This week I began my week of night shift here on the ward. We work from nine p.m to seven am. It's kind of odd timing because you would imagine that the patients would sleep for most of that. However I have decided that sleep is not a necessity for the local Ghanian people. They will get ready for bed and get into bed around 11pm. They fall asleep probably between then and midnight and then are awake, no joke showering and brushing teeth ready to go by 4:30-5am. I haven't decided what that is all about, however they take their cleanliness seriously. I look at their homes and where they live and think why bother cleaning, the floors are dirt and the ceilings of many homes are made out of palm leaves and mud, they are often barefoot so why bother cleaning but between the patients on the ward and the people I have seen in the community they are scrubbing not only themselves to a brilliant shine but also the areas around them. A couple of days ago I was reading books to one of the little girl patients, it was early after lunch and most of the patients were getting ready for naps ( that is why they don't sleep at night because these people are serious nappers) when a group of the women, three patients and one mom get up and go to town cleaning. They are dumping toys out of the toy bins, sweeping the floor, one of these women had so much gauze wrapped around her head you could hardly see her eyes, yet she was cleaning away. They went to town. Maybe I should have stopped them simply for infection control purposes however they were having the best time! Obviously they wanted to show us nurses how to clean properly and just the business was giving them a sense of purpose and satisfaction. It was a sight to be seen, one woman with an intense dressing on her head from a facial tumor removal, the other had bandages all over her arms from contracture releases and the other had a huge back dressing! In the end the toy corner was probably cleaner than I had seen it my two and a half weeks here.
This week Dr. Gary is back, he is the main surgeon, he has worked with Mercy Ships for 25 years, his specialty is cleft lip/palate repairs and the huge tumors you see on peoples faces, in their mouths and on their heads he removes them. He has raised his children on this ship and is an incredible surgeon. I don't have a clue how he learned to operate on these patients, seeing as his medical education in the US certainly didn't have patients such as these. He is incredible. Because he is back we are on full schedule here, we are using all three operating theatres as they call them and have over 8 surgeries a day. We have a couple of children right now that are having cataract surgery it's so awesome to watch these little kids whom have been blind for most of their little young lives, I am talking 2-7 years of age, they come for cataract release and all of a sudden you take the bandages off and they can see. It's so cool to watch them focus their eyes as they look around and see mom, and these weird white people! I don't think they had the concept of colored people before! It's so fun to watch them get their site.
Just a quick note about living on the ship. Every Monday night we play cricket on the back deck. Now cricket is the oddest sports of all time. Especially as i have learned in real life in England they actually take tea breaks in the middle of the game so these games could go on for days. Fortunately we don't do that but Iam finding that cricket is harder than it looks. But it's fun. I think the ships docked next to us can't seem to figure out what is going on as we scream and yell and throw balls at the wicket! lots of fun;)
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