Archive for October, 2008

It has been a wild ride for me this past year. I came to the ship arrogant, to be totally honest. I simply thought I had something to offer to the community of the ship and also the people of Liberia. Yes, I have skills, gifts, and talents that the Lord has blessed me with but I thought, Stephanie Ruth Barton could make a difference.

It all changed on February 18th. It was screening day and definitely the worst day of my life as a nurse. That one day of seeing the true needs of Africa (not just what is shown on Western television) showed me that my abilities, or even the most talented, helpful person in whole wide world is just a small, small piece of this incredibly large need.

On screening day we spent the majority of the day saying “no” to people with medical problems that we do not specialize in, in order to have room for the patients that we can truly help. Screening day was just the beginning of this process. (In Liberia there are no specialty surgeons other than the occasional NGO surgeon that sets up shop in the local hospital, but there is still a problem, there are not really any skilled anesthesiologists either. So even then the surgeries performed are only simple, for the most part.) People come to the gates of the port begging to be seen by a Dr. desperately hoping that they can board the most technologically advanced hospital in all of West Africa (aka their only option for their medical problem).

Kwelywan is 7, his father has brought him to the ship 3 times now in hopes that his son would get a “yes”. The first 2 times they did tests and conferenced with Doctors around the world and the answer was no. Kwelywan has an encephalocele. An encephalocele is a birth defect where a piece of the skull doesn’t close completely, therefore brain matter seeps out and forms a bulge usually in front of the face, between the eyes. The surgery is very complex, requires a lot of care, can have severe complications including death. These are surgeries that are rarely done in the States, so doing it here seems unreal. Dr. Gary has done 2 already this outreach and has had good results both times.

The third time that Kwelywan and his dad entered the ship they received the long awaited “yes”. In my heart of hearts I feel conflicted. I am so excited that he may have the chance to live a life of acceptance in his village. However, I am worried that we may have bitten off more than we can chew. (can I say that?) This is the Kwelwan that I remember.

He is playful and silly. Now he is laying in bed with a bandage covering 2/3 of his whole head, so miserably uncomfortable that he can’t help himself but to just thrash around in bed (not the best thing for a kid who just had brain surgery). This is where the arrogance comes in. I as a nurse want to come on to a shift, get report on my patients, then fix what is broken, but I can’t. I can do my best. I can use the skills, abilities, and gifts the Lord has blessed me with and I can trust in the Lord to do the rest. That is my part of this big picture.

It is so easy to get wrapped up in my own little world. It is easy to complain about spending most of the weekend in the bathroom feeling like death is just around the corner. It is easy to complain about my 4 night shifts in a row, 2 of them being 12 hour shifts. The list goes on. Then a reality check came crashing in. His name is Melvin. He had a tumor on the side of his that pushed his eye over to the left. If you just looked at him, you would think “ah not that bad, considering some of the massive tumors that are seen on this ship.” But his CT scan showed something different. Melvin’s tumor was so large it pushed the septum (the bone of your nose) and his eye over. So here I am back at work after thinking I was going to die from vomiting and Melvin who just had his face rearranged is relaxing in his bed. As I changed his dressing hourly due to his continual blood loss and checked his blood count every four hours he would ask me how I was feeling and encouraged me to sit and rest. Oh man, a nice dose of perspective.

Delta Expands Africa Presence With First-Ever Flight Between Atlanta and Monrovia, Liberia

This is the headline in the news release and you can click this title to go to the whole article.

Although many will be glad to see a direct flight into West Africa ‘in general’ to Liberia without passing thru Brussels or some part of the UK…It comes late to us Mercy Ship’ers.  Our presence (for now) ends at the end of this year after first starting outreach in the beginning of 2005 and repeatedly coming back.

Another thing I might point out in the article is that this flight is once a week AND it doesn’t really start til JUNE 2009…so hold on to your money and keep checking to make sure this ‘deal’ is going to get ‘off the ground’ (pun intended).

But for all intents and purposes it looks like it will cut the flight down to 12 hours instead of the the usual layovers and stops in Europe bringing it to almost 24 hours (of course with these numbers keep in mind actual layover and flying time, not your time changes or differences).  That in itself will be JOY to so many of us.

ATLANTA, Oct. 22, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL), the only U.S. network carrier to serve Africa, today announced it will expand its service to the African continent with the introduction of the first and only flight between Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Monrovia’s Roberts International Airport, Liberia*. The service, which will make a stop at Amilcar Cabral International Airport on Sal Island, Cape Verde*, will start in June, 2009.

I am sure this will help enhance Liberia’s business structure as it opens an even broader ‘convenience’ of accessibility to their country.

Below is a sample of what the ‘ticket’ flight will look like:

------------- --------------------------- --------------------------
    FLIGHT              DEPARTS**                   ARRIVES**
 ------------- --------------------------- --------------------------
 DL 214        Atlanta                     Sal Island, Cape Verde
               at 3:10 p.m.                at 2:15 a.m.
 ------------- --------------------------- --------------------------
 DL 214        Sal Island, Cape Verde      Monrovia, Liberia
               at 3:20 a.m.                at 7:05 a.m.
 ------------- --------------------------- --------------------------
 DL 215        Monrovia, Liberia           Sal Island, Cape Verde
               at 8:10 a.m.                at 9:55 a.m.
 ------------- --------------------------- --------------------------
 DL 215        Sal Island, Cape Verde      Atlanta
               at 11:25 a.m.               at 5:15 p.m.
 ------------- --------------------------- --------------------------
 *Subject to government approval.
 ** Schedule subject to change

Hurray for Liberia, the world is opening up to her!

This is Arthur. He came onto this ship a baby with this overwhelming tumor protruding from his face. He cried constantly, I think it was because he could never get comfortable. I was working night shift on D ward the night before his surgery. To be honest I was a little afraid of this tiny baby, he just looked too much like our dear baby Greg that went to Jesus in July. Every time I saw Arthur I would pray, “Please Jesus let this one live.”

At 5am Ali and I brought Arthur into ICU to draw his blood in preparation for surgery. We just looked at each other and knew. We both knew that Jesus is in control and not every story ends up tragic. In fact, Arthur’s surgery went fine and he went home with in a week. Our God is so capable of healing and restoration, I just need to have faith.

As nurses we ordered these wonderful hooded, zippy, sweatshirts. I set aside a sizable chunk of my missionary money and began waiting for this snugly hoodie to appear. We were told it should be here 5 weeks at the latest. We started asking about them at week 6. Each time mail would come up the gangway we would look for big boxes from the company we ordered from. Almost 2 months later still I and 50 other cold nurses (the AC is very strong) are hoodieless!!

Please pray that wherever they are, whoever has them would relinquish them to their rightful owners.

Sometimes when I am relaxing or enjoying a moment of leisure with my wife I lean back, put my hands behind my back (like when laying down on a hammock) and say, “Its good to be KING!”.  Partly for humorous reasons, to aggravate my wife, and to express a mock pride of being in ‘control’ and loving it.

But the last time my wife started laughing and I said, “Why do you laugh, its biblical!” and I proceeded to put on my best religious pios-ness (if thats a word)….she just looked at me like ‘Yeah, RIGHT!’ (with a sarcastic hint, if thats possible all in one look).

Here’s the proof:

Proverbs 11:4 A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.

What man wears a crown but the King?  And since I think my wife is of noble character, she is the crown that makes me King.

Don’t you just hate it when people quote scripture to prove a point?! (saying this in humor, laughing)