Week 4: A Ward

Elina - a beautiful little girl who is healing in A ward after
her surgery to separate her face from her shoulder.

I decided that it’s kind of funny that I’ve been living on a hospital ship for 3 weeks and haven’t told you anything about the hospital yet! However, bear in mind that this is the area where I have the least amount of expertise. I have to say, I never really thought much about the fact that I would be living on a hospital ship, but I have learned so much by being here. Many of my friends are nurses, which leads to weird conversations (such as them looking at how nice your veins are…), but also to conversations where I have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. But I’ve been learning. There are also talks every Wednesday night where one of the surgeons will talk in depth about something, and those are eye opening for sure. So far I’ve learned a bit about how they do various skin grafts or flaps; how they fix patients who have suffered from noma (a gangrenous infection that eats away at the face of young children due to poor hygiene and bad nutrition); and how to recognize and treat anaphylaxis (there was a whole dance to go along with that presentation). It’s pretty amazing how they are constantly teaching on the ship, in all kinds of different ways.

Andry - (with my friend Sarah) who is
 healing from having her fingers separated

However, back to the hospital. The ship has five wards, from A to E, plus an ICU (intensive care unit) that has 2 beds. Altogether there are 78 patient beds aboard. I was going to talk about every ward but then realized that was way too long, so we’ll go one ward per week. Plastics is in A ward (and C ward, which is for overflow), and this is often patients who have suffered burn contractions. This is where they were burned and there was no medical care so the burned area was simply wrapped up. What happens in the skin heals fused together, for example their fingers would be all fused, or their head fused to their shoulder, making it very awkward for them to function. We only see the patients who survive, which is amazing in itself, but it is something we would never see in a first world country because that person would be provided with intensive care immediately. Often the stories of how the incidents occurred are tragic – a child had boiling water thrown on them or fell into the fire while their caregivers were having an argument, etc. There are often a lot of children in A ward, and the surgery gives them back an incredible amount of mobility. Plastics also covers severe wound scars, the removal of benign tumours and chronic ulcers. These children are amazingly brave, often walking around with their arms sticking straight out because they’ve been put in casts or wraps after the operations. However they still love to dance and jump around with us. The patients in general love stickers and balloons and nail polish.

One new thing: We went to a lemur reserve this weekend and we got to see all kinds of different lemurs. Some of them even climbed on us. They are pretty amazing animals, leaping all over the place, and they come in lots of different sizes and colours. They're also pretty nosy - we had three of them exploring our cabin, drinking out of the tap, etc.

Three different types of lemur

My friend Natalie with one of the lemurs
who was exploring our cabin

One thing I observed: That you can learn German by osmosis....kidding, having a German speaking media team meant that I had no idea what they were saying most of the time. They spoke to each other and conducted their interviews in German, which meant my role turned more into bodyguard/chauffeur/french translator/assistant. That being said, they were very friendly and seemed to have a good time. I also learned that Germans are a little crazy - the camera man got on top of the car and asked me to drive (slowly!) so he could get a good shot (this is even after he saw my terrible driving). Overall, I think we accomplished everything they wanted to do, which is great.

One thing I felt God was telling me: This week I was overwhelmed by the sense that God turns our lives into beautiful stories. He turns our broken, ordinary, wierd lives into these encouraging, interwoven, beautiful journeys. One of the married couples on board shared their testimony with the crew - both of how they came to Christ, and how they met and it was absolutely wonderful. To see the way God met them where they were, the way God was an active part of their lives and the way they listened to what He was saying, it was remarkable. God has such a beautiful plan for our lives, if only we would listen to what He is saying and be obedient.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. - John 10:27-28