January Update

New Year, New Start ~January Edition~

We're already one month into 2018 - I can't believe how time has flown! I arrived back to the ship just before the new year after a few weeks visiting home for the holidays. Surgeries took a quick break over Christmas but were back in full swing on January 2. My ward, where we've been doing plastics and reconstructive surgery, took a few weeks longer break because the patients take several weeks/months to heal and we were out of room! Even though we haven't had many new patients lately, it's been lovely to spend more time with our current patients and get to know them better. January is a common time for birthdays here (since many people don't know their actual birth date, they choose a date instead) so we've celebrated a few birthdays on the ward with some of our special patients. For many Cameroonians, there isn't extra money for celebrations so some of these patients have never celebrated their birthday with a party. They are surprised and a bit shy about having all the attention on them as we sing, have cake or special treats and hang balloons or other decorations to celebrate! Sometimes they will give a little speech, as one dear lady, Rose, did. She had a large growth removed from her face and has had some trouble healing since the surgery. On her birthday, she got up and shared that she is turning 40 years old and she has spent the last 39 years with this deformity but this year, for the first time ever, she will be free of it and wants to spend the next 39 years praising God for taking it away! What an awesome way to start 2018 and her 40th year!! Each one of us has the opportunity to start this new year with a fresh outlook on life, like Rose. Maybe you don't have a deformity, but something else you've been holding onto that God is asking you to let go of in this New Year. Give Him the chance to give you a New Start this New Year! In other parts of the hospital, the work continues to reach the poorest of Cameroon. One of the most incredible transformations comes from a little 3 month old baby named Paul Pascal. He was brought into the MaxilloFacial ward when we first arrived because he was so malnourished from a severe cleft lip and palate that the doctors didn't know if he would survive outside. His mother Francoise says, "I didn’t understand why it was happening or what I could do to help him. I couldn’t breastfeed him properly. No matter what we did, he kept losing weight. We were so scared...we thought he would die." After months of constant work from his mother and our Infant Feeding Program, he gained enough weight to have his lip repaired. Now a chubby, round cheeked 6 month old, Paul can look forward to a restored future and his mother can again have hope. Below: (left) Paul Pascal when he first arrived to the ship. (right) Paul's mother working with Lee-Ann our dietician on feeding with a syringe. In the general surgery ward, the last 3 weeks were filled with Thyroid patients. Patients like Djenabou who have had goiters for 20+ years and have hid in shame because people call them "monsters". Not only are these enlarged thyroid glands hard to look at, they are extremely dangerous - causing abnormal hormone levels and blocking a patient's airway until they suffocate to death! The nurses on this ward love to share the many stories of the first time a patient wakes up after surgery and sees themselves without this large growth. They say their smiles and happiness can light up an entire room! Above: 4 crew members who donated blood for Djenabou's surgery pose with her during her recovery. We have a 'walking blood bank' here on the ship with our blood donors coming straight from the volunteer crew! Outside of the hospital, our Medical Capacity Building team has been working hard to transform the local health system through training and mentorship. This photo shows the WHO Safe Surgical Checklist in use in a local Cameroonian operating room. This checklist was designed several years ago by the WHO to help reduce surgical mortality. It has been in use in Western countries for years. Teams from Mercy Ships go to each hospital in the countries we visit to train nurses, surgeons and anesthesia providers to use the checklist and show them how it can make huge impact on surgical treatment. Other teams work in the local cities providing training courses in anesthesia, biomed, clubfoot treatment and neonatal resuscitation. These training courses allow the work of Mercy Ships to continue to many years, long after our hospital ship has sailed away. Quick patient update! Do you remember Justine who I wrote about in the Orthopedic email?? Well she is finally heading home after 5 months of surgery and rehab! Her grandfather, who has been here with her the entire time, says that her parents have not seen her straight legs yet. What a joyous reunion that will be when she returns home to her village with her feet pointing forward for the first time in many years!! And in case you forgot, I really do work in the hospital, I promise! We aren't allowed to take our own photos in the hospital for patient confidentiality, and the focus of our photographers is to take patient photos to use for stories and such. But every once in a while, I sneak into a shot to prove I'm really here :) This happens to be me distracting one of our little patients by walking up and down the hallway with his ball. Fred has now had surgery to fix his cleft lip and has returned home with a fresh, new start! Prayer Points: We have just passed the midpoint of the field service which means there is much more work to be done! Pray for strength, endurance, health and provision for our crew. Continued good relations with the customs officials. We are still having some issues getting our needed supplies which have been delayed many times. Please keep in prayer several patients who are having trouble with healing. Pray for patience and wisdom for those caring for them and finding new techniques to help them recover well. Preparations have begun for the next field service in Guinea. Surgical planning and assessments are currently being done.