Sugery Observation

Had the privilege of observing a surgery here on the ship last week. Actually ended up going down on 10 April - exactly one year from the day I arrived on the Africa Mercy. I did not really plan it that way, but it was a nice way to celebrate one year.
In an effort to show everyone on the ship what goes on in the hospital, it is possible for crew to sign up and observe a sugery. For months, I have been walking past the sign-up sheet that hangs near the stairwell by my cabin but did not have a chance do anything because of my teaching schedule. When I realized that I would have an afternoon 'free' during our standardized testing and that there was still space open on the list, I signed up. I was a little nervous going in

because I had no idea what to expect, but it was actually really interesting. A couple people had warned me that there is a certain smell that bothers people or the actual blood, but I was pleased to dicovered that it did not really affect me. In some ways, it was a little surreal. To protect the privacy of the patient, I only came into the room after they were asleep and covered up, so I only saw a small part of the whole person. Seeing only a part made it almost like something on television.

I think the best part of going down was also remembering what the operating rooms actually looked like a year ago. When I first got on the ship, I could walk around the hospital freely because nothing was set up, nothing cleaned, no operating supplies laid out. The wards were filled with boxes as we tried to load warehouses full of supplies onto a ship with no storage space. In Rotterdam last May, they tried to 'set up' some OR's to show vistors, but it was just show. What I saw a week ago was reality. Real surgeons changing the lives of real people here in Africa. God is good.