Experiencing the instant life change...A day in the Operation Room

Orlence who had a contracture release to his neck 

Patients travel from far and wide to come get the health care they are so badly needing. These trips can take days and often a few months salary. They go through a screening process where it is decided what surgery they will have and then they get the all important surgery date.

I, as a hand therapist, work with all the plastic patients to ensure that the life changing surgery that they have is not a waste and they regain the function they had previously lost or in some cases never had. I see the patients the day before their surgery and the excitement and nervous butterflies are palpable in the room. During this time I take measurements and videos in order for us to track their progress and improvement from surgery and therapy. Normally after this pre-op (that's the technical name for it) I wave them off and only get to see them after their surgery.

This little joy is Elina who had a neck, axilla and elbow contracture release.

The actual operation has always interested me as I had seen the incredible changes in a person's spiritual, emotional and physical aspects just from an hour or two on a opertaiton table. We are lucky enough on this ship to be able to observe surgeries. Exactly a week ago I was in the OR with the talented Dr Tertius Venter (he is from SA). They were running late on one of the surgeries so I was lucky enough to observe 2 surgeries that day. The first surgery I observed was an axilla (armpit) contracture release. In order to release the contracture they make use of skin grafts. In this instance he used a split thickness skin graft which was taken from her thigh. If you are easily affected by blood I would not suggest you watch one of these surgeries as they take what looks like a cheese slicer and strip a piece of skin from the thigh. They then stretch it out with a special machine. The surgeons make it look so easy that I was ready to go up and offer my hand at it (I am well aware that it takes alot more skill than what it seemed). The sugery took just over half an hour and a woman who before wouldn't of been able to functionally used her arm because it was stuck to her side is now able to use her arm freely.

Dr Tertius Venter, our plastic surgeon straight from SA :) 

The next surgery I watched was extra special because I had done his pre-op. He was a really sweet man who was so excited for his surgery. He suffered from a condition called syndactly which can be a congenital condition (birth) or in his case was cause by a burn to his fingers  which when they healed got stuck together. He had previously had surgery to try correct this but the surgeons that did it bandaged his fingers together after the surgery. This is just an example of the healthcare that majority of our patients receive in Madagascar. This specific patient was nervous about the surgery and had every right to be with his previous experience. He was light in skin colour and was very aware of how his scarring looked and was desperate to get his hand looking and functioning as normal as possible. For his surgery they used the same method as the other surgery mentioned above but it was a bit different because it was his fingers. He had to cut the stretched skin and carefully place it over the places where he had cut. In the surgery before they used staples to attach the skin but here they used sutures to attach the skin inbetween the fingers and on the palm. Watching sutures is quite magical as they require such skill and precision, the surgeon just moves his tools and suddenly the skin is attached where it needs to be. Because of the burn he had also lost movement in his MCPJs (metacarpal phalangeal joints), basically his knuckles, so during the surgery Tertius stretched them out alot after cutting and releasing the fingers. This was quite gruesome to watch as he was able to get a full fist where before the man couldn't even bend down close to his palm. When the surgeon is done and has closed he now needs to splint the patient in the position he is aiming for. In this case he splinted his fingers into a fist using casting material. In some countries the Occupational Therapist/ Hand Therapist would be splinting in surgery but because of time constraints here and also the success of the casting a splint is only made after the second dressing change with most clients.

Me all scrubbed up to observe surgery

Watching these surgeries was so educational for me as I understood what had gone on in between the times I had seen the client. It also helped me realise the work that had gone into changing their lives and what a responsibility I had to make sure that I contiuned the process and gave the client the best chance they had of a functional life. The majority of the patients I have been seeing are burn contractures. One of my clients was burnt when he was 6 months old and only now at the age of 31years has he received the surgery he so badly needed. This can only happen by the donations from all of you and the amazing people on the ship that give up their time to come serve these people. I am so privledged to be here and to be receiving such amazing experience and working with the best surgeons in the world. There are only 3 weeks left but I hope to find the time to share with you more about my journey here. It is so hard to put into words the life change that occurs on this ship.

What it's like to live on the African Mercy

I was very apprehensive coming onto the ship because I have never lived in such close proximity with so many people. Before I came I heard that we would be placed in a birth (room) with between 6 and 10 people. Hearing that had me worried as all of those people would be women.

So I was placed in a 6 berth cabin which is about the size of my bedroom. This means that I live in VERY close contact to those around me. We sleep in bunk beds and are lucky to have cubicles with curtains on each one so that we have a little bit of privacy. I had such lovely welcome words on my door when I arrived. I sleep on the top bunk which can be quite interesting when you have to use the bathroom at night as there have been certain stories of people falling down the ladders. My roommate is such a sweetie. She is an older lady from Switzerland who doesn't speak much English but tries her hardest to always make sure that I am comfortable and ok. At night when I need the bathroom she will turn the light on if she hears me getting up.

My cupboard is a lot bigger than what I thought. I could of easily brought more clothes but they wouldn't be needed as I am in scrubs all week long. We also have shelves to put our books and other things on. Our cabin has its own bathroom with a shower and toilet. We even have space in our cabin for a shoe rack which saves alot of space.

Living with so many people definately has its pros and cons

Pros:

• Always someone to talk to at any time of the night
• Fashion consultant instead of a mirror
• New experiences e.g. people eating weird things
• Learning new languages
• Infinite possibilties of meeting new people because there are always people arriving and departing 

Cons:

• Hard to get alone time unless you leave the ship
• Sharing a bathroom with 5 other people does cause some challenges when you need to pee
• Misunderstandings that arise from living with people with different cultural backgrounds
• Everything is new and it takes a while to settle in

My beautiful room (top bunk)

P.S Since I started writing this blog I have moved into the cubicle next door (still in the same cabin). I have a really awesome bunk buddy whom provides me with CRAZY amounts of humor haha. 

Salama

Salama Friends and Family

I finally have a chance to sit down and write about the adventures I have had thus far. I thought that it would be hard to find things to write and talk about but so much has already happened in the few days that I have been here.

It was so special to spend my last day in SA with my cousin Lauren and her family in Pretoria. There is something about hanging out with family that is so relaxing and supportive. They really blessed me with love and quality time. The best part though was hanging out with little Zoom Zoom (Zoe) who is just a bundle of joy and fun.

The whole international flight thing really scared me as I had never travelled internationally alone before and I was scared that something would go wrong. Luckily everything went smoothly and I made it through in good time. When I arrived at the gate I got the greatest surprise of a girl wearing a Mercy Ships hat. I sat for awhile and wondered if it would be weird to go and introduce myself but then decided to just bite the bullet. I am so glad I did because through it I made my first 3 friends.

Marie-Claire was the one wearing the Mercy Ships hat. She is from Australia but originally from Puerto-Rico. Her role on the ships is an OR Nurse.

Marie-Claire

Next was Krista who is from Canada. She will be working as a PACU Nurse. I was extremely excited to hear that she was also staying for 3 months and was keen to go on adventures too.

Krista with her first taste of litchi

Lastly was Jan who had served before on Mercy Ships. She is a real hoot and you are sure to never have a dull moment with her around.

Jan 

Meeting these ladies defintely put my mind at ease because if this is what the rest of the Mercy Ships crew was like then I would be fine.

Safely arrived in Madagascar

I was luckily enough to have 3 seats to myself on the plane flight so I invited Claire (Marie-Claire) to come sit next to me. The next 3 hours flew by with us talking the whole way there. Upon arrival we were quite overwhelmed with the paperwork we were required to fill out but luckily we were met by Cathy who helped us through the process.


I thought I would be prepared for poverty because I have experienced it first hand in South Africa but it still hit me like a ton of bricks. The houses are all on top of each other with people flooding the streets. All the houses had a french influence to them but were so run down it was barely noticable. We were taken through small roads and eventually came to our guest house. The people in Madagascar are lovely and so hospitable.

The capital, Antananarivo

My room where I was sleeping reminded me of the place we went to in Pennington with our youth group (as you can see in the pictures).  Me and Krista were roomies. I spent most of the time outside watching the storm go crazy and then watching the most incredible sunset which I felt was a warm welcome to all of us.

Toilets 

The trip the next day to Tamatave was an experience to say the least. Two near head on collisions, toilets in the ground, roller-coaster type roads etc. You catch my drift.

Our bus for the 9 hour trip to Tamatave

Finally arriving at the ship was a flood of emotions. The excitement build up from the last few months and the long journey to get to it just made the waterworks flow (I was doing so well before that).

View upon arrival 

My welcome balloons from Michelle :)

So the ship is pretty huge. Took 2 tours and a few walks around to kind of know my way around it. I work on the dock which is nice because at least I still see sunlight. My team that I work with are amazing and it is just so incredible having God the centre of it all. We start every morning with a devotional time and then can pray for patients when we feel like we need to.

Mhairi

I have made an awesome scottish friend when I arrived. Her name is Mhairi. She had been travelling around Madagascar for the last month. Her job on the ship is a dentist. She is so much fun and has a love for adventure and is kind of like a local now.

Katy with the cast I made 

I have also been learning so much. I have an incredible co-worker Katy who has been teaching me so much. She is such a sweetheart and has so much experience behind her so I am really enjoying learning. She is a pro at casting so I made my first cast and this morning (2/12) I did my first cast on a patient. Was such a cool feeling :)

Another amazing thing about the ship is they employ day workers who are local people that are assigned a department to work with. They function as translators but have been learning how to do some of our treatments. We have an amazing guy called Marco that works with us. He is so talented and is so much fun to have around. He is also teaching me Malagasy which is going pretty well.

Marco with his drawing 

I am so sorry it has taken so long to post this (I have been doing a little bit every day since Monday). There are so many other things that have happened but there isn't enough time to tell all of them. Please feel free to contact me and we can chat about my time here :)

I am still looking for donations for my trip. If you would like to donate my banking details are:

I got litchis from the locals 

FNB

Account Holder Name: K H Wills

Account No.: 62445765045

Branch No.: 220426

Type of Account: Cheque Account

Please put reference: *MERCY SHIPS* 

Valema

Kaylee