The surgical wards of the Africa Mercy... SO good to be back aboard this big, white hosptial ship; one of the many places my heart now calls home. My heart has been SO full as I've come back to the nursing I love most- with dear, Togolese patients and my amazing day workers/translators and fellow international nurses. I thought I would share some snapshots of my first week back on A Ward as a REAL nurse with my own patients!
Working as one of my favorite "resource" jobs- starting IV's! (Don't ask any men from our IV start class about the 14 gauges I started on them) Here we're looking for a good vein on one of my thyroidectomy patients the morning of her surgery day. 
After the work, then of COURSE there must be time for some play therapy! My little patients with the enlarged thyroid gland came to A Ward with the expectation of having surgery, but thankfully left us without a single incision! Medical treatment of his enlarged thyroid with simple thyroid medication was enough to treat and begin shrinking his thyroid gland back to a normal size.
Here, we're playing with little brother; mama watching on.
Trying to get a smile with the tickle bug!
Please keep this family in your prayers. Mama told me that she was a widow with little or no family in her village. Her son needed simple, affoardable thyroid medication, but the mom was unsure if she would be able to even affoard the small cost of his treatment. With so many stories like this of sucessful treatment in the face of so many life-long challenges, it's one of those times when all we can do as medical professionals is pray and trust that God will care for them. He is the same God who saw their need and provided for them before Mercy Ships and through Mercy Ships. He will be the same God to provide for them when they go out from our care into their life back at home.
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