Things are moving rather quickly in the General ward these days. The majority of the patients I spend time with this outreach are hernia repairs and lipoma (benign tumor consisting of fat tissue) removals. The patients are usually able to be discharge the day after surgery, so I've had a little trouble getting to really know them. But there is one little boy that I wanted to share his story. Thierno is twelve years old and has had what we believe to be glaucoma for the majority of his life (as long as his father remembers). His left eye was already blinded by the disease and years of scarring, his right eye was swollen to the point that it was bulging from his lids, red and quite painful. Thierno is quite the tough little guy though, he was so happy and loved to hear me sing "If all the rain drops were lemon drops and gum drops, oh what a rain that would be, standing outside with my mouth open wide ...". He is such a beautiful child with a bright smile and lovely long eyelashes. There was quite some debate about what to do, Thierno was still able to see small amounts of light from his right eye, but there were times when he just wanted to lie in his bed and cry from pain. Thankfully we have an amazing chaplaincy team that was able to speak to his father and make the best decision for Thierno. A few days ago he underwent an operation to remove his right eye. All of the nurses, including myself, were quite worried about how he would react when he awoke to complete darkness for the first time. I wish I could tell you that everything was wonderful post-operatively but I'm going to be honest. Though he knew what would happen with the surgery he was very scared coming out of surgery, but is father is amazing with him. He is slowly but surely cheering up. We found a small Fisher Price keyboard that he quite enjoys making music on. I'm not so sure the other patients agree, but I am just so happy to see him grin just a little. Once he is discharged we hope that he will be able to attend a blind primary school here in Conakry, but his father is a little apprehensive considering the school is one hour from his home. Please pray that his father and the rest of his family are able to make the very best decision for Thierno. Also pray that he will be accepted by his peers now, so that he will have friends.