Pink Sheets

The number of patients on the ward these days can be counted on one hand. However, there are hundreds of pink sheets that remain. Every patient that is seen, there is a pink sheet that tells us each their story. Their name, contact information, basic assessment is written down on arrival to the ship. It is placed in the patients’ chart and this is what the nurses look at to find the surgeon’s diagnoses and plan for surgery. However, these pink, yellow, and green sheets that remain are patients we could not help this outreach. All are placed in a file cabinet in the OR office waiting to be pulled when we have a cancellation or the right doctor to help. The final surgeries were done on Thursday and we still have a stack of pink sheets left. Like any hospital document it has to be shredded, but first we needed to pray.

We cleared the recovery room and laid out each pink sheet representing a person that came to us for help, but surgery would not be their answer. I walked among the covered stretchers along with other crew and read stories of people I never met, but were in need of my prayers. There was Dantote and Dola that were placed on the max-fax waiting list. Gloria, David, Esther, and Emmanuel all had yellow sheets from orthopedic screening. I lifted up praises for them because written on the sheet was “too good for surgery”. They all are babies with the beginning signs for bowed legs, but with the right nutrients it may be reversed. There were ones that broke my heart when I read of cancer on Kadjo’s pink sheet and HIV on others. I picked up a green sheet and noticed my handwriting below from general screening. I had met Akoele for a brief minute in hopes of being able to provide surgery for her large goiter, but now I sat there praying for healing in another way. Bamafou and Koko were waiting at home for a phone call to tell them to come to the ship, but we no more surgery slots- I prayed for peace that surpasses all understanding. As I placed each of the pink sheets in the “Prayed for” bin, the piles still on the stretchers were overwhelming to the few us left. This is when we agreed to keep praying until every name has been read. Will you pray along with us? I will find a pink sheet that has a story of someone that needs your prayers for hope and healing.