discharges

Today was a good day on B ward. After the busyness of the last 2 days, with lots of surgeries taking place; today was discharge day!
I discharged 3 of my patients, walking to and from the gangway three times - but it was a significant walk...the women and men who walked onto the ship; some a week ago, some only the day before yesterday were now not the women and men who were walking away again. They had all received surgery on what they believed as their 'illness/curse' - and were walking away with hope and healing, ready to live life not as an outcast, but as a human being; loved and able to love.

The 60 year old male with bilateral inguinal hernia repairs couldnt stop shaking my hand as i took him through his discharge teaching, explaining how he should look after his wounds and what tablet to take when! He said that in his culture when someone helps you, in such a way that Mercy Ships has helped him, then you return with a gift of thanks. He was adament that he wanted to give us something in return - the idea of a free surgery and a free stay in a hospital, with free meals and free nursing care; along with free medicines, dressings, and toiletries to take home was totally overwhelming to him.

For those of you who have been following Belvida's story - she was discharged today too, to the hospitality centre. (Kinda like a half way house between the wards and home, so patients who live far away can come in for daily dressing changes.) Early this morning, i spotted her sitting cross legged on a pink carpet in the middle of the ward eating her breakfast. this would be a totally normal thing for most little ten year old girls - but the significance of it was enormous - she was using a spoon. Her jaw had been fused shut for nearly all of her life and so eating consisted of pushing balls of rolled up soft food between her teeth - now she could open her mouth wide and chew and swallow - no more shame of hiding under the bed to eat her food - but sitting on the floor in the middle of the ward, for everyone to see! what joy, what freedom and what a future now for this precious little child.

later on in the day just before Belvida was ready to go, she came up to me with her bowl of flat sticks (tongue depressers for the medical people out there). They are stacked up and used to exercise the jaw, so every hour a certain number of sticks are carefully places between the back teeth on one side to stretch the jaw open and left their for 5 minutes. she wanted to show me how she did her mouth exercises - so i ooo'd and ahhh'd in all the right places, and was truely amazed as her precision and confident actions, it brought tears to my eyes - (she knows from all the teaching that the nurses have done, that if she doesnt do her hourly exercises then her jaw opening will be reduced).
so while the sticks were doing their job, and saliva was dribbing down the sticks onto my leg (!) we got down to one last game of pairs...using the back of her notes folder as our table and once again, I tried the hardest i could, and Belvida still won! this girl will go on to big things.

on saying goodbye, i was sitting in a kiddie chair, when she fell into my lap and in a half african/english accent said good bye. I then watched her walk down the corridor past the other wards to the gangway - another one walking the significant walk off the ship - to new life, healing and a future. I will say it again, big things are going on here. things bigger than just surgery and stitches and paracetamol - God is working through the surgery and saving people, healing people, showing his love to people in ways that are undeniable.