Successes and struggles

The end of the field service is always very busy and we have to write final reports on all our programs and complete all the statistics. It is a big job, but it is a wonderful opportunity to reflect  and give thanks for all that has been accomplished. I have the pleasure of reviewing all the surgical and medical capacity building (training) reports before they are submitted. I love this job as I find it very moving reading about lives that were touched and those who are still struggling with conditions that are just hard to treat even with a fully equipped hospital ship. It reminds me that although the last few months have been very busy and challenging (see my last few blogs), it is always worth it. And I wouldn’t swap what I do for anything.

Here are two short stories from the general surgery program and one sadder story from our women’s health program (credits for the stories to our wonderful nursing team leaders Tammy and Steph):

First short story

Pierre and his wife came to screening with hopes of surgery.  He showed up in a large, puffy coat on a hot, sunny day.  The screening team knew that he was not just wearing the coat to stay warm.   When asked what the problem was he removed his coat to reveal a large tumor on his left upper arm.  This tumor had been growing for the last 10 years. Even with the tumor, he continued to work in construction and do manual labor.  Initially the screening thought he would not be able to have surgery because he was 80 years old.  Upon examining him and getting his health history, the doctors decided that he was in good health and it would be safe to proceed with the surgery.

He and his wife arrived on the ward, and she never left his side. The day of his surgery came and the tumor was removed.  He could move his arm with ease, now that the 3.6 kilogram tumor was gone.  He and his wife could not say “thank you “enough times to the nurses, surgeons, and medical teams.  When he left the hospital, he was free of his tumor and ready to take the on the world.

Second short story

Hermina’s mother brought her to the Screening Center in Toamasina.  This 11 month old girl had a large mass coming from her buttocks since birth.  One would not have noticed immediately, except for the diaper appeared to be constantly full.  She had learned to walk with the mass and it did not seem to bother her. Hermina, a child full of laughter, had not yet experienced the ridicule that would come as she grew older and the mass continued to grow.  Her mother already had become skilled at hiding it.  The surgeons assessed that mass, and it was determined that she was surgical candidate.  Her surgery went smoothly, and she gained a new lease on life.  Since she had learned to walk prior to the surgery, her balance was off when she tried to walk post-operatively.  Her mother was faithfully by her side helping her take each step and protecting her from falling.  In a few days, she had relearned to walk and was constantly on the go.  Nothing was going to stop her now.  When it came time to be discharged from the hospital, her mother hugged and thanked all the nurses.  This surgery has given Hermina the opportunity to grow up free of disability and ridicule.

Third short story: A Difficult Journey

At the age of 39, Florine found herself far from home with no money and suffering from a terrible condition: VVF (vesicovginal fistula). After 6 failed pregnancies including losing 4 babies in childbirth, Florine leaked urine uncontrollably. She was wet and constantly smelled. It was Florine's darkest hour.

Florine arrived on the Africa Mercy and it was determined that she not only had VVF but also RVF (rectovaginal fistula), a condition where she also leaked feces. The surgery would be difficult but Florine and Rosette had faith in the doctors aboard the Africa Mercy and their ability to heal.

After 25 years of living with her condition it was a difficult journey for Florine’s muscles to work again. Florine had good days and bad days. Her friend Rosette has been with her through it all. She has been Florine’s biggest cheerleader and her strongest prayer warrior. Our friend Florine is not done healing. She represents the many women who struggle with VVF and have a very difficult road to walk to obtain full healing.

Extraordinary

I don’t work for money, I work for free, which is a rather extraordinary. Therefore, a question I am often asked is ‘What made you do that?’

Well sometimes people just do extraordinary things. You might well ask Zacchaeus, the same question.  YOU can read about Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10. The story goes like this: Zacchaeus was a tax collector who climbed a tree to try and see Jesus? Jesus spotted him and suddenly said ‘Hey Zac, come down from there, I want to have dinner at your house today’. Zacchaeus did as he was told, while other people grumbled and complained, ‘why the heck is Jesus going there, Zacchaeus is totally corrupt, always extorting money from people, taking bribes and overcharging. Cant believe Jesus wants to go to his house!’ Well, both Jesus and Zacchaeus ignored what other people said. And, then something extraordinary happened.  After Zacchaeus had had dinner with Jesus, he announced that he was going to give half of what he owned to the poor, and pay back 4 times the amount to people he’d cheated? Now, that’s extraordinary.

When I first announced I was going to work with Mercy Ships some people were full of admiration and respect. But not everyone. Some thought I was crazy, some were even a bit angry. It was totally illogical, almost stupid to give up my well paid job.  But I wasn’t going to let passivity, fear of failure, fear of the future or fear of what others think, stop me. The mission statement of Mercy Ships is ‘Mercy Ships aims to follow the 2000 year old model of Jesus bringing hope and healing to the world’s forgotten poor’. I wanted to be part of this dream, whatever the cost.  I wanted to follow what I felt Jesus was calling me to do.  Rather like Zacchaeus did too. It was illogical, it was a somewhat extraordinary decision. But I had enough courage to take a step into the unknown, and enough humility to ask for help and rely on others to support me – financially, emotionally, professionally.

It would have taken courage and humility for Zacchaeus to give up a life of wealth, built on bribery and corruption and suddenly give half his money to the poor and pay back 4 times the amount to people he cheated. It wasn’t logical. And I sometimes wonder, what reaction did he face from people?  But if you are going to do something extraordinary, you can’t worry what people think.

Prayer and miracles are also extraordinary and seem to fly in the face of logic or science.  Science is logical, and I like logic. Of course I do, I am a scientist, I am a doctor. And I publish logical research in scientific journals.  But that is science. Other subjects one might study, such as History, or English Literature are not quite so logical. Why people do what they do, it is not always logical. I just watched some of the BBC series on the Spanish Armada. Why the Spanish made some decisions and the Brits made others, was not particularly logical. It had more to do with an individuals courage or humility (or lack of it).  Courage and humility are matters of the heart, and they cannot always be explained by logic. Just like it’s hard to describe why you fall in love with one person and not another. Christianity, or what makes one person follow Jesus while another does not, is also a matter of the heart. It is not logical. It is extra-ordinary. You could even say, supernatural. The relationship of God with his people is a matter of the heart. It always has been and it always will be.

I have seen some extraordinary things. Miraculous answers to prayer. I have prayed and seen adults and children who are sick in our hospital get better very suddenly and in ways I have never seen before in England. I remember one lady who had problems with severe incontinence after childbirth, but her problem was inoperable, we just couldn’t fix it with surgery. So instead of consenting her for surgery, a friend asked if she would consent to be prayed for instead. We prayed for her and the next day her incontinence was gone. My logical scientific brain cannot explain this. It is extra-ordinary. Supernatural. Miracles didn’t stop in the bible times, they still happen today.

I could tell more stories of extra-ordinary things. Other patients healed in super-natural ways – ways my medical knowledge cannot explain. Stories where my rational mind has to give way to simply an acceptance of an extraordinary experience, for example when time literally stood still so a car journey took only a four hours instead of 8 hours which enabled us to get home in time for a significant event; when a translator who couldn’t speak a patients local language, suddenly find themselves able to speak and understand, but only with the one patient who needed it, not outside in the street; when someone thousands of miles away who felt worried for me and prayed at exactly the same time as I was being mugged by men with machete’s…..and that’s a whole other story for another time, but we were incredibly lucky and I am grateful for the power of prayer.

I love my scientific, rational, logical mind. And I love the logic-defying, extra-ordinary life I live and the supernatural events I experience. They can both go hand in hand. There doesn’t need to be tension between them. The ordinary and the extra-ordinary. The natural and the supernatural. They co-exist in perfect unity. I am made in the image of God (we all are), so we possess his wisdom, his understanding, his logic – at least in part – and yet how can the created understand everything about his creator. I cant. I am glad the universe is bigger than my comprehension, I am glad God has more to teach me, more to teach the world of science, and the world of psychology.  It gives me comfort to know God has more up his sleeve, his ways are higher than mine. Because then I can lift my eyes to the rock that is higher than I (Psalm 61:2). I can call on him and trust in Him.