mercy drawing to a conclusion. My fellow nurses are starting to leave one by one and the days are filling up with sad goodbyes. Those lucky enough to remain are also sad and get a bit of a pass 'cause they get to keep a few friends around, but still.
On the bright side, I get to take my bunkmate with me to South Africa! Rachel is coming with me for a good adventure further south before she comes back to the Africa Mercy for it's field assignment in Togo. Lucky girl!
But January 7th I'll be headed home :-)
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Goat sacrifices and toddler group hugs
Nursing Report you won't give at home:
Report to the next charge nurse, Danielle, this afternoon went something like this, "and Ibrahim has permission to go off the ship to go kill a goat." Now, I didn't know if it was a particular goat that had offended him or what precisely was going on. Come to find out from Danielle who had made it to church this morning that the streets of Freetown are very busy, the mosques are packed and there are hundreds of goats lining the streets awaiting a sure demise. Hmm. And here i'm sitting on Deck 9 next to the pool and far away from the ever-infallible :-) Wikipedia to find out what holiday it is. It reminds me of New Year's eve in the south of Chile where hundreds of little white lambs were attached to fence posts kicking up an absolute ruckus on the 31st of December, followed by an eerie silence on the 1st. Then the most tantalizing smoke would fill the air as roasting lamb filled the town. Yummmo! I remember Auntie Nisey coming to visit us in Chile appalled by the whole little lamb thing, and she spent an entire afternoon crying next to one little white fluffy thing, stroking it's ears. Don't think the goats are gonna have the same reception though. Or maybe they do get eaten, I don't know!
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Another interesting favorite from reading another patient's History and Physical, under Social History, "4 wives, 16 children."
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We've also admitted 6 adorable two to four year olds to have their growth plates removed. They've invented a new game and taken to collectively mass-hugging anybody who walks through the door. You step into A ward and 6 tiny four year olds come yelling and plaster themselves in a group hug around your legs.
These little ones came to the ship for orthopedic surgery at the beginning of the outreach. They're called the 8 plate children, because their legs looked like parentheses - or that you could place an 8 in. plate between their knees. Growth plates were inserted to straighten their legs as they grew. However, there is more motivation to pray as some of them aren't straight yet and the ship is getting ready to depart. Decisions need to be made as to whether to remove the plates now, and still leave them better than they were before, or leave the plates in and somehow arrange for these children to make the journey to Guinea, one country over, in a few months once their legs are straighter. Travel is very difficult in West Africa and there is the risk that the journey can't be made, for any of a dozen reasons. The risk is that then their legs will keep on growing inwards until the parentheses are formed in the opposite direction. Quandry! Please pray for wisdom and traveling mercies for these children and their parents.
They are so beautiful though. Melt your heart.
Report to the next charge nurse, Danielle, this afternoon went something like this, "and Ibrahim has permission to go off the ship to go kill a goat." Now, I didn't know if it was a particular goat that had offended him or what precisely was going on. Come to find out from Danielle who had made it to church this morning that the streets of Freetown are very busy, the mosques are packed and there are hundreds of goats lining the streets awaiting a sure demise. Hmm. And here i'm sitting on Deck 9 next to the pool and far away from the ever-infallible :-) Wikipedia to find out what holiday it is. It reminds me of New Year's eve in the south of Chile where hundreds of little white lambs were attached to fence posts kicking up an absolute ruckus on the 31st of December, followed by an eerie silence on the 1st. Then the most tantalizing smoke would fill the air as roasting lamb filled the town. Yummmo! I remember Auntie Nisey coming to visit us in Chile appalled by the whole little lamb thing, and she spent an entire afternoon crying next to one little white fluffy thing, stroking it's ears. Don't think the goats are gonna have the same reception though. Or maybe they do get eaten, I don't know!
--------------00000000000000---------------
Another interesting favorite from reading another patient's History and Physical, under Social History, "4 wives, 16 children."
--------------00000000000000---------------
We've also admitted 6 adorable two to four year olds to have their growth plates removed. They've invented a new game and taken to collectively mass-hugging anybody who walks through the door. You step into A ward and 6 tiny four year olds come yelling and plaster themselves in a group hug around your legs.
These little ones came to the ship for orthopedic surgery at the beginning of the outreach. They're called the 8 plate children, because their legs looked like parentheses - or that you could place an 8 in. plate between their knees. Growth plates were inserted to straighten their legs as they grew. However, there is more motivation to pray as some of them aren't straight yet and the ship is getting ready to depart. Decisions need to be made as to whether to remove the plates now, and still leave them better than they were before, or leave the plates in and somehow arrange for these children to make the journey to Guinea, one country over, in a few months once their legs are straighter. Travel is very difficult in West Africa and there is the risk that the journey can't be made, for any of a dozen reasons. The risk is that then their legs will keep on growing inwards until the parentheses are formed in the opposite direction. Quandry! Please pray for wisdom and traveling mercies for these children and their parents.
They are so beautiful though. Melt your heart.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Babies in knitted caps and booties
A tiny sleeping beauty needs a kiss!
I got her, I got her!
Some kind ladies knitted booties and caps for the babies on the Africa Mercy.
"Dis bed no gud!"
How do you explain to a patient that the reason why his bed is bucking is the ship's fault, not his bed?
We transferred some patients from D ward to B ward, as D was ready for some deep cleaning, and the patients were happily lodged in their newly assigned beds. Or so I thought. I came across one seriously disgruntled customer... we were getting dark looks and impatient sighs, snapping lips. Though a translator I asked what is the problem. "This bed no gud. I want my other bed back. It moves too much. It make me 'ed de turn!"
Try as I may to explain that it is very windy outside and the choppy seas are making everybody's bed move, no luck. He wanted back to D ward. "Dis bed no good!" as he waves his arms back and forth, mimicking the movement of his new crib. And this is a 46 year old patient too!
I'm afraid he wasn't satisfied at all, and we couldn't convince him that everybody's beds were bucking too :-)
We transferred some patients from D ward to B ward, as D was ready for some deep cleaning, and the patients were happily lodged in their newly assigned beds. Or so I thought. I came across one seriously disgruntled customer... we were getting dark looks and impatient sighs, snapping lips. Though a translator I asked what is the problem. "This bed no gud. I want my other bed back. It moves too much. It make me 'ed de turn!"
Try as I may to explain that it is very windy outside and the choppy seas are making everybody's bed move, no luck. He wanted back to D ward. "Dis bed no good!" as he waves his arms back and forth, mimicking the movement of his new crib. And this is a 46 year old patient too!
I'm afraid he wasn't satisfied at all, and we couldn't convince him that everybody's beds were bucking too :-)
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
the Dawn of a New Day
Yesterday evening the crew of the Africa Mercy had the pleasure of a screening of the film "Dawn of a New Day". This documentary was filmed onboard in Benin in 2009, and in Cape Town, South Africa, following the steps of Dr. Tertius Venter. I'm going to get ahold of it and we'll have a movie night when we get home! Popcorn! Yeah! It shows the ship and patient's stories beautifully set to haunting music, and I can't wait to show it all to you. It was lovely to be able to see patient's stories from the beginning of their journeys at home to the ship and their joyous reunions with their families afterwards.
I'm attaching the link to the site:
http://www.journeyman.tv/62177/documentaries/the-dawn-of-a-new-day.html
I'm attaching the link to the site:
http://www.journeyman.tv/62177/documentaries/the-dawn-of-a-new-day.html
a ward funny
Translator, "What state are you from?"
Me, "Tennessee"
Translator, "Oh, I only know New York, California, Texas and Mexico!"
Me, "Tennessee"
Translator, "Oh, I only know New York, California, Texas and Mexico!"
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
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