I made it!

Hello Friends and Family!
I'm a little late on the update, but I made it to Cameroon! I Flew in last Sunday with two nurses(Liz from the UK and Janette from The Netherlands), we arrived late but got settled into our rooms and started with orientation the next morning.

Paper work the night we arrived.

Me, Janette, Liz with sleepy eyes at orientation

 I had a very easy first day, getting oriented to the ship and meeting the rehab team! I love everyone I work with, and I knew I would with a welcome sign like this:

My wonderful warm welcome from my co-workers!

After Monday orientation I started seeing patients on Tuesday. I arrived during the plastic surgery rotation. So all of my patients have had some type of scar release, mostly from previous burns. Burns are fairly common in Africa as fire is the primary means of cooking. I quickly fell in love with the patients and the style of work here on the Mercy Ship. There is time to stop and talk to patients, dance during worship, and push kids on tricycles.  I work in the ward with two awesome hand therapists aka my Mercy Ships Senseis. The wards are what we call inpatient hospital units. There are 4 wards; Obstetric, Plastics, Maxofacial, and Eye. There are about 5 other PT's that work outside in the rehab tent with the orthopedics patients, they are equally as awesome and can cast and splint like superheroes. I love that they're covered in plaster at the end of the day, its like a sign of a hard day's work.

An example of one of the wards. there are 20 patients per ward. Their caregivers sleep on a small mattress below their bed. 

Mercy Ships has agreements with the patients that their stories and photographs will be shared. Unlike the US I can tell you about my patients and even share their photos. All of the photos of patients have to come from an internal Mercy Ships photographer but they are all available for staff to use on a shared drive!

I want to share each patient with you, but you will tire of reading before I am done. But I want to share my favorite story of the week. I have a patient named Assaitou, that had burn contractures of both feet. She was not allowed to put any weight on her feet after surgery so she was unable to walk to the bathroom, and had to use a bedpan. Now that she is able to bear weight(on only her R heel) its a tricky situation to try to get her into one of the ship bathrooms. The ship bathrooms have about a 6 inch step up into them, and the have a 2 inch lip above that for the door seal, and they're teeny tiny. I worked with Assaitou on Wednesday for her first time walking for about two weeks and she tired easily and her balance was not good. As much as I wanted to I couldn't safely help her get into the bathroom so she would have to continue to use a bedpan. The next day we tried again with a different walker and she did so much better! When I asked(via a French translator) if she wanted to try to get into the bathroom she started to cry! I immediately felt horrible, thinking that she didn't think she could do it. But her tears were tears of joy, and she admitted that she has been so ashamed and embarrassed having to use a bedpan in such close proximity to the other patients. She was able to hop up backwards into the tiny bathroom and go to the bathroom on a toilet for the first time in days. She was so happy by such a simple task. My first thought was "Wow, I take so much for granted-such a simple task brought so much joy to someone". When was the last time you were appreciative for the fact that you could go to the bathroom on a toilet? Never? Like me?

Assaitou's before Photos, we don't have the "after" photo yet :)

Assaitou learned to walk and has been functioning with L foot in this contracted position, walking only on her heel. 

This realization was perfectly timed with American Thanksgiving. It is so easy to be thankful for what you have when you spend time with these fiercely tough people who have been through so much and continue to smile and be grateful in every situation. I have so much to learn from them.
Please pray that the gratitude and Thanksgiving for my many blessings doesn't stop here, pray that it becomes second nature and I am able to bring this attitude home with me!

I'll write soon! Love you all!