VVF patients leaving

Today was the last dress ceremony, and the last 5 VVF patients are leaving today. It was so cool to be able to take care of them and befriend them while they were here. It was an experience I will not forget and I pray the women will not forget what God has done for them. I hope and pray they each feel loved. I will probably never see them again, and in a way I am sad and hope they will not forget me, but at the same time, I can see that all that God is doing for them is not about me, but about God. He loves each one so much and see's their suffering. (The women who left today are still leaking some urine).

I am so impressed with how well everyone on Mercy Ships works together, each one with their own job to do. People here do not try to push to the front and be the hero- but they point to God who gives them strength. It is a reminder to me not to be prideful, but to be who God made me to be, and to give him the credit when what I am doing succeeds. The woman who does a lot of counseling and working with these ladies everyday is sooo cool. She is always reminding the women about the spiritual and emotional aspects of their lives, and she is a strong example of a woman of God! The VVF coordinator is so passionate about these woman, its cool. I really like doing women's health. And there is such a great need for this kind of medical care in the developing world. Its been great these past few weeks!

The kids are cute too. We had a 4 year old come in for a hernia repair. When he first was admitted with his mom, he was sitting on the bed crying. I asked what was wrong and he said he wanted to go home to his papa. After an hour or so he stopped crying and looked petrified. By the next day, he was smiling and playing and running around, and hadn't even had surgery yet. So Cute!

A sad thing happened last evening. We had a 6 week old baby come in this week with a large abdominal hernia with incarcerated bowl. He was only 3 pounds, and had a healthy twin. By the time he was admitted he was a pretty sick little guy. The surgeons on board this week are doing hernia repairs so they thought if he could go to surgery he might have a chance, but last night he died. He was too sick to even take to surgery. I am glad I am not a PICU nurse- I think it was probably most difficult on them.