Monday, September 12, 2011
on freckles
So, the african children are not used to freckles.
One friend got asked if he was sick.
Another got asked if she was turning black like them.
:-)
One friend got asked if he was sick.
Another got asked if she was turning black like them.
:-)
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
our littlest babies
Yesterday we admitted the sweetest handful of little babies. They promptly stole all our hearts and ooh, I could... well, did, just squinch them. Oh, these little ones. Two of these babies have congenital cataracts, on both eyes, and are getting operated on in about an hour, so please do pray for them now and as they recover. I mean, right now! Drop what you're doing and pray for them please. I can't tell you what fun (and heartrendering) it was to watch these two toddle around and keep them from running into things... and sometimes they did if we didn't catch them fast enough. Toddle, toddle, toddle, bump! Into chairs or beds, just pull your heart right from your chest. Praise God that we have a pediatric opthalmologist onboard for a week! One of the babies has malaria so please pray.
Another little 6 month old has little webbed hands and feet. We shot some X-rays and can see that he has all the bones necessary for fingers and toes, so he will also get operated on by our plastic surgeon extraordinaire, Dr. Gary Parker, who has been onboard Mercy Ships for 20 something years! Raising his family here and everything! This baby also has malaria (rude mosquitoes, really biting a baby,what's wrong with them.) He also has some sort of developmental delay/chromosomal defect going on as well. He has a special little face, and just looks up and giggles at you, Ooh. Can't stand it. I wonder what his future will be like here. I wonder what genetic testing would show. At least he'll have hands he can work with. They look like little spoons right now. I wish I could post a picture of his X-ray! I'm also rambling.
Our giggliest (yes, it's a word) baby has a tiny lump on the back of her head that's coming off Friday. This baby LOOOVES praise and worship time on the ward, and just bounces along with the music. (Another reason why I miss my Elie-munch niece.)
Please continue to pray for the lady who we did the partial thyroidectomy on - wrote about her a couple of blogs ago. She has both malaria and typhoid and is in our ICU, a very sick lady. It was rather providential that she got her operation at the same time because it's for sure that she would have died by now had she not happened to be onboard to get her surgery. Had she been at home she would have long been gone. She is so sweet - I've never seen anybody come out of delirium, thank us profusely for caring for her and slide back under. She's such a lovely lady and very very sick. I just pray that she's seen the Lord through us. I find the language barrier so difficult. All you can do is pet and love on them and i just feel like it's not enough when I want to talk to them!
We also have a 6 year old that had iron pieces fleck into his eyes two days ago and tear his cornea. That got sutured up and his iris taken out yesterday. Again, thank the good Lord Dr. Park is here right now. I shudder to think what would have happened to this kid with metal in his eye ripping whenever he moved it, and no doc to do anything about it. Let's hear it for pediatric opthalmologists (whoop whoop!) Kid will still be able to see.
Please pray also for my grandfather, Peter Gracie, he's suffered a rather large stroke and is in the ICU in St. Augustine's Hospital in Durban, South Africa. My Granny and he got married about 20 years ago and he's really the only grandfather us kids have ever known. He's the sweetest man, kind heart, and Scottish! He's not been responsive for two days now but has been suffering so much in the past few years with terrible pain. Please pray that the Lord would just be merciful to him.
Lots of prayer requests today! Love you all!
Another little 6 month old has little webbed hands and feet. We shot some X-rays and can see that he has all the bones necessary for fingers and toes, so he will also get operated on by our plastic surgeon extraordinaire, Dr. Gary Parker, who has been onboard Mercy Ships for 20 something years! Raising his family here and everything! This baby also has malaria (rude mosquitoes, really biting a baby,what's wrong with them.) He also has some sort of developmental delay/chromosomal defect going on as well. He has a special little face, and just looks up and giggles at you, Ooh. Can't stand it. I wonder what his future will be like here. I wonder what genetic testing would show. At least he'll have hands he can work with. They look like little spoons right now. I wish I could post a picture of his X-ray! I'm also rambling.
Our giggliest (yes, it's a word) baby has a tiny lump on the back of her head that's coming off Friday. This baby LOOOVES praise and worship time on the ward, and just bounces along with the music. (Another reason why I miss my Elie-munch niece.)
Please continue to pray for the lady who we did the partial thyroidectomy on - wrote about her a couple of blogs ago. She has both malaria and typhoid and is in our ICU, a very sick lady. It was rather providential that she got her operation at the same time because it's for sure that she would have died by now had she not happened to be onboard to get her surgery. Had she been at home she would have long been gone. She is so sweet - I've never seen anybody come out of delirium, thank us profusely for caring for her and slide back under. She's such a lovely lady and very very sick. I just pray that she's seen the Lord through us. I find the language barrier so difficult. All you can do is pet and love on them and i just feel like it's not enough when I want to talk to them!
We also have a 6 year old that had iron pieces fleck into his eyes two days ago and tear his cornea. That got sutured up and his iris taken out yesterday. Again, thank the good Lord Dr. Park is here right now. I shudder to think what would have happened to this kid with metal in his eye ripping whenever he moved it, and no doc to do anything about it. Let's hear it for pediatric opthalmologists (whoop whoop!) Kid will still be able to see.
Please pray also for my grandfather, Peter Gracie, he's suffered a rather large stroke and is in the ICU in St. Augustine's Hospital in Durban, South Africa. My Granny and he got married about 20 years ago and he's really the only grandfather us kids have ever known. He's the sweetest man, kind heart, and Scottish! He's not been responsive for two days now but has been suffering so much in the past few years with terrible pain. Please pray that the Lord would just be merciful to him.
Lots of prayer requests today! Love you all!
Monday, September 5, 2011
Cuddle time, 30 minutes, three times daily
We've decided as nurses to go ahead and presume for the order on the charts for the children- seeing's we just about fit it in anyways.
I have loved the last couple of shifts at work. Our general surgeon is leaving today and we're closing off the general surgery cycle- hernia repairs, hydrocelectomies, hemithyroidectomies and lipoma removals. So we've spent the last few shifts (in the evening) just having fun. Two nights ago, for example, one kid from Germany brought down his guitar to the unit and the staff proceeded to entertain the patients with every raucous praise song we could think of. One of our day volunteers completely took us aback as he busted out the rap! Out came the bongo drums, the children put on their tiny sunglasses and hats and we were all just dancing. Heehee. So wouldn't get away with that at home :-)
I had a rather sheepish moment when one rather official-looking chap walked onto the unit. Now, i'm the charge nurse and probably am supposed to have some level of dignity but I've found here that the charge nurses are usually the ringleaders in troublemaking, so I fit right in :-) Anyways, this chap had a pink gift bag and (after finishing our song) asked him if he needed any help. He said he was looking for "Lisha van der...(pause)..." and so now I'm good and confused... turns out he's Auntie Cheryl Mackey's neighbor from Van, Texas and he's brought me a gift bag of goodies for my birthday! Thank you auntie Cheryl!!!! He works at Mercy Ship's Headquarters and was coming over to Sierra Leone so now my roomies and I have a chocolate stash! Yeah!!
I have loved the last couple of shifts at work. Our general surgeon is leaving today and we're closing off the general surgery cycle- hernia repairs, hydrocelectomies, hemithyroidectomies and lipoma removals. So we've spent the last few shifts (in the evening) just having fun. Two nights ago, for example, one kid from Germany brought down his guitar to the unit and the staff proceeded to entertain the patients with every raucous praise song we could think of. One of our day volunteers completely took us aback as he busted out the rap! Out came the bongo drums, the children put on their tiny sunglasses and hats and we were all just dancing. Heehee. So wouldn't get away with that at home :-)
I had a rather sheepish moment when one rather official-looking chap walked onto the unit. Now, i'm the charge nurse and probably am supposed to have some level of dignity but I've found here that the charge nurses are usually the ringleaders in troublemaking, so I fit right in :-) Anyways, this chap had a pink gift bag and (after finishing our song) asked him if he needed any help. He said he was looking for "Lisha van der...(pause)..." and so now I'm good and confused... turns out he's Auntie Cheryl Mackey's neighbor from Van, Texas and he's brought me a gift bag of goodies for my birthday! Thank you auntie Cheryl!!!! He works at Mercy Ship's Headquarters and was coming over to Sierra Leone so now my roomies and I have a chocolate stash! Yeah!!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Our day out - Tribe Wanted at John Obey Beach
Beach bums, one and all. What Dad calls "sufferin' for Jesus overseas" heehee. Fran, Caris, Jo and Claire. 
Lunchtime! Fish they just caught, a mountain of rice, tomato sauce with onions. Yummo!
A goat and two chickens
Four lovely friends and I climbed into a poda-poda headed off to John Obey beach today, gamely heading out through the pelting rain in hopes for a sunny beach. We were amply rewarded with few showers and enough sunshine to turn me pink. Very nice.
The adventure though is usually in the getting there or getting back. Going there, I did a double take as I leaned forward to tap the shoulder of my friend sitting in front of me, "Dude, there's a chicken napping at your feet." Sure enough, swinging merrily away in a grocery bag hanging on the railing in front of her, a happily snoozing chicken. Little did it know its days are probably numbered and was probably a tasty supper tonight for somebody.
On the way back, the back of the poda-poda gets opened, and a tiny goat gets tied to the back of the last seat. Then another dude climbs in, holding a vehemently squawking chicken. Rather funny 'cause every time the taxi door slid open or shut, the chicken would voice it's opinion on the matter. So we giggled the whole way back anytime we had a stop. The goat got out across from the Osman Tolo shops as we continued on to Savage Square, where our ship is docked.
Lovin' me this cross-cultural experience.
The adventure though is usually in the getting there or getting back. Going there, I did a double take as I leaned forward to tap the shoulder of my friend sitting in front of me, "Dude, there's a chicken napping at your feet." Sure enough, swinging merrily away in a grocery bag hanging on the railing in front of her, a happily snoozing chicken. Little did it know its days are probably numbered and was probably a tasty supper tonight for somebody.
On the way back, the back of the poda-poda gets opened, and a tiny goat gets tied to the back of the last seat. Then another dude climbs in, holding a vehemently squawking chicken. Rather funny 'cause every time the taxi door slid open or shut, the chicken would voice it's opinion on the matter. So we giggled the whole way back anytime we had a stop. The goat got out across from the Osman Tolo shops as we continued on to Savage Square, where our ship is docked.
Lovin' me this cross-cultural experience.
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