A new beginning.

so yesterday was the day that the VVF ladies came...ladies considered the modern day lepers with their constant leak of urine; shoved out of society, abandoned, considered inhuman, cursed, 'sick', living in their communities but apart from them. now C ward and half of B ward are the home of these new ladies, with surgery starting today everyone is waiting in expectation for their stories to continue-but in a very different direction from before.
66 ladies were screened yesterday down on deck 3, most of which were scheduled for surgery (the No's were either ladies who had no fistula, rather urinary incontinence or those who's repair was too difficult or complex for us here-with a local surgeon having tried to repair but caused even more damage in the process)
- surgery that could give them a new chance in life, a chance to be dry and to be accepted in society. to be a mamma, a sister, an auntie and a ultimately a grandmother. to have hope and a future.


let me just fill you in on VVF. caused from obstructed long (5days!) labour, usually with a stillborn child at the end. the length of time the head of the child is in the birth canal applies a huge amount of pressure on the surrounding tissues and causes a hole between the bladder and the vagina - causing a constant leak of urine through the hole and out of the vagina, when standing, sitting, lying, walking. all of the time. sometimes a hole is also made from the rectum to the vagina too-so faeces leaking as well.
a c section would have prevented the problem and a c section will be needed for all pregnancies from now on to stop another hole developing in the fragile tissues. but c sections are hard to come by in west Africa. even if there was a hospital and a doctor available, the money needed to pay is beyond anyone's means and the hospital could be days walk away from your village. a lack of woman's rights also delay/stop the possibilities of a c section-needing the husbands permission to seek help, or being seen weak by not putting up with the pains of childbirth.

as i arrived on shift yesterday afternoon, the sounds of the drums echoed down the corridors, the ladies singing of their hope. the translators and morning n afternoon shift nurses gathered to pray wrapping the ladies in prayer (its such a privilege to be able to begin and end each shift in prayer). please join me in praying for them and the next 6 weeks of surgeries. for healing and no infections. I am also going to be a charge nurse in VVF land over the next 6 weeks, leaving the comfort of Maxfax and facial surgery, the comfort of plastic surgeries and D ward; to learn a new role in a completely new area of nursing care!