What do you do when you are stressed? Do you scream at your friends or family? (That isn't advised). Do you exercise? Count to ten? Pray? Do you throw things? (Another bad idea). Or do you inhale large, I mean, LARGE amounts of chocolate? (Yummy)!
When I experience stress, the first thing I want to do is eat 5 million chocolate bars. But, I have recently decided that inhaling large amounts of chocolate may not be a healthy stress relieving activity. It has taken me a long time to come to this conclusion, but I have decided I should take it easy on the chocolate consumption. So, what do I do to relieve my stress now?
Of course, I pray, and try to think rationally about the situation causing my stress, but that doesn't always work. Sometimes I need a tangible stress relieving activity. What to do? What to do? I am slightly limited with stress relieving options here on the ship. It isn't like I can hop in my car and drive down the freeway at high speeds with the music blaring. I cannot go for a peaceful walk in the woods. I cannot have some alone time...lying on my bed quietly, (I have 3 roommates, they are great, but...).... What to do? What to do? A number of us on the ship have been working on this issue and we have come up with a new therapy technique.... It is called Baby Therapy. You may wonder what Baby Therapy involves... Well, it involves going to the ward, finding the cutest baby possible, picking them up, and smothering them with kisses and more kisses! The therapy session is stress free because when I am done with the therapy session or if the baby interrupts the session with crying; I just return the baby to their mama and the session is over. The baby's mom takes care of all dirty diapers, crying, spitting, and all that jazz. I get to cuddle a cute baby without any added stress! The little angel pictured with me was my most recent Baby Therapy Friend. Now, don't go thinking I am mean and using the babies... Just check out her face... she loved hanging out with me too!
So, why am I stressed? Well... beyond normal daily stress... I was looking forward to a small vacation within the next few days. But, there has been a huge delay in acquiring my travel visa from the local embassy. My visa may not be available until 10 hours AFTER I was scheduled to depart! Nuts! I am praying for this trip to work... Last year when I was scheduled for a break, I got kidney stones and never got to use a $130 USD visa I had already purchased! This year I am ready and so eager for a break.... but visa trouble... I believe my God is big. He can part the Red Sea, He can mend a broken heart, He can restore life to dry bones, He can make good from bad; He can certainly get me a visa if it is His will... Would you join me in praying for God's will to be done in this situation. Also pray for all those babies enrolled in the Baby Therapy program on the ship. I fear they may get smothered by me within the next few hours! Thanks! I love all of you!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Baby Therapy
What do you do when you are stressed? Do you scream at your friends or family? (That isn't advised). Do you exercise? Count to ten? Pray? Do you throw things? (Another bad idea). Or do you inhale large, I mean, LARGE amounts of chocolate? (Yummy)!
When I experience stress, the first thing I want to do is eat 5 million chocolate bars. But, I have recently decided that inhaling large amounts of chocolate may not be a healthy stress relieving activity. It has taken me a long time to come to this conclusion, but I have decided I should take it easy on the chocolate consumption. So, what do I do to relieve my stress now?
Of course, I pray, and try to think rationally about the situation causing my stress, but that doesn't always work. Sometimes I need a tangible stress relieving activity. What to do? What to do? I am slightly limited with stress relieving options here on the ship. It isn't like I can hop in my car and drive down the freeway at high speeds with the music blaring. I cannot go for a peaceful walk in the woods. I cannot have some alone time...lying on my bed quietly, (I have 3 roommates, they are great, but...).... What to do? What to do? A number of us on the ship have been working on this issue and we have come up with a new therapy technique.... It is called Baby Therapy. You may wonder what Baby Therapy involves... Well, it involves going to the ward, finding the cutest baby possible, picking them up, and smothering them with kisses and more kisses! The therapy session is stress free because when I am done with the therapy session or if the baby interrupts the session with crying; I just return the baby to their mama and the session is over. The baby's mom takes care of all dirty diapers, crying, spitting, and all that jazz. I get to cuddle a cute baby without any added stress! The little angel pictured with me was my most recent Baby Therapy Friend. Now, don't go thinking I am mean and using the babies... Just check out her face... she loved hanging out with me too!
So, why am I stressed? Well... beyond normal daily stress... I was looking forward to a small vacation within the next few days. But, there has been a huge delay in acquiring my travel visa from the local embassy. My visa may not be available until 10 hours AFTER I was scheduled to depart! Nuts! I am praying for this trip to work... Last year when I was scheduled for a break, I got kidney stones and never got to use a $130 USD visa I had already purchased! This year I am ready and so eager for a break.... but visa trouble... I believe my God is big. He can part the Red Sea, He can mend a broken heart, He can restore life to dry bones, He can make good from bad; He can certainly get me a visa if it is His will... Would you join me in praying for God's will to be done in this situation. Also pray for all those babies enrolled in the Baby Therapy program on the ship. I fear they may get smothered by me within the next few hours! Thanks! I love all of you!
Togo Road- Trip Part 3
The next day, after an early breakfast, Olivia and I joined the doctors and nurses from Hôpital Baptiste Biblique for their morning rounds. We went around to each patient’s bed where the doctors reviewed the current medical status of each patient and discussed what the next plan of care for each patient would be. We entered a ward with inflatable zoo animals hanging from the ceiling, the pediatric ward. The six to seven bed ward was full of ill, cherished, little brown sugar babies and children, laying in metal cribs-beds, many of them suffering from malaria. There little bodies just cannot take it when they get so sick. Many of the little kids barely opened their eyes, even though they were awake, as the doctors listened to their heart sounds and breathing. Poor little ones…
We continued to move from patient to patient and every so often one of the current patient’s conditions would remind the doctors of old patient stories. It was amazing to hear the doctors speak… they said, “Remember when all those patients had Typhoid Fever…” something we almost never see in the western world. Or, “do you recall the lady with Tetanus a few weeks back?...” Incredible stories, but so sad because Malaria, Typhoid Fever, and Tetanus are all diseases preventable with immunizations, but people in Africa just don’t have access to primary care the way we do at home.
One of the next patient’s we saw was a mother and her day old baby. The little baby appeared well and strong, until we looked closely at his feet. He was born with club feet. The doctors discussed what would be best for the little baby. It was cool that Olivia was there because she was able to give some suggestions and teaching to the doctors regarding some of the treatment techniques for club feet that she has learned from her time working in Orthopedics on the ship. It isn’t that the doctors didn’t know what to do, but none of them are orthopedic doctors or surgeons, so they didn’t know the most recent practice related to newborns with club feet.
After we finished rounds, the doctors went on to tell us about some of the other medical conditions they have to treated at their remote African hospital. A common issue…Snake bites… Doctor Russ explained their pharmacy only has a few anti-venoms available and they don’t work for every type of snake bite. If the anti-venom won’t work for the patient and their particular s
nake bite, the doctors would rather save the anti-venoms for when they will actually make a difference. The patients are not always able to describe which snake bite them, so the doctors at Hôpital Baptiste Biblique have come up with a creative way to determine what snake attacked each patient. One of Doctor Russ’s sons, a true missionary kid, has become extremely skilled in helping snakes meet their maker, skinning them, and then freezing them. He is 19 years old, but has been interested in snakes and he has been studying them for years, convenient because his back yard is a snake’s paradise. Doctor Russ’s son has become so proficient in snakeology (I made up that term, but you get the idea) that if a patient comes to the hospital with a bite, Doctor Russ’s son, is one of the first people the hospital staff call to come identify and determine what snake was involved in the attack. Doctor Russ’s son pulls out his pile of snake skins and frozen snake bodies and there you have it! I’d say that was a python… NASTY!!! People from the village now voluntarily bring snakes to the hospital for the frozen snake collection. I thought this was really resourceful and creative practices of medicine in a remote setting at its finest until I learned the snakes are in the freezer in the guest house I was staying in! Sick!
After hearing tons of amazing and impressive medical stories and how God has provided in every situation, even without all the luxuries of modern technology available; Olivia and I moved over to the hospital clinic, the location of the orthopedic pre-screening. Doctor Russ had seen over 100 patients with orthopedic concerns come to his clinic, but their problems were too extensive to treat at his hospital without an orthopedic surgeon available. So our purpose… Olivia’s purpose was to determine if the patient’s could be helped on the ship. It would be a shame to break families financially by having them travel all the way to Lomé next year, if we can’t address their medical conditions on the ship anyway, so we made the trip ourselves. About 100 potential surgical candidates were to come to Hôpital Baptiste Biblique to be assessed. About 20 came, that’s the way it works in Africa! But Olivia did see some people that we can definitely help. A small boy with 6 fingers on each hand, a precious little boy that walks on his tiptoes because his Achilles tendons are too tight, he has never ever been able to put his feel flat, and some others that will have changed lives because of the surgeries available on the ship! But… as always, there were a number of people we cannot help. Pray for them… Keep in mind a little baby girl I saw that has some serious medical concerns, including having her kneecaps on the back side of her legs. I don’t know if she will ever be able to walk and her family and she have a difficult road ahead of them… See you soon…there is more to this Togo adventure story….
nake bite, the doctors would rather save the anti-venoms for when they will actually make a difference. The patients are not always able to describe which snake bite them, so the doctors at Hôpital Baptiste Biblique have come up with a creative way to determine what snake attacked each patient. One of Doctor Russ’s sons, a true missionary kid, has become extremely skilled in helping snakes meet their maker, skinning them, and then freezing them. He is 19 years old, but has been interested in snakes and he has been studying them for years, convenient because his back yard is a snake’s paradise. Doctor Russ’s son has become so proficient in snakeology (I made up that term, but you get the idea) that if a patient comes to the hospital with a bite, Doctor Russ’s son, is one of the first people the hospital staff call to come identify and determine what snake was involved in the attack. Doctor Russ’s son pulls out his pile of snake skins and frozen snake bodies and there you have it! I’d say that was a python… NASTY!!! People from the village now voluntarily bring snakes to the hospital for the frozen snake collection. I thought this was really resourceful and creative practices of medicine in a remote setting at its finest until I learned the snakes are in the freezer in the guest house I was staying in! Sick!
After hearing tons of amazing and impressive medical stories and how God has provided in every situation, even without all the luxuries of modern technology available; Olivia and I moved over to the hospital clinic, the location of the orthopedic pre-screening. Doctor Russ had seen over 100 patients with orthopedic concerns come to his clinic, but their problems were too extensive to treat at his hospital without an orthopedic surgeon available. So our purpose… Olivia’s purpose was to determine if the patient’s could be helped on the ship. It would be a shame to break families financially by having them travel all the way to Lomé next year, if we can’t address their medical conditions on the ship anyway, so we made the trip ourselves. About 100 potential surgical candidates were to come to Hôpital Baptiste Biblique to be assessed. About 20 came, that’s the way it works in Africa! But Olivia did see some people that we can definitely help. A small boy with 6 fingers on each hand, a precious little boy that walks on his tiptoes because his Achilles tendons are too tight, he has never ever been able to put his feel flat, and some others that will have changed lives because of the surgeries available on the ship! But… as always, there were a number of people we cannot help. Pray for them… Keep in mind a little baby girl I saw that has some serious medical concerns, including having her kneecaps on the back side of her legs. I don’t know if she will ever be able to walk and her family and she have a difficult road ahead of them… See you soon…there is more to this Togo adventure story….
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Togo Road- Trip Part 2
Upon arriving at the Hôpital Baptiste Biblique we made contact with Doctor Russ Ebersole and before a bathroom break we joined him on a tour of his hospital. I liked the place the moment I saw it! I was encouraged to see what the faith of other believers has accomplished and the work for Christ that is being done in this remote part of Togo. I have been to a few Liberian and 
Beninese hospitals, but none of them compared to the hospital I was now visiting. I was energized as I toured the hospital and Doctor Russ introduced me to the team serving and working with him. The hospital has some wonderful pieces of modern medical equipment that we don’t even have on the ship, but it is still an African mission hospital for sure. I saw the IV fluid storage space on a shelf in the corner. Doctor Russ explained that all their IV fluid is made and mixed by hospital staff. Bottles are sterilized and re-used; “it’s cheaper that way.” We saw a medical supply room where there are tons of supplies and a number of random items that had been donated, such as pieces of surgical kits for cardiac surgeries. A lot of good those do in Africa… Doctor Russ said he calls that stuff “Junk for Jesus…” Harsh, maybe, but in reality, not really; myself included, why do we so often leave only our leftovers for God?...
Beninese hospitals, but none of them compared to the hospital I was now visiting. I was energized as I toured the hospital and Doctor Russ introduced me to the team serving and working with him. The hospital has some wonderful pieces of modern medical equipment that we don’t even have on the ship, but it is still an African mission hospital for sure. I saw the IV fluid storage space on a shelf in the corner. Doctor Russ explained that all their IV fluid is made and mixed by hospital staff. Bottles are sterilized and re-used; “it’s cheaper that way.” We saw a medical supply room where there are tons of supplies and a number of random items that had been donated, such as pieces of surgical kits for cardiac surgeries. A lot of good those do in Africa… Doctor Russ said he calls that stuff “Junk for Jesus…” Harsh, maybe, but in reality, not really; myself included, why do we so often leave only our leftovers for God?...
We marched past a room with a lovely curtain with two hospital beds inside. “That’s the maternity ward,” Doctor Russ said. We rounded another corner and I saw a portable X-Ray machine. “Wow,” I said, “You have a portable X-Ray machine, amazing!” Doctor Russ said it is even more amazing when it works! The Hôpital Baptiste Biblique is the second largest hospital in Togo. The first being a government hospital in Lomé with a couple hundred beds and the Hôpital Baptiste Biblique follows behind with 28 beds…. What a sobering fact.
The hospital has a pharmacy that is amazingly well stocked. You would think all hospitals have pharmacies, but that isn’t the case. In many hospitals here, doctors order meds and the nurses are supposed to administer them, but patient’s family members first have to go into town, find the meds, if they can, buy them, and then return with the meds in order for them to be administered. At the local hospital in Benin, surgery doesn’t even take place without interruptions. If IV fluid is needed in the middle of the case, someone from the OR steps out of the OR theater and hands a sheet of paper to the family requesting which meds and IV fluids are needed at that point in the operation. If no one is there to buy them, no work will be done.
We continued touring the hospital and saw the lab. Doctor Russ explained their lab doesn’t have the ability to do bacteriology, but they get by. “Treat the patient with your best guess drug. If it doesn’t work, try another.” I almost choked when Doctor Russ explained the back room in the lab was where their blood bank was located. I couldn’t believe a remote mission hospital would have the proper equipment for storing and banking blood. In shock, I said, “You have the proper devices for thermoregulation and storage of blood?” Doctor Russ said, “Well we have a refrigerator…” we all laughed… (For those of you who don’t know, proper blood banks use far more expensive and extensive equipment to store blood properly… but this is Africa after all, you have to get creative).
Mid-way through the hospital tour, I decided the hospital I was touring was absolutely amazing. My time at the hospital has stirred my heart more and more for medical missions. The hospital was started about 25 years ago and some of the very men, who helped with the mason work, are now trained nurses and physician assistants running parts of the hospital. Incredible; and so important because the true job of a field missionary is to work oneself out of a job. Hôpital Baptiste Biblique has a three-year training program and now almost all of the hospital workers are Togolese Africans.
The next part of the hospital we saw was the medical library. As I scanned the shelves of nursing and medical textbooks from the 1980’s and 1990’s I thought, “How sad that they don’t have current-modern texts.” Apparently our doctor friend read my mind, because he said, “ Our medical textbooks are old, but we have realized that doesn’t matter because the equipment we are donated and the way we practice medicine in Africa is about 20 years old and behind most modern practice anyway.” Oh, so true.
Hôpital Baptiste Biblique does not provide free medical care. Medical care is expensive and from experience, the hospital found out if they don’t charge something people think something is wrong with the hospital. The local people realize the simple truth that things that are worthwhile cost something. The hospital has a men’s ward women’s ward, maternity unit (the two beds behind the nice curtain), pediatric unit, ICU, operating theaters, infectious ward (with mattresses lying on the floor) and an isolation room (where Doctor Russ jokingly said, “Yup we have the negative pressure, reverse airflow, and everything… like at home… see, we shut the doors…” Every other ward space was wide open, only the maternity ward had curtains… so it was a step up to have a door on the isolation room.
The hospital also has a neonatal 
intensive care unit (NICU). Doctor Russ, being a pediatrician, saved showing us the NICU, his pride and joy, for last. We followed him to the nurse’s station and stood there for a while waiting for him to take us to the NICU. Confused, we looked at him and he said, “This is the NICU.” Yup, we had just waltzed right through the NICU. The NICU at Hôpital Baptiste Biblique is five incubators lined up in front of the nursing station! The NICU is where critically ill, tiny babies are cared for. At home even after thoroughly washing your hands, gowning, and donning gloves, your chances are still very limited for actually being able to enter the NICU. But, in Africa, where supplies are limited and staff patient ratios can be extremely high, the best place to keep your critically ill patients is where the most eyes will be watching, no better place than right in front of the nurse’s station! Unbelievable!
intensive care unit (NICU). Doctor Russ, being a pediatrician, saved showing us the NICU, his pride and joy, for last. We followed him to the nurse’s station and stood there for a while waiting for him to take us to the NICU. Confused, we looked at him and he said, “This is the NICU.” Yup, we had just waltzed right through the NICU. The NICU at Hôpital Baptiste Biblique is five incubators lined up in front of the nursing station! The NICU is where critically ill, tiny babies are cared for. At home even after thoroughly washing your hands, gowning, and donning gloves, your chances are still very limited for actually being able to enter the NICU. But, in Africa, where supplies are limited and staff patient ratios can be extremely high, the best place to keep your critically ill patients is where the most eyes will be watching, no better place than right in front of the nurse’s station! Unbelievable!
I spent a fare bit of time in the NICU while I visited Hôpital Baptiste Biblique 
and that is where I met precious Baby Grace and her mom Jacqueline. Grace is the smallest baby I have ever seen. She was born at 28 weeks, seven months gestation, instead of nine months. Grace is a miracle! Her head was about the size of my two fists put together, but still she had perfectly formed toes, eyes, fingers, a mouth, and a nose. She was so tiny! There is no way Grace would have survived without God’s help and medical care. In the time Grace’s mom has been staying at Hôpital Baptiste Biblique learning how to care for tiny Grace; she has met Jesus and will now have a home with him in eternity some day! That night I went to bed praying that someday Baby Grace will also come to know the miracle of her birth and God’s unique, amazing grace poured out for her on a cross many years ago. This story isn’t over…More to come…
and that is where I met precious Baby Grace and her mom Jacqueline. Grace is the smallest baby I have ever seen. She was born at 28 weeks, seven months gestation, instead of nine months. Grace is a miracle! Her head was about the size of my two fists put together, but still she had perfectly formed toes, eyes, fingers, a mouth, and a nose. She was so tiny! There is no way Grace would have survived without God’s help and medical care. In the time Grace’s mom has been staying at Hôpital Baptiste Biblique learning how to care for tiny Grace; she has met Jesus and will now have a home with him in eternity some day! That night I went to bed praying that someday Baby Grace will also come to know the miracle of her birth and God’s unique, amazing grace poured out for her on a cross many years ago. This story isn’t over…More to come… Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Togo Road Trip
We loaded the land rover with medical supplies and provisions for five days away from the ship. We also threw in the items necessary to survive in the hot sun, or the African Bush, should our land rover breakdown somewhere on our projected seven to eight hour journey from Cotonou, Benin to the small village of Tsiko, located in the lower-mid-western part of Togo. With passport in hand, I eagerly anticipated the adventure ahead. We were headed to Hopital Baptiste Biblique, a mission hospital, for the purpose of pre-screening orthopedic patients and establishing contacts and “scouts” to help locate VVF surgical candidates for the Mercy Ships 2010 field service which will be in Lome, Togo. The participants on the journey: Olivia, a Physician’s Assistant and the current Mercy Ship Orthopedic Program Care Coordinator. Karl, Health Care Development Construction Project Manager, an excellent Aussie friend of mine, an all around trouble shooter (sometimes trouble maker), our driver, mechanic, and “manly” presence on the trip considering white women shouldn’t “road-trip” it alone in Africa. The last adventurous spirit on the trip, me!
The seven hour journey went surprisingly fast and without too much excitement. But, mid-way through the journey, I woke from a small snooze to the sound of my Aussie friend, Karl’s accent and him mumbling something about “it isn’t good to drive long on a flat front tire.” I couldn’t really make out what he said over the loud clunk, plunk, clunk, thunk sound of a flat tire, a sound I am only familiar with because of the movies. Karl slowed the land rover down and pulled toward the side of the extremely narrow, one and a half lane road, lined with eight to nine foot high grass. Karl and Olivia jumped out of the car to assess the situation. I stayed in the car and started praying. I prayed that no cars would fly around the curve in the road lined with tall grass and hit us. I also prayed that the problem would soon be sorted. The diagnosis came in: the tire was flat, oh dear! Karl didn’t skip a beat. He calmly looked through the land rover for the tools to change the tire, like he had almost planned to change a flat tire at least once on the journey. I decided I should help in some manner, so I pulled out my camera to document the event for the record books. I know; I am a lot of help. Well, by getting out of the car, I also lessened the weight in the land rover a fare bit, so Karl didn’t have to work so hard to jack it up.
Entirely without my help, Karl successfully changed the tire and we were back on the road. I made another huge contribution to the whole tire changing experience by trying to get the “warning triangle” that we had set up on the road when we were pulled over, back into its box. It took me forever, but I finally got it back in the box, and the entire process helped pass the travel time. After about seven hours of travel, driving through one impressive thunderstorm, and a few flooded sections of road, we pulled into the entrance of the Hopital Baptiste Biblique. Destination reached…Stay tuned for Part 2 of My Togo Adventure Story!
Entirely without my help, Karl successfully changed the tire and we were back on the road. I made another huge contribution to the whole tire changing experience by trying to get the “warning triangle” that we had set up on the road when we were pulled over, back into its box. It took me forever, but I finally got it back in the box, and the entire process helped pass the travel time. After about seven hours of travel, driving through one impressive thunderstorm, and a few flooded sections of road, we pulled into the entrance of the Hopital Baptiste Biblique. Destination reached…Stay tuned for Part 2 of My Togo Adventure Story!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
YIKES!
I had been doing my best to avoid the respiratory bug and stomach bug that has been circling inside the ship, but alas, I have been caught. I am down for the count. No stomach bug at this time, just a cold, aches, sore throat, and cough. I praise God I have medicine to take to ease my discomfort. I am also thankful that I have a comfortable bed to rest and sleep in. I am not so sure my roommate appreciates how much I have been sleeping because apparently, I have been doing some impressive snoring related to my respiratory illness and I coughed for almost an hour straight last night, from 4:00am- 5:00am. Yikes!
Please pray for the rest of the crew as these bugs take their toll on us. Many of the hospital staff are feeling frustrated because a few weeks ago we didn't have enough surgeons on the ship to perform operations, so the nurses were getting extra shifts off, now we have so many ill nurses we are actually having to cancel surgeries because there are not enough healthy nurses to care for all our patients.
Please support us in prayer.
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