Africa Mercy - Milestones, Guinea, Update on Frank: One Nurse's Story

More from Marilyn in Africa....  Sorry these postings are so late! My friend, as you know, is in Africa serving as a nurse on the Africa Mercy. She emails me and I share her words with you. For those of you who know nothing of  Marilyn's story, the Africa Mercy is a hospital ship that travels the African coast with a crew of nurses and doctors. They come from all over to give of their time as volunteers. 



(December)

2017-12-09

"Milestone Patient"

Ten years ago, Dr. Strauss did the first surgery on the Africa Mercy.

Recently, he did the 30,000th surgery.  That's a lot of surgeries for

one ship!  I thought you'd like to see this famous patient.

--

  Marilyn Neville

2017-12-14

"Guinea is next"

     The Africa Mercy is planning to go to Guinea next year.  I was

     there in 2013, before the Ebola outbreak.  It was a poor country

     then; it is much worse now.  Ebola devastated the health industry,

     among other things:  it seems that the physicians and nurses either

     died or fled.   I have heard that there is no anesthesia machine in

     the entire country, which means no surgeries.  There are no

     ophthalmologists at all, and the once-thriving eye clinic in

     Contonou is barely functional now.  Furthermore, Ebola survivors

     have a host of eye problems as a result of the disease, including

     cataracts.  (27% of those with the disease did survive…)  It sounds

     like we will have our work cut out for us!  I am excited about the

     prospect of going to Guinea.  I have applied, but of course, I

     don’t know yet if they will select me as part of the team.  Stay

     tuned…

    Meanwhile, back in Cameroon, we are still doing surgeries and

    training surgeons.  Patricia is a Cameroon surgeon who has been

    training with Dr. Glenn Strauss for the last several months.  She

    had never actually done surgery before she came to us, but she

    caught on quickly and has become pretty proficient.  Not as fast as

    Dr. Glenn, of course…but who is?  She plans to set up a surgical

    clinic in the northern part of Cameroon, in an area that currently

    has no eye surgeries available.  Mercy Ships plans to equip her with

    the surgical tools she needs and send her off with our blessing

    soon.  Starting in January, we will have a new Cameroonian trainee,

    one who plans to operate in Douala or Yaounde, I believe.  It’s one

    thing to blow into town and do surgeries; it’s another to invest

    time and resources in the surgeons who will remain after we leave.

    Of course, not all countries have the health infrastructure to allow

    a surgeon to thrive, but Cameroon does.  (Guinea doesn’t…no training

    program next year.)

     The rainy season is over, followed almost immediately by the

     harridan wind season.  We’re pretty far from the Sahara Desert, so

     we don’t get sandstorms, just dust.  It looks like a permanent case

     of LA smog out there.  We haven’t seen the sun in days.  It does

     keep it cooler, though.  It is merely “overcast” hot and humid

     instead of truly tropical-African hot and humid.  Works for me!

     I’m surprised we don’t see more lung problems, though, if they

     breathe this dust every year.  Maybe this dust isn’t corrosive like

     smog, and our little lung cilia are able to keep up.

     The patient on my heart today is a man I had to deny surgery

     yesterday.  His eye qualified for surgery, but his foot didn’t.  He

     asked a good question, “What does my foot have to do with my eye?

     Why can’t you do surgery?”  But the risk of his spreading the

     infection from his foot wound to the newly operated eye is

     significant, and that would be devastating to his eye, destroying

     what vision he does have, and if not treated aggressively, maybe

     even worse consequences.  I encouraged him to see a doctor, get his

     foot properly treated with antibiotics, and come back to schedule

     eye surgery when the foot wound is not infected.  I only hope that

     he is able to afford to do that, and I hope that he heals in time

     to be scheduled.  He’d had the wound for many years, and he seemed

     pretty discouraged.  I’m such a softy, I probably would have

     explained the risks and allowed him to choose to have the surgery

     anyway…but I’m not the surgeon, and it’s not my call.  On the other

     hand, I had just such a patient two weeks ago, with a

     long-standing, infected, non-healing leg wound.  I gave him the

     same instructions, and he did what I suggested.  He returned this

     week to show me his now-healthy, now-healing wound; I got to

     schedule his eye surgery!  Maybe yesterday’s patient will do

     likewise.

I've included a picture of Dr. Patricia doing YAG under Dr. Strauss'

supervision.

 --

  Marilyn Neville

  

2017-12-22

"Update on Frank"

Good news!  The Communications Team visited Frank again recently.  Remember how, before surgery, Frank wouldn’t smile for love nor money?  He was so depressed, with a hopeless-looking future.  Well, this visit, he never stopped smiling.  He was so joyous, so full of life and hope.  Before surgery, he was completely blind.  He couldn’t go anywhere unless someone led him by the hand.  He couldn’t do much of anything; he certainly couldn’t hold a job.  He lived in a very small world—his home, a one-room shack with no door.  Remember how disappointed we all were immediately after surgery, when he didn’t get the dramatic improvement that we expected?   Well, it seems that his vision is still slowly improving, at least somewhat.  He now has “count fingers” vision—still rated as blind, but considerably more useful than nothing.  He can walk independently, a freedom he treasures highly.  He is gradually venturing further and further from home by himself.  In fact, he is now looking for a job!  I suppose he could be focused on disappointment, that his vision is still very poor after such high hopes.  Instead, he has chosen to be thankful and to treasure what he does have.  He could be the poster child for an anti-grumbling campaign.  Certainly, he blesses me by his example.  Pretty nice Christmas present, don’t you think?

--

  Marilyn