Stress Test - Africa Mercy Style

I have to say I was quite excited when I got report after the doctors rounded and I was told I needed to give a man a stress test. One of my patients has apparently had chest pain the last few years and Dr. Gary wanted a second ECG done this morning. Once they started talking Dr. Gary mentioned that we should do a stress test on the guy. After a few chuckles about the impossibility of doing that here there starts to be talk of a modified version.

The new game plan: have patient run from deck 3 (hosptial) to deck 7 two times and do an ECG immediately when he gets back. I found this idea quite amusing and was a bit excited about it, I'm not going to lie. I was up for some morning exercise myself. :) It gets better though...

The patient does not speak any of the same languages as the translators so his nephew stays with him to translate for him. Well, once I start organizing our stress test adventure I soon realize I need to be able to communicate with the patient in case he does in fact start having chest pain while running the stairs and that there will need to be four of us running!

Next thing I know, there are four of us jogging up and down several flights of stairs...me, patient, nephew, and a translator. Of course the patient and nephew only have flip flops which is not the most ideal for running or stairs...but no one had any severe trips.:)

I don't think this "stress test" is quite as accurate as we the ones in the states...but hey....we have to get creative around here! But if for no other reason, it sure did provide me with my entertainment and exercise for the day. It was worth it just to see the bewildered looks we got as we a nurse, gowned patient, and 2 others ran passed other crew on the stairs.

The Unpronouncable Volcano

This whole volcano seems to have turned into quite the event. At first I just thought that this was a bit random, some flights would be delayed, and life would go on. HAHA. Guess the unpronouncable volcano had other ideas. So for now, it makes things quite interesting here. Many nurses and others were supposed to leave last week and are still on board trying to figure out how to reroute or get to Paris...when or if a plane goes. And I am not sure how "high priority" Togo will be on the list of places to fly planes to. The first plane actually left last night and those travelling got a 45 minute warning before they had to leave. Only one person ended up able to go though and the rest came back. Apparently you had to have proof of a place to stay in Paris and a flight out or they wouldn't let you even go to Paris...ugh. I am just happy I am not planning to fly out any time soon!


This does get trickier the longer it goes on. Many nurses who are supposed to be coming have been delayed and even more importatnly Dr. Tertius, our plastic surgoen, is delayed in Amsterdam. He was supposed to have a screening day yesterday and start surgery today. No idea when he'll get here, but probably not until next week at the earliest. The orthopedic surgeon who is stuck here has agreed to stay for the week to do more surgeries, which is a huge blessing. So...while it seems horrible that there will probably be some burn patients who will not get surgery, at least some ortho patients who were not supposed to get surgery will now get it.


The cool thing is knowing that God knew this would all happen and knows who is supposed to get surgery and who will not and will facilitate that. He is bigger than all of this and is actually the one in charge of the volcano in the first place:)


While we were doing hand over at work last night I started singing to the tune of "If you like it than you shoulda put a ring on it".....but changed the lyrics to :


If you don't like it than you shoulda put a lid on it
If you don't like it than you shoulda put a lid on it
At which point Ali chimes in:
Volcano-oh-oh-oh, Volcano-oh-oh-oh
Volcano-oh-oh-oh, Volcano-oh=oh-oh
All the stranded nurses, and the stranded Tertius
All the stranded nurses, and the stranded Terius...
(if you have any brilliant lyric ideas send them my way)


That is as far as we got on the song, but I think we are going to make up the lyrics for the rest of the song and record it. Maybe you had to be there, but we were getting a big kick out of it. Now if we could only pronounce the name of the darn thing.


In the meantime we will just keep on keepin on and pray that the right surgeons and nurses will make it here in time to get as many people surgery as we can. Please pray for wisdom, safe traveling, and flights:)

New Shoes

The new ingenious way to use used zemidjan tires....cast shoes. Maybe ya'll won't get a kick out of it as much as me but I just love it. They work perfectly...to protect the cast and provide traction. As they say...one person's trash is another person's treasure...just takes some creative minds :)

This picture has nothing to do with tire shoes but was taken the same day and I LOVE it. Look at the baby's adorable squashed face.

Ever since I got on the ship in 2008 and found out about their walking blood bank, I had been secretly hoping I would get that phone call asking me to give blood. I am wierd like. I love giving blood. And here on the ship when they need blood for a patient they call the crew member with a matching blood type to come give the blood when the patient needs it.

It so happened I was doin my usual charge nurse shift Sat. mornin and runnin around when one of the lab girls found me and told me I was the only one on ship who had the blood type they needed for a patient in ICU. So....my dream finally came true:)

A friend of mine had given blood a couple days before and I was trying to beat his time of 7 minutes...but alas...it took me 8 minutes. Next time...next time.

WHAT?! A 16 gauge needle- that is going where?...Awesome!

The completed product:) This bag was promptly taken a few doors down and hung for the patient...still warm. I still think that is so cool.

Napkins or Toilet Paper?...That is the Question.

My favorite part about getting burgers at a local african place last night...

In the middle of our table is a large bag of tissue...to use for napkins....or so we were led to believe. In the middle of the meal, my friend got up to use the restroom; which, by the way was through the middle of the kitchen where they are grilling the burgers (yum). He disappears into the cooking area only to come out a minute later. Our waiter comes to our table, picks up the tissue and proceeds to hand it to my friend who goes back through the kitchen into the bathroom. Ah...guess he has to go #2 we decide amongst ourselves...he can't hide that now. Our waiter then proceeds to take a pretty kleenex box off another table and put it on ours.

So..moral of the story...bring your own hand sanitizer and napkins. That...or next time we go there and see the bag of tissue instead of a pretty kleenex box...we know where it's been!

We all agreed that no matter how long you have been in africa and get used to its crazy quirks...there will always be things that that just make you go...hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. :)

Miracle On The Ward!

It is kind of ironic that I am doing a Beth Moore Bible study about Believing God. The first few chapters were about modern day miracles and how many people have lost belief that God is still active and doing miracles. Many people do not believe that God still does them so they do not even ask for his hand.

I do not know for sure why God doesn't heal everyone and just some. But, I believe He is sovereign and sees the bigger picture. I believe either way - healed of not- God has a plan in it and uses that specific situation for a greater purpose either in the person's life or others around them. I would rather pray for healing and err on the side of belief even if God does not choose to heal than to err on the side of unbelief and miss something GREAT God wants to do.

That being said...let me bring you to a sick little ICU baby on the ward at 1220am, April 7, 2010. Obre came to us to be on the feeding program to gain weight for a cleft lip surgery. He had been fine on the ward the day before and started going down hill quickly so he came to the ICU and put on a CPAP to help him breath. Around 11pm the anesthetist and surgeon came as he started to get even more sick and not getting enough oxygen. They spent an hour trying to work on the baby.

At about midnight they decided they only thing left to do was to intubate little Obre. One of the nurses working (Jenny Daras) described what happened next like this:
"I was at the counter drawing up medications to intubate the baby and I heard it get quiet for a minute so I looked and saw Dr. Gary (max fax surgeon) with his hand on the baby praying." He wanted to pray for God's intervention first before human intervention was done. She thought to herself, "that's nice and a good idea", anc continued to draw up her meds. Next, she looked over and saw they had taken the CPAP off of Obre, and the oxygen saturation had gone from 50-60% to 100%! Respiration and heart rate also came down to about normal. "I would not not have believed it if I had not seen it with my own eyes," she said.

Another friend of mine working, Natalie, was also there and telling some people about it the next day. She was telling them how serious it was by saying there are only 2 reasons you decide not to intubate someone. Either you decide to let them die, or try to wait a little longer to see if there is anything else you can do. This does not just happen where a baby cannot breath even with CPAP and within a minute has normal vital signs and hardly any oxygen. The anesthatist kept telling me last night how amazing it was! What an awesome testimony to that mamma and the translators who also got to experience it. The baby was completely fine the rest of the night with normal vital signs!

"Your ways, Oh God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the nations." Psalm 77:13-15

This isn't the first miracle we have seen here and it won't be the last! Praise the Lord! May this be a lesson to all of us to put our trust and strength in God and not ourselves! God wants to intervene...but do we take the time to ask? When you feel prompted to pray for someone-no matter when it is or where that person is- I hope you do not pass up that opportunity. God just may be waiting for a chance to reveal him awesome power!

Fun With The Cuz At The Hospitality Center

We have tried something new the last two years of having a place off ship where patients can stay if they live a long ways away. Many times patients cannot afford to travel back and forth for follow up appointments or while waiting for their surgery. Instead of taking up valuable hospital bed space, they can stay here and get free housing, meals, and even some education. It is always fun to go over and hang out with new patients, or ones we have treated on the wards. While my cousin was here, I took her and her friend over to hang out for a bit. It is always such a good time! Fransoise (the woman on the left) was a patient I knew from Benin. She has been through so much...7 jaw surgeries. Since her jaw was once again infected this time, we had to take out the plate (fake jaw) that we had put in last time. She was pretty devestated, but God saved more of her jaw than we thought so that was a huge praise. The night she got out of surgery I went to check on her and sit with her a bit cause I knew how discouraged she'd be. The nurses were not letting her eat because she had vomitted after surgery. She was almost in tears telling me how hungry she was...so I got her a can of ensure and assured her nurse I would stay with her and take full resposiblity and clean up duty if she couldn't tolerate it. She ended up being ok and so grateful for my advocacy and friendship. It made me think of the verse in Matt. 25:40...'whatever you have done for the least of these, you have done for me.' It reminded me again how we can be Jesus even in the little things.

Blessing was a patient from Nigeria who had a tumor removed and hung out at the hospitality center until her follow up appt. She spoke English since she is from Nigeria, which is always enjoyable:) Monique (the one in the blue), just had surgery for a cleft palate. She ended up with an ear infection, and a couple other complications, but is now donig great. She is a ball of energy.

My cousin Dani, another volunteer from her organization (Emily), and I had a great time playing, dancing, and runnin around with kids.

Farouk (left) teaching Fransoise and I a dance. I have it on video- pretty hilarious. Farouk is also AMAZING! He has had SO many jaw surgeries, and like Fransois, also had an infections (MRSA) and needed his plate removed this time...and we could not replace it becuase of the infection. I would think that would be SO devastating...yet I NEVER saw him without a smile on his face and laughter on his tongue. Even at the hospitality center he was always smiling, helping others, and playing with the other kids. I think we all could learn a lesson or two from him!Spontaneous worship/dance outside...that will never get old!!!

Farouk helping one of the little guys with crutches play ball with us.