We do work, I promise ...



We do work in the wards, I promise. Not for this particular half an hour though!! Time for fun playing with all the little pikins (babies in krio). Luckily the hospital photographer was there to capture all our fun and silliness!  

I love my room-mate Fran! So much fun!



Part of the wonderful D ward crew!

Everyone in the ward that day.

As you can see Ami was not to excited about the picture.

I love Aminata!

Fun with all the little pikins!

Less than a month!

With less than a month to go before I leave Sierra Leone I am having mixed feelings. While I am looking forward to seeing my friends and family in Georgia again, I think a piece of my heart will always stay here in Africa. It hit me as I was holding a sleeping child this past week ... I won't see her grow up. I won't know the rest of her story. I have to trust in God and know that the love and care we have shown these patients will have a life-changing impact. This has definitely been a life-changing journey. To see the faith and love of God in action ... I wish everyone could experience this at least once. There is a whole world out there filled with amazing people! I am forever thankful to everyone that made this possible for me to be here. Please keep me in your prayers as I prepare to transition into the next phase of my life and moving back to the hustle and bustle of America.

The smile says it all ...




Mustapha was able to go home this week! After a long stay at the Hope Center he traveled back to his home and family. Please pray for an easy transition back home and acceptance from his village!





Aminata is doing fabulous!! This is my beautiful room-mate Claire holding the adorable princess!

Meet Alberta! She was on the ship longer than most crew members (longer than me). She had a skin graft to repair the scarring secondary to burns to her left arm and torso. This was taken at her birthday party that we threw her! She flew home to Liberia the next day!

Someone knitted Aminata some booties and a hat. How cute is she!? Love you princess!

What do you get with three surgeons?

Lots of cleft lip babies! They look like kittens with their little whiskers (steri-strips).

Aminata

Aminata is two years old , but you would never know if you looked at her. She is small for her age and developmentally delayed. When she came to Mercy Ships she was malnourished to the point of having to be put in the Intensive Care Unit. Aminata had a large mass just beneath her jaw called a cystic hygroma. This mass was so large that is was pushing up on her tongue and if left untreated probably would have eventually suffocated her. After alot of TLC and lots of food she was becoming a chubbier and happier little girl. She was sent to the Hope Center to "fatten up" and grow stronger before her surgery to remove the mass. I first met Aminata at the Hope Center about a month ago. There she was sitting on the ground while her mother sat on a bench helping the other mothers make crafts to sell. Being so adorable and no one playing with her of course I picked her up for a cuddle.
Almost two weeks ago she came to the ward to have her surgery, oh what fun we had the evening before her surgery. I would hold her and lean her back, lightly tapping her head on the matress, she would giggle and smile. The next morning she had her surgery. Though they removed the mass it was not as easy as first expected. The mass was wrapped around her trachea, therefore when she came out of surgery there was alot of edema to her neck and lower jaw. The doctors made the decision to keep her intubated and on the ventilator until the swelling went down.
Aminata is a fiesty one ... it took alot of effort and time for us to keep her well sedated so she would not injure her surgical site or accidentally pull out the tube connected to the ventilator. Her mouth and neck were so swollen that her tongue stuck out all the time and was the size of the opening of her mouth. Then on September 26, it happened. The tube going from her mouth to her lungs that is helping her breathe came out. She had to be rushed emergently to the Operating Room so they could perform a tracheostomy. Her mouth and neck were just too swollen to put the tube from her mouth back in. Luckily everything went well with that but it was still a 24 hour job to keep this little girl asleep and still. Aminata"s mother was an amazing example of faith during this time. She was continually praying and trusting that Papa God was going to perform the miracle she had been waiting for. I have to say that my ICU co-workers did an amazing job and taught me alot during this time!
I am happy to report that she is out of the ICU now and no longer on the venilator. After many sleepless nights she is sleeping all night and playful and happy during the day. Yesterday she was able to close her mouth completely and even gave me a smile! She is by far the most popular patient on the ward and has been referred to as the princess because of all the TLC and attention she gets. Hopefully tomorrow they will be able to remove the trach withou any complications. She still has a long journey ahead of her, so please keep her in your prayers. I tell Papa God tenki for the amazing miracle he is working in this beautiful little girl's life!

This is at the Hope Center, the first time I met Aminata (the baby I'm holding)