memories of 2011

Honestly I've been having some writer's block, or I guess it would be blogger's block (if that's really a thing) lately. My life has been extremely full the past few weeks, and God has done so much. Maybe it's just a problem of knowing where to start.

In the past few weeks I've been busy helping to orient new nurses to life here on the wards, training to be charge nurse, as well as working some shifts as a 'real nurse' (not to be confused with the 'computer nurse' which is what I've heard some patients call the charge nurse) and taking care of patients.

Last week I spent 4 days traveling in Ghana and visiting a World-vision sponsor child with some friends of mine from the ship. That trip in itself is an entire blog, in fact I could probably write a book, so I'll save that for later. But today I wanted to share some pics and stories from last year when I was in Sierra Leone. One of the ship photographers took these pictures on the ward in November, but I was unable to get them before I left in December, so even though this update is a little late, it's still definitely worth sharing and very dear to my heart. I am loving Togo and the people here, but Sierra Leone will always have a special place in my heart...

The adorable girl on my right, 'Sarah' was truly a miracle of God's plan and providence. One of the ship photographers was out and about off-ship, and 'happened' to notice this little girl who had a huge tumor growing out of her left eye and face. The only problem was that the hospital was scheduled to close in a few weeks, and it was too late to fit her in. Long story short, her case was presented to the Chief Medical Officer, and she was brought to the ship. When she arrived, she was diagnosed with an extremely aggressive form of cancer that doubled in size every few days and would have claimed her life in a matter of a week or two. She had part of the tumor removed, and was started on chemo. This photo was taken about 2 weeks after her surgery. She is such a beautiful, brave girl, so full of life and gusto, and I know God has amazing plans for her life. Since the ship left shortly after her surgery, she was referred to a clinic in Guinea where she could complete her chemo treatments. The cute little boy on my left had surgery to remove a mass from the right side of his face and nose. While he was healing, he had lots of drainage from his nose, so we kept gauze taped to his face (which was often decorated with whiskers or a handle-bar mustache)

group photo in D ward



little whiskered cleft-lip baby

“What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” - Helen Keller