17 weeks was the number of weeks the Africa Mercy spent
doing surgery on patients here in Togo. I
have had the amazing privilege of being a part of these amazing transformations:
Edem. We removed this
tumour from his face. One evening, as he
was drinking, he suddenly began to choke and his nurse grabbed him as he was
bent over vomiting on the floor and then gasping for breath. We ran to get suction for her and she stuck
the yanker sucker in his mouth and said, desperation in her voice, “There’s
something at the back of his throat!”
I ran to the cupboard and got some forceps and his nurse
Jaclyn held him steady while I reach down the back of his throat and pulled the
string I saw. The tail of the gauze
packing in his sinus had fallen down the back of his throat just far enough to
make him gag and wretch. Once i was able to grab the string with the forceps and pull it to the outside of his mouth, he calmed down and we sat him up on his bed. I called the Dr and got the plan for what to
do. We needed to stick some scissors to
the back of his throat and cut the string off from where it had fallen. With someone holding his head still, someone
holding his arms and legs down, someone holding a flashlight, someone holding a
tongue depressor and then someone with the scissors, he lay there scared out of his wits, while
we cut that string off. As soon as the
scissors came out of his mouth and everyone let go, he sat up and said in a
small voice, “Akpe!” (thank you in Ewe)
Oh! What a sweet boy!
Although the final photo of him isn’t perfect, his face will
still change and the extra skin will continue to shrink. But the best thing is, he won’t suffocate! He has a lot of life left to live!
Then there is Toyi.
He came to us with no nose.
He and his friend Payakey, another patient who had the same surgeries, journeyed through it all together.
And over a process of two operations and several weeks in
the ward with us, he came out with this wonderful new nose:
And here is Payakey after his operation was complete. Two new beautiful noses.
I will continue to write more stories but for now I have to
concentrate on my job in the ward. You
see, my previous Ward Nurse Maxilla Facial Team Leader, Ali, has gone home to
the States in preparation for having her baby!
And I offered to take her place for the remained of the field service. So for these last two weeks I have stepped
into big shoes!
Surgery has now finished and we are trying to wrap things up
in the hospital. In fact there are only
4 days left for the hospital to be open!
And we desperately need prayer for some patients to heal before Friday! Here they are:
Sweet baby Chara.
Little Maurice
And lovely Esther (in the middle)
Please be praying for their wound healing and follow up
plans after we are no longer able to look after them. I will write more on their stories soon. I can almost count the number of days on my
fingers that I have left in Togo!
Hi Deb,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this wonderful blog. I've thoroughly enjoyed reading about your life and experiences on the Africa Mercy.
I'm an Australian graduate nurse with a big dream of Mercy Ships in the future.
You have most certainly inspired me.
:)
Wow you are doing great things for the kingdom of God. These things are so the works of God may be displayed in jesus name God bless you and your team I will be praying for these beautiful people of God and you and your team. What was meant for evil ,God intended for the good.
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