My time in admissions is coming to an end on Thursday and I'll be back in the OR next week (YAY!). I have had a good time learning again how to draw blood and doing health histories & physical assessments. More than anything, I have enjoyed the time to sit down and talk with patients, of course through a translator. I love hearing their stories of struggles and their hopes for healing.
The most entertaining part of working on the hospital ship in Africa- are pronouncing the patients' names. I usually greet my older patients with "Papa" or "Mama". In return, I get a smile that needs no translation. My first week in admissions I had a little girl, Bernice, who was blind due to bilateral congenital cataracts. I gave her a teddy bear that she became so engrossed in feeling all the textures. I had her sit in my lap as I did vital signs and she found my stethoscope and followed it with her little fingers to my face. The day after her surgery, I had the privilege to witness Bernice open her eyes for the first time and reach for the toys we had laid out in front of her.
Next, is Simon. He was also a young boy with cataracts. I had processed him through admissions the first week, but we were unable to do surgery until late July. So twice I was able to sit down with Simon and his father to hear their story and pray for Simon. Couple days later, I saw them again in the waiting area and Simon was holding the toy I gave him. He had held the dwarf (from Snow-white) so close to his face to see what I had put in his hands the first day in admissions. As I walked over to greet his them again, his father took my hands in his and said in his broken English "He can see now, Simon can see. Thank you." I thank God for allowing me to be a part of that healing process.
There are so many I can write about... Jean-Baptis, older man with an inguinal hernia repair. Always a smile and a handshake for me when I see him waiting for his post-op visits. Lousisiano, little boy, with lip hemangioma, that shed just one tear when I drew blood, but gave me a crooked smile when I finished. Filias, a brave little boy, came in for a hernia operation- he giggled as he watched me take his blood. Emmanuel from Nigeria (see past blog) greets me in the hall now as he is recovering from major surgery. I saw young Nasif leave this morning with his mama and his polar bear stuffed animal in tow. I pray he will be back to the ship later this year for surgery to correct his locked jaw. Today, I finished with a young man, named Kokou, which means he was born on a Wednesday. Everyday of the week has a gender specific name in the Mina language. I would be Afi (for Friday).
We have helped hundreds of people this outreach in Benin. They become numbers in somebody's book, but to me each person has a story behind their name.
I was more than happy to hand over my pager last year when I quit my job. That little annoying sound box prevented me from running errands in traffic packed Tyler and kept me up more nights than none. When I arrived onboard the Africa Mercy, I was unaware of how much we rely on pagers to find people on the ship. First day in Benin, I had the duty nurse pager, that is God's sense of humor. So last Saturday, I was one of the three OR nurses on-call for the day. For the pager handover, I usually answer the door with one eye open and then return to watching my eyelids. However, this time I couldn't fall back asleep so I ventured to the dining room for breakfast. One of my friends, Missy, was shocked to see me up early. She wanted me to go to the hospitality center to visit patients with her. As I was explaining my sad excuse of being on-call, Luke, one of our coworkers overheard and graciously volunt
eered to take the pager for me. I love that there is a different and willing attitude when it comes to helping each other out with the pager when you work with missionaries. So a group of us gathered our supplies and walked to the hospitality center for the day. When we got there all the patients were enthralled in a Nigerian movie playing. Of course, there are always babies to hold and kids to entertain. I broke out the coloring books and stickers, Tracy had balloon animals to make, and Liv had press-on tattoos. What a great day until I had to retrieve the pager when I got back to the ship. :)
