Saying Goodbye to our VVF ladies

As February came to a close, so did our VVF service. The remaining ladies had their catheters removed. Last week we had our last Dress Ceremony. The ladies who participated are not all returning home healed physically, but we hope their soul has had a chance to start healing or at least the time they spent on the ship was like respite care, a break from the judgment and segregation. I have included pictures from the last two dress ceremonies. It was wonderful to attend and celebrate the ladies and hear their testimonies.

One of the Patients “S” shared about when she arrived to Mercy Ships she was drawn to become a Christian and giver her life to God, however when talking to the Chaplaincy they discouraged her and assured her that we provide free surgeries and do not encourage patients to become Christians just to receive our services. They told “S” to go through surgery, we will pray with her and support her and through time, conversations and more thought they would revisit the concept of becoming a Christian. A couple weeks into her recover “S” remained strong in her will to become a Christian and Chaplaincy was more than willing t Pray with her as she accepted Jesus into her heat as her Savior. This testimony I enjoyed greatly. I felt it was so great to hear how Mercy Ships model is not to force religion onto venerable patients who may do so half heartedly prior to surgery. We are here giving surgeries and to love the nation. We are here to model the love of Jesus through our actions and pray for the nation. We are not here throwing bibles around shoving The Gospel down people’s throats. When people see Gods love in action that is when a bigger impact is made. In the works that we do we want the Glory of God to shine through, not our own power and abilities. Hearing “S” testimony gave me great faith in Mercy Ships aide model and how they minister to patients and their families.

At the VVF ceremonies there was dancing and singing and drums! It was great fun! Nurses from other wards attended, and nurses who were off shift came to celebrate with the ladies. Patients from other units came in to watch and partake in the celebrations.

Through our time with the VVF ladies I enjoyed the shift in nursing role. There were less skills and more relationship building to be done. At times I felt as if our role was to be a foster mom to these ladies. Love, Laugh and Play! A day at work would include vital signes, daily multivitamin medications, measuring unrie, painting nails, having my hair braided, watching movies, and knitting while sitting out on Deck 7 with the ladies!

Last week when we were preparing to send 4 of the ladies home one morning I told my patient through the translator that she was to dress and pack her things as they would be departing in an hour or so. The patient looked at me and broke down in sobs! I was shocked! Trying to talk through the translator I was finding it difficult to get to the source of her panic. It turns out the patient did not know she was to return back home! The message was Lost in Translation I guess in the days leading up to her discharge. In addition she told us she was not healed and was still leaking! We were so confused! She was dry! Through more sobs and other patients talking to her we soon discovered that the Multivitamin and Iron (all patients are on daily doses to promote healing from admission to 1 month after discharge) she associated with her dryness, She thought when the pills run out in a month’s time she would become “wet” (fistula would return and urine will leak out again). We explained it was the surgery that corrected the fistula and the medication was just to help her get stronger and heal! Something that seems like general knowledge is not in other parts of the world. It seems that for majority of the patients their understandings of their bodies are minimal and for health care is no existing. So we clarified everything, She found out she would remain wet and returned home to her village as a healed VVF lady!

 

Over the past 2 weeks majority of our patients have returned home and the remaining 3 are on the general surgery unit. Last week instead of working on the unit some of us nurses were reassigned to other tasks. I spent a day in the office organizing old charts, scanning them and filing them away. In addition of of my days was spend doing crafts at the HOPE center (our rehab unit off ship) with the patients and another day going to the school for the Deaf doing another craft project and playing Janga! (what a wonderful universal game! I highly recommend everyone should bring Janga while volunteering abroad!) Friday was spend tidying Ward B and Bleaching the Dressing rooms (we have 3 exam rooms where nurses take the patients to have their dressings changed, this isolates the screeming children and allow for a controlled sterile area away from the tight unit). We bleached the rooms from the ceiling to the door!

On Monday March 4th all of the nurses of B ward spent the day Bleaching again! Making our way over every nook and cranny! In all the cupboards, and on the entire bed frame! It took us all morning but we finished by lunch! This afternoon we had a review of the dressings and care needed for our Plastic patients. There is a Dressing team who will be 2-4 nurses staffed 8am-5pm everyday and who will perform all the dressing changes. This will help create continuity for the patients and help decrease infection rates.  My role will remain as a ward nurse, preparing patients for surgery, receiving them from the recovery room and caring for patients as they recover. The patients that we will see are categorized as Plastic patients. They are patients who need skin grafts and release of contractors. I will write more in a future post! This morning our team of nurses, physio, and the doctor gathered and prayed over the unit. Today the first patient goes into the OR. We will see how the next few months turn out.

It has been interesting to see the shift from one service to another here on the ship. We have a new team leader who is in charge of Plastics. She works on protocols, facilitating trainings, coordinating screenings, and working with the surgeon on the flow of patients (and much more is under her job title).

So as I finish this post I have a prayer request, for all the patients coming for their surgeries that we would see healing and see the grafts take hold while avoiding infections during their time here and once they return home. An infected graft or donor site can be devastating and the risk for infection is high for these patients!