Life Still Happens Even on a Ship in Africa


This past week was a good lesson that life still happens, a good reminder that as much as you may want to escape life still follows and life occurs the grief the joy the ups and the downs the realities of it all. Last week started with a collision, many of you know that Monday our ship got hit by another ship a much larger ship. I just so happened to be in the shower at the time when we got hit and i was thrown against the wall. Everyone was fine on both ships and we sustained no major damage there is a dent but that is all, no leaking no sinking. We are heavily protected by the Lord.
I spent the last week on night shift. We were overstaffed so the ward supervisor gave me the night off, which I told her that since I was the only ICU trained nurse scheduled that night, that Murphy's Law would have it that I was going to be called in because something would happen and sure enough I got a call at like 8pm saying that there was a ventilated patient. This poor young man had a huge lymphangioma removed from his jaw. The surgery went well, the surgeon said that it was just a huge honeycombed network of lymph nodes and veins full of lymphatic fluid. So the surgery ended and they put the pressure dressing on and injected doxycycline into the incision which is supposed to stop the lymph from producing and causing another tumor. However this young mans lymph system was not so obedient and within 1 hour of surgery his face and neck and airway were swollen with lymph fluid, he had a huge growth of lymph fluid right between his eyes that cropped up in like five minutes, the lymph to the path of least resistance and was everywhere he promptly was intubated as his airway was swelling to a dangerous point. So I had him all night on a ventilator from the 60's. It was a great experience to work in my element in the ICU without the endless supplies and equipment and doctors that we have at home. Creativity is a must in this job. Wednesday morning came and went and then Thursday night I was in the ICU again with the same, however right at change of shift a 911 page went off overhead, an older women a crew member had collapsed on the upper deck and was coding, or her heart was stopped. The medical team responded and performed CPR for 45 minutes and shocked her 5 times with the defibrillator before she normalized her heart, she was promptly taken to the ICU, it was a major event. I thought for sure given her age and just the simple trauma of continuous CPR and defibrillating would definitely not lead to a good outcome. Remarkably well through God's great grace by 2pm in the afternoon shew as awake, they extubated her, she remained on an amiodarone drip but as sitting up talking and feeling a little tired but otherwise feeling well. This whole time there was a continous prayer group meeting every 30 minutes to pray for her. That evening she was transferred to the Korle Bu hospital at the university which for West Africa is a beautiful facility with all of the western equipment you just have to pay extra for modern stuff. Saturday she was airlifted to Paris to the American Hospital there to undergo more treatment. Whenever they turn off the heart medication her heart goes back into a very threatening heart arrythmia but otherwise she feels great. It's an awesome testimony and was so amazing to see God's hand in that. To top all of that Thursday ngiht i went to work and had two ICU patients with tracheostomies. It was a crazy night and a perfect way to end a crazy week. This week as already started better and I hope it's more mild even though the adrenaline of last week was fun!!
Last night I went out with the HIV/AIDS team to teach education at a local church. My friend Nicole heads up the team and is one of the teachers and it's just amazing to see the hunger in these people. They so want to respond to the AIDS problem in Africa and Ghana appropriately. Part of Mercy Ships education is to train these local churches to go out and do the AIDS education program in other areas. Education is key to solving this problem. A great example is the country of Uganda who actually has a drop in AIDS after the current president took the problem to the churches and asked them to address it seriously. The education program we use here is three part, first covering the actual education regarding the illness, then there is a caring portion, how to care for these people and to get beyond how they got AIDS to the point of how can we remove the stigma of AIDS and just love you and validate your place in society as a human being. The third is counseling for that person. It's a whole body system that address physical, mental and spiritual aspects of AIDS. These people in the churches are passionate about responding appropraitely and educating their peers. It was so good to be a part of their night to observe their hearts for those that struggle with the illness, to love on them to bring about health and restore a relationship with Christ. As we were driving out there I kept thinking as we were trekking into one of the poorer areas of Tema, and passing all the shacks and the filth and their poverty. I kept thinking, who gets to do this, who in their 20's is in a car huddled with four other people taking the message of AIDs education and the message of hope and healing to a people group that is afflicted more so than any other by this disease. Who does this stuff? It is truly a privelege one that I will not soon forget.