A-Ward / General Screening.

A-Ward patients ready to be discharged

Yesterday I had the opportunity to assist with patient screening. If you have been following my blogs you may remember that the screening process can be a very emotional time. The ship can’t help every person. That can be discouraging, but today was very different than my last screening experience because today was general patient surgeon screening. After prescreening potential patients are given appointments by surgical specialty so they can be assessed by the surgeon and have any required testing. There are times when a patient is found not to be a surgical candidate during the second phase of screening, but the vast majority of these patients will receive surgery.

Yesterday I helped obtain health histories and draw labs for 50 such potential patients, and then I was able to write their admission dates on their patient ID cards and tell them “yes we can help you”. Over and over again yesterday I witnessed the same array of expressions wash over people’s faces: shock, relief and then hope. It was such a blessing to be a part of, but even more so because every one of these patients will be admitted to my home ward.  

Mercy Ships divides patients into 3 Wards. D-Ward, staffed by our ICU nurses, preforms mostly facial surgeries like jaw/facial tumors and cleft lip/pallets. Then there is B-ward that currently houses our orthopedic kids, but usually contains the plastic patients. A-ward (my home ward) is occupied by half stable B-ward patients who are many days post op and half general surgery. We do hernias, lumps and bumps, goiters, etc. We have even done a few tonsillectomies.

It’s not the most glamorous ward. The general patients don’t get as much media attention, after all who wants to hear about the man who’s painful hernia we repaired when I can show you a picture of a cutie in cast walking on straight legs for the first time. I don’t talk about the general surgery patients very much either because their stays are so short it’s harder to build relationships with them. I usually only get the chance to care for these individuals once or twice during their stays. While the other specialties require hospital stays lasting weeks most of our general patients stay only a few days. They don’t need much time to heal; many even get discharged the next day after surgery. These are mostly simple surgeries, but even a simple surgerie will change a life.

Today a woman is boarding the Africa Mercy with three other general patients. She will have surgery tomorrow to remove part of her overactive thyroid and the large goiter that has been plaguing her for years. She came to screening yesterday hidden behind a scarf, ashamed to show her disfigurement, something many in her culture view as a curse, something to fear. She will leave the ship in a few days free of this physical burden, and will hopefully leave with the knowledge that she is worthy of love. As the hospital chaplain told the patients during worship time today, “the doctors and nurses on the ship love you, but there is someone who loves you even more. Who is He?” The answer is Jesus. 

Not the same woman as above, but another goiter patient treated on the Africa Mercy a couple months ago.