Will donate blood for Dr Pepper

It all started with an offhanded remark I made to my friend Sarah, who happens to be the lab tech/blood bank person, about the Dr Pepper I saw in the lab.  We occasionally get Dr Peppers from the states, but we’ve recently had a dry spell of Dr Peppers and I haven’t had one in quite some time.   So I mentioned that I saw one in the lab, and she said, “Well, if we need your blood, then you can have it.”

Here on the ship we don’t actually have a blood bank, as there is no place for the blood to be stored, so the crew is our “walking blood bank” so to speak.  Occasionally you’ll hear someone’s name being announced over the intercom being asked to report to the lab and you know someone needs blood.  I signed up a while ago to be a donor, but I haven’t actually been cleared to give blood until recently.  I didn’t think much about my Dr Pepper comment until Sarah came up to me and said, “So how about that Dr Pepper?”  And I said of course I would give blood, especially if there was a Dr Pepper involved.  So a large needle and 500 mL of blood later, I had my blood and Dr Pepper in hand.

If I stop and think about it, I live in such an unusual environment.  I mean, my walk to work is shorter than my walk to get breakfast, and at any time I could be asked to give blood for the patients that we’re operating on.   It’s crazy, but I love it.  Especially when it means I get help someone AND enjoy a Dr Pepper at the same time.

Well, I bought a plane flight home this weekend, and truly can’t believe that I’m less than 5 weeks away from leaving Africa.  Just writing that brings a whole slew of emotions- excited to see my family and friends (and have mexican food!), sad to leave friends and Africa behind, and a little nervous about what’s next.

I’ve been informed that some of you may be wondering what I’ll be doing once I get home, so I’ll let you in on the secret….I don’t know!  I am seriously thinking and praying about coming back next year to Mercy Ships.  I have loved being here, and feel like I’ve been right where the Lord wants me this year.  The ship will be in Togo (Benin’s neighbor to the west) next year, which means I would get the opportunity to follow up on many of my patients, and would be able to help with the continuity of the orthopedic program on the ship.  And I’ve met some amazing crew members who have made this year an unforgettable experience.   So needless to say, there are many things that are tugging at my heart, and making me want to be right back here for Togo.  At the same time I am very ready to come home and spend time with friends and family (and possibly get a job!).  So all that to say, I’m not sure where I’ll be next year.  I think the Lord is telling me to wait and just trust Him for what’s next, so we’ll see where he leads!

Learning to Walk

I want to tell you all about one of the patients that I won‘t forget any time soon.  His name is Daniel, and I remember the first time I saw him.  He and his mother had traveled from their village that was about 3 hours away and had arrived on a Saturday for their screening appointment which was on that next Monday.  The nurses had decided to let him stay in the hospital until Monday, since we had the beds available.  I saw him that weekend while rounding on my other patients on the ward, and immediately thought that we would not be able to help him.
It was apparent by the large calluses on his knees and the tops of his feet, that even though he was 8 years old, he had never walked, and had spent his life either crawling on his hands and knees, or being carried by his mother.
Daniel suffered from a mild form of cerebral palsy, which damages the part of the brain that controls the muscles, causing them to be spastic and tight, making it very difficult to walk.  In Daniel’s case, his hamstrings were tight, causing his knees to always stay bent, and his Achilles tendons were tight, causing his feet to always be pointing down.  We could make his knees straight and his feet flat by lengthening those tendons, but without long term therapy the muscles will begin to tighten again, and the surgeries will have been useless.  With such a long list of children that could be definitively helped with the resources that we have, we have to say no to most of the children with cerebral palsy.  So I had little hope of us actually scheduling Daniel for surgery.
But Monday came, and the surgeon that had just arrived had a large amount experience with cerebral palsy (CP) and he decided to go ahead with the surgery.  He knew that in his experience 8 years old was about the threshold for CP kids to learn to walk, and Daniel was going to be given that chance.
He came out of surgery with long straight casts on up to his thighs.  The first few days recovering from surgery were painful for him because his muscles had never been stretched that far before.   After a few days in the hospital it was decided to send he and his mother to the hospitality center that Mercy Ships owns in the city, so that he could come to the ship to get therapy on a regular basis.  Within the week, the physical therapists on our team, Olivia (yes, another Olivia) and Jana, had gotten him up in a standing position for the first time in his life.  
You could see from the sweat on his brow and the look in his eyes that standing and doing his exercises was painful and difficult, but he kept working.  Those first few weeks he was very quiet, only occasionally looking over to his mom for approval as Olivia pushed him to learn to walk with his casts.  But as he progressed and began to take a few steps with his walker, his whole demeanor changed.  He began talking to his mom, and laughing and smiling on a regular basis.  
After about a month in long leg casts, he was able to walk up and down the halls with a walker, and it was so exciting for us to watch.  Then the day came to take off his long leg casts and put short casts on up to his knees.  We thought it would be an exciting step forward for him, but instead it pushed him back.  He had lost the stability of the casts, and didn’t have the strength to even stand for about a week. You could see that he and his mom were deeply discouraged, and it was a hard time for everyone.  But within another week he was walking on his new short casts.  Olivia then moved him from a walker to crutches.  Then over the next month, from two crutches to one.  
After he mastered walking with one crutch she had him tackle the unthinkable feat of climbing stairs.  You could tell by the tone of his speech to his mother that this was not something he had in mind.  But slowly he climbed and descended over and over again, as a smile creeped over his face when he realized he had mastered his newest challenge.  
Then it was finally time to take off his short casts for good and see how he did without support.  Once again, he took a few steps back in his progress, and it became apparent that he would need long term braces if he was to continue to walk.  Thankfully we have had a number of crew members donate money to us specifically to buy braces for patients who might need them.  So we had braces made for him and he spent the next few weeks relearning how to walk with the braces.  

After living in the hospitality center for over 3 months, the day came for Daniel to go home.  He had become known and loved by many people on the ship as they had visited with him and other patients in the hospitality center.  We had all shared in watching his physical and emotional progression throughout  the months and were excited and sad to see him go.
When it was time for them to leave, Olivia asked Daniel’s mother if she had heard the story of Jesus’ love for us.  She said she had, and when asked what she thought of it, she said “What has happened to Daniel is a miracle, before he couldn’t walk and now he can.  And I believe in this God who performs miracles.”
All of us on Mercy Ships came to provide physical healing to the people of Benin, but we also came to show the love of Christ through that healing.  And it was very apparent that Daniel and his mother experienced that love through his time with us.