Its Sunday evening and I am sitting in the ship lounge listening to people around me singing worship songs. How amazing to live and work with people who love Jesus and are sacrificing their lives for him. It has only just struck me how unusual a situation it is to share both life and work with so many other Christians, to be able to pray and worship openly without worrying what other people think. God is working so powerfully amongst all the crew on the ship. Recently there was a story of a baby in intensive care who was struggling to breathe for himself. His sats and vital signs progressively got worse and the ICU nurses called two of the ships surgeons late at night. When they arrived they made the decision to intubate him and put him on life support. Whilst the nurses were getting the equipment together, the two surgeons prayed over the baby. When the nurses arrived back with the equipment, they all noticed that his breathing was stronger and that his vital signs were starting to improve. He got stronger and stronger throughout the night and made a full recovery. Medically he should not have recovered that quickly and there was no explanation for why he did. It is amazing seeing and using prayer in a work setting. So many people here know Jesus and believe in him. It is so wonderful to be able to offer hope in him especially when, in the case of my patients, there is no hope.
The end of my second week has arrived and I feel like I am making little steps in to settling in. I am slowly getting to know people but I am still praying for a prayer/accountability partner with whom I can spend time. In the mean time I am being a bit of a social butterfly flitting from person to person until I find people to really connect with! I am slowly getting used to the ships routine including getting up before 7am during the week, a full hour and a half before I start work. For those of you that know my usual morning routine (Hannah), this is a minor miracle!
As for work, I am slowly beginning to realise how widespread the lack of understanding and education about cancer is in Togo. I have been doing some research this week and I have begun to see how few people in Togo and indeed Africa have access to cancer screening, basic education, early diagnosis, treatment or palliative care. As a result a cancer diagnosis leads, in most cases, to a painful and distressing death. According to the World Health Organisation, 40% of all cancer deaths can be avoided. It seems like an enormous task for me to not only educate my patients on what cancer is and why they have got it but also to explain that it is too advanced to cure when it could have possibly been treated or prevented. We see so many cases - not just cancer patients - of both adults and children with advanced disease that would never have been allowed to progress in the West. People here seem to accept it as part of life. Despite all this I am trusting God that I will be able to bring peace and understanding to my patients at least and that they will feel loved and supported.
Yesterday I went to our hospitality centre which is a unit that the ship has set up in the middle of Lome. The unit takes patients and their carers who are either waiting for their operation and live too far away to go home or those who have had their operation and need further follow up or monitoring close to the ship. The ships crew volunteer to visit during the week and at the weekend to help with activities for the patients as there are quite a few children there recovering from surgery. We spent time yesterday playing with the children, telling stories and singing songs. They were definitely not shy in coming forward and at one point I had two on my lap! It is wonderful for me to see the other side of surgery with patients recovering and having their lives changed as I don't really get to see the many amazing things that the surgeons do. It gives me hope for what the hospital does on the most part as as you can imagine I get a slightly skewed view of patient care!
Thank you so much for all your prayers and support. Again I am sorry about the lack of photos, I am waiting for the right time to be able to take some without offending anyone! Love to you all.
No comments:
Post a Comment