Cabin Sweet Cabin

Thank you Jesus for a comfy bed & for the small things, like the fact
that my roommate's duvet matched mine! I love an organized- color-coordinating cabin!

I am so thankful for my living room. Most cabins on the ship do not have a living room.
My couch is made out of towels, extra blankets, odd shaped pillows, old car cushions,
 a rug rolled up, you name it & I probably have it rolled up under the blanket you see. 
All in all...it is pretty comfy! Thanks Mom for teaching me how to be creative & thrifty!

Thank you Jesus for my fridge! Most cabins on the ship do not have their own fridge in them.
Thank you Jesus for the grace & patience you are giving me with roommates that are trying
to grow science projects in the fridge!

Thank you Jesus for my extra-large living room!
 I was blessed to be assigned to one of the cabins that has the largest back space- living room/pantry/office/entertainment center/laundry room out of the entire ship....
Seriously Jesus, thank you for my Cabin....Sweet....Cabin

Plastic Surgery Team 2011

...Surgeons, Nurse Team Leader (me) Nurse Clinical Educator, Occupational Therapist, Physical Therapist...
also known as the torture team...the kids scream when we come near them (dressing changes & exercises)
but we know the temporary pain they are experiencing is worth the gain they will have in the future...

Special Visitors



...and then there was the day at work when the President & Vice President of Sierra Leone stopped over...



...here i am to worship...

Where his right leg had once been, only a stump remained, he would never walk normally again. He was not out of the woods yet, the infection that has started to creep up his leg could have gone farther than we knew. His road to recovery was just beginning. Our hearts were heavy, but we thanked God for a successful, safe operation, and prayed that God would hold this little boy in his hands and be with him as he woke up and faced the reality that his leg was gone.



…As the anesthesia wore off, he came to, and all he asked for was a balloon…


It has been over a month now since he had his right leg amputated. He has never once complained. When I come into the ward in the morning, he is one of the first to shout out, “Mornin, Laura, how da body?” I greet him from across the room and say, “Mornin Doctor, how u sleep & how are the other patients?” He giggles and tells me the rest of the patients are fine. As I look around the ward at my plastics patients, all the other children hide their eyes, believing if they don’t make eye contact with me, they won’t have to have their dressings changed. As I am still scanning the room checking how everyone is doing, my little balloon loving friend, volunteers to have his dressing changed first. I say, “Doctor, that is very brave of you, but very wise, as we have many other dressing changes to do today and I need your help, so we will do yours first, and then you can help me encourage the other patients to have theirs done too!” He giggles again and hops out of bed, grabs his crutches, adjusts the toy stethoscope, around his neck that we have given him to play with, and he says, “le go, le go” (meaning let’s go, I’m ready).


Another nurse assists with his dressing change as I assume my post at the computer updating all the patient information on the computer census. I get lost in mounds of paperwork and sorting out of this and that. I run in and out of the ward, looking for this medicine, creating the item that the nurse needs out of a piece of that tubing and this device and then with the most sincere, straight face, I explain to the new nurse how to use what I just created. She looks at me like I am crazy and I just smile and say, “We do things a little differently around here.” I call the doctor and ask what antibiotic he would like me to use instead of the one he just ordered, because the pharmacy just informed me we are all out of the ordered antibiotic and won’t have any more until the next shipping container arrives. I dash off to the lab after receiving a text page saying... “We’ve got something interesting for you to look at…” I rush into the lab with a grin on my face and say, “don’t tell me, I want to see if I can figure it out on my own.” After a 5 second peek down the microscope, I announce “schistosomiasis mansoni!” The lab tech nods her head in agreement. I say, “Cool, well not for the patient, but cool” and dash out the lab, once again reminding them to call me anytime there is anything interesting to see so that I can keep working on my skills.


In the hallway, on my way back to the ward, I see a beautiful African mother carrying a little buddle of brightly colored, African fabric in her hands. I know that inside the bundle of fabric, there has got to be one precious little baby. I smile at the mother and urge her to let me see inside the fabric pile that she holds with such care. I grin from ear to ear as I see a little head covered with a mop of curly hair a little baby with a cleft lip smiling up at me. I tell the mama her baby is BEAUTIFUL…and I bounce off toward the ward.


Once back in the ward, I sit down at the desk and make assignments for the evening shift, considering each nurse’s skill set and determining which patients they are best gifted to care for. With a list of 10 million other things I still have to do before the shift finishes, running around my head, I move on to the next task in front of me. Tackling each challenge and question I am presented with one at a time, I smile and carry on. As I am still working madly on everything that needs done, I hear this little voice singing “hear I...I am...hear I...I’m tooo worshp…hear I...I am tooo bow down…hear I...I am tooo worshp…” the little voice continues repeating the same line over and over… “hear I...I am...hear I...I’m tooo worshp…hear I...I am tooo bow down…hear I...I am tooo worshp…” I look around the ward wondering where the little angelic voice is coming from and wonder how she learned the words to one of my favorite worship songs. I ascertain the voice is coming from a little girl who I find sitting next to my balloon loving friend. The two of them are coloring together, sitting on the floor next to his bed. She keeps singing and he just looks up and smiles at me.


I stop everything I am doing and listen to her singing as best she can, stammering over her words. I pause… and confess once again that that is why I am here…that’s why I am on a hospital ship in Africa…that’s what it’s all about…here I am to worship…here I am to bow down… here I am to tell them that YOU ARE MY GOD! You are altogether lovely, altogether worthy; altogether wonderful to me…Here I am to worship!

...All he asked for was a balloon...

He had a small sore on his leg, just a scratch, a mere nick in the skin. Had he lived in the Western world he would have just ran to his mother and the two of them would have headed to the bathroom sink to wash off the blood and apply a Snoopy band-aid. The sore would have healed within days…



Instead, he lived in Africa… The pinpoint sized cut didn’t heal; it got infected and increased in size. Unsure what to do about the infection growing in their son’s leg; his parents took him to the local traditional healer-witch doctor. The witch doctor poured a boiling liquid on the little boy’s fragile, infected skin. Now, on top of infection, the little boy had deep burns to his right leg that eventually healed, but healed but with the skin in a contracted form. The burns disfigured the little boy’s right leg, making it impossible to run, play, or walk without crutches; a small, innocent abrasion, changing forever the hopes and dreams of a little Sierra Leonean boy.


That little boy made it to the Mercy Ship. He underwent two surgeries last week to clean up one of the chronic infections that he has dealt with in his leg every since the original scratch showed up. On his third surgery, the skilled plastic surgeon’s gently released the contracted skin that had been holding his leg hostage, in a locked position; they grafted healthy skin to cover up the skin that he had lost.


Such a brave little boy, three surgeries in one week! Anyone else undergoing the type of surgery he had would have been in intense pain requiring a narcotic drip or pain pump, he barely made a peep, his pain controlled with mere Tylenol, Ibuprofen, and an occasional tablet of Codeine. He sat contently in his corner bed coloring pictures of African animals. Who would have known that cheetahs and frogs are actually 12 different colors? He was so polite and would laugh and laugh as his crazy nurses danced around the ward during ward worship time.


After surgery he got a fever, but it was less than 24 hours post-operatively, too soon for a surgical infection, could this little boy who had been through so much already, have malaria as well? The lab smear-viewed and partially diagnosed by myself, declared he indeed had malaria. Anti-malaria treatment started, but the fevers didn’t subside. A few days later vomiting, diarrhea, and massive bleeding from his right leg started. Emergently, we rushed him back to surgery; our plastic surgeon and general surgeon worked for hours attempting a vascular surgery- a venous graft from his left leg to where an arterial bleed had started in his right leg. The rest of our general surgical cases had to be cancelled for that day.


While the surgeons began another hour of surgery on our little patient from the corner bed, I gathered the nurses on the ward once again to pray for the surgeons, the little boy’s family, our little Sierra Leonean patient, and for all the patients whose surgeries had to be put on hold because of the emergency. We remembered how in history, Jesus had cured a woman who had been bleeding for years, of course, God could cure our patient that had been bleeding for a few hours. God carried our little man through surgery. His bleeding stopped; we gave him a few units of blood, one from the very anesthetist that managed his respiratory and fluid balance status while his fragile body was asleep. We cared for him in the ICU and prayed fervently that his leg would be okay, that blood flow would be sustained, and that he would heal quickly. Our little Sierra Leonean patient woke up from the grueling surgery, smiled, and all he asked for was a balloon.


A few days have passed since our little patient’s miracle surgery, but he isn’t doing well. His leg has lost blood supply and in a matter of minutes he will be returning to surgery for an above the knee amputation of his right leg.  He didn't ask for any of this...He didn't ask for infection, He didn't ask for burns, He didn't ask for malaria, He didn't ask for surgical complications....All he asked for was a balloon...And all I ask of you... on his behalf... is that you pray....

Africa Mercy Easter Celebration 2011

He died for you...Will you now live for Him???

...Amazing grace how sweet the sound...

...Jesus, thank-you for the cross...

...Love so amazing...so divine...demands my life...my heart...my all...

International Nurse's Day 2011

...Our current nurses on the Africa Mercy are from ALL over the World...
A few of the countries we are from include...
America, Canada, Australia, New Zeland, South Korea, Hong Kong, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, South Africa,
Ireland, Scotland, England, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Holland, Germany, & Belgium!!!
Different countries, different backgrounds, different nursing styles, but our heartbeat is the same...
to see HIS name glorfied as we aim to bring hope & healing to the people of Sierra Leone!!!

...Orthopedic Ward- Part of the Ortho Team...

Ortho Ward- Sierra Leone decorations & birthday banner
the patients made for our physical therapist being displayed...

...Happy Independence Day Sierra Leone...




...Daniel, one of our amazing translators, & me displaying an 
Independence Day Scarf-Banner that was given to me (a gift from a patient)...

 

...i won't let my love grow cold...

It's been far too long since I last wrote… I do feel horrible about that…but let me give you a general overview of life in the last 4 weeks…


 I was sick…along with many other crew members…So many of the crew were plagued with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, that the captain ordered a mandatory “diarrhea” survey to be completed by all crew members, to determine the cause of the diarrhea outbreak ( a small scale epidemiological study- I really wanted to help count the data and look at the trends causing all the “crap” and use my knowledge from my tropical disease class to help solve the “diarrhea disaster”, but I didn’t have enough free time to volunteer to help in the epidemiological study). The results from the study are still pending, but with prayer, increased hand-washing, prayer, and more prayer, the “poopy” situation has improved.

I took worm medicine…felt better for a few weeks, worked too much…and have felt totally tired again, but I won’t let my love grow cold…

Our water situation has improved. Restrictions were lifted shortly after all of you started praying after my last update. We did not have to cancel any surgeries; we acquired drinking water, were able to resume normal water requiring functions on the ship, and we had enough water during the “diarrhea disaster” to flush toilets to our hearts content!

I have been feeling tired, but I won’t let my love grow cold…

The power and air-conditioning on the ship have been cutting in and out many times in the last month. The port we are currently sitting in is filthy! Although I have a coveted window in my cabin on the ship, the view out my window is less than exciting. What I see is far from a tropical paradise, with crystal clear water, instead all I see is wave after wave of trash, rubbish, plastic bags, medical waste, an occasional wooden fishing boat, and innumerable objects of filthiness floating past! All of the filthy debris has managed to repeatedly clog the ventilation and engineering systems on the bottom- outside of the ship, resulting in power outages and blocks in the ventilation on the ship! Our ship divers have been working daily and hourly to keep the ship in operation. In past outreaches, being on the dive team was a side-job, requiring only a few hours of volunteering per week, this outreach; diving has become a fulltime job & we are in an urgent need of more divers. I cannot promise views of tropical fish or coral reefs to would-be-potential divers, but I can promise adventure, so if you know any certified divers that are crazy enough to come to Sierra Leone to dive in E-coli infested water… for His glory…send them my way.

I have been working too much…I am tired, but I won’t let my love grow cold…

Sierra Leone celebrated 50 years of independence! The patients decorated the ward with paper chains in the colors of the Sierra Leone flag; we wore blue & green scrubs in honor of the celebration, and went all out in craziness, celebrating Independence Day with our patients & translators!

I got sick again, spent more time in bed, on the toilet, and near a bucket, didn’t eat a real meal in over 72 hours… and felt tired, but I won’t let my love grow cold…

Jesus is RISEN! He is RISEN indeed! I celebrated my second Easter onboard the Africa Mercy! It was a special week, reflecting on God’s incredible passion & love demonstrated in Christ’s death & resurrection!

Many crew members and nurses have had to suddenly leave because of unforeseen circumstances at home. Two of my nurses left and upon their arrival home, their beloved mother passed away. Another one of my ICU nurses was life-flighted home because of cardiac arrhythmias. Our receptionist hurried home because her father became ill, upon her return home, he passed away. Three crew members’ grandparents have passed away. And our phlebotomist just had to rush home this past week because of an ill family member.

Orthopedic surgeries for the 2011 Sierra Leone outreach are officially finished. My last little casted children are being discharged home with brand new legs and the ward beds are filling up with plastic surgery patients.

I have been tired…I have been too tired to write… My perfectionism has kept me from writing because all my creative juices are gone and I hate to post updates when I have no creativity. I have been too tired to go to the beach or to explore Sierra Leone on my days off. I haven’t gone off the ship since Easter. In the past month, I can count on one hand the number of times I have gone outside, even though, outside is only a few steps away every day.

May 12th we celebrated international nurse’s day! I love being a nurse!


God is my strength…an ever present help…when so much goes wrong..or not the way one may have planned..it is tempting to give up…to stop caring…to throw in the towel...A book I like to refer to daily says “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold…” (Matthew 24:12) Caring hurts…Loving people always involves risk…Human nature says to self protect…and in this protective mechanism, we may let our love grow cold… we may start looking out for number one…But I declare…that I will refuse to let my love grow cold…in the heat, when I am tired, with stomach cramps, without showers, when things happen that I don’t understand, in the dark without electricity…I won’t let my love grow cold… I have been working…maybe working too much…and that has made me tired, but I won’t let my love grow cold…