3 days ... thats all I have left here on the Africa Mercy in Congo!! Everything has started to wind down, closing a chapter on the last 10 months of surgeries, love, dancing, hope and healing and many friendships - Mercy Ships in the Republic of Congo. The last surgery was performed on Friday, 3 wards have closed and the cleaning and packing up process has begun to get the ship ready for sailing out of Pointe-Noire in a few weeks, the outpatients, screening and rehab tents started to be dismantled yesterday, and our normal ship fire drills have changed to at sea fire drills!! Its a very surreal feeling - packing up and leaving after having another amazing time onboard this big white ship. But it feels right too - and staying for a bit longer this time and being able to experience the closing of the hospital and help clean and pack up has definitely helped with closure. I know it still wont be easy to leave on Saturday though! But things are not quite at the end. Yesterday, I worked my final shift in D ward which is the last ward to close. It is all max fax, under the excellent care of Dr. Gary Parker and Rachel, a brilliant team leader and a fellow Brit!! There were only 7 patients and 3 nurses working (I know, if only we could have this ratio at home!) so it was a very chilled morning. However one lovely lady I was looking after was not so joyous. I wont go into all the medical terms (partly as I dont understand most of them!) but she had surgery on her jaw a while ago and it just isnt healing as well as the team would have liked. When I took her dressing off, the wound was oozing a lot and we quickly cleaned it and re-bandaged her head and chin again, while explaining through our wonderful translaters that although it wasnt healing as quickly as we would have liked, Mercy Ships are not just going to leave her without any care - so we arranged for her and another patient to go to a local hospital on Thursday for her care to be continued under the max fax surgeon who has been working and learning alongside Dr. Gary. It really struck me what an impact us leaving Congo is having on these last few remaining patients. As tears streamed down her face, we prayed for her, reassuring her that although we were leaving, she would still be cared for in the local hospital and most importantly, God would never leave her. The next few days are filled with forms to fill out, surveys to complete, more cleaning and packing up of the wards and saying au revoir to friends, collegues and crewmates, not to mention packing my things at some point!! Saturday I fly to Ethiopia for 3 weeks with my friend Jess. Saturday I leave this place Ive called home for the past 5 months. Saturday I begin my next adventure! Thank you once again for your love and prayers - you have all carried me through these past 5 months, allowing me to love every minute, to love every patient I looked after, to love every new friend Ive made, to love this country, to love God. I cannot wait to see many of you when Im home over the summer before I head back to the ship once more at the end of August for 3 months. Please be praying for these last few patients still in the hospital, for the last few weeks of the ship being in Pointe-Noire and the closing down of the HOPE centre, eye and dental clinics, for all the patients we have taken care of over the past 10 months and their continued recovery, for our next country, Benin, and the advance team who are already there, preparing the way for the next field service. And please dont forget Guinea, the country which we had to postpone going to next because of the Ebola outbreak.
Posted on: Wed, 21 May 2014 10:01:18 +0000
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