I hope Don can take a joke...

Mercy Ships founders and president, Don & Deyon Stephens were on board for some time which included the visits I blogged about earlier.  During this time there was a dinner for some distinguished guests that I was preparing for (outside of the regular 400 plus crew).  Don called the galley to speak with me about adding some guests.  Fine, no problem...having a restaurant & catering background we always plan for overage or surprises.

Thinking nothing more about the phone call we completed the meals and later that night I went back to my cabin after work. I noticed a message was left on my cabin phone (because Stephanie hasn't really gotten used to checking or retrieving messages) so I played the message for the both of us.  It was really quite simple it was basically a repeat of what Don asked me when he called the kitchen/galley only he probably called our cabin first.

After I played the message I just couldn't stop laughing and Stephanie wanted to know what was wrong with me so I explained...

Stephanie complained and voiced her disapproval of my several various attempts at being funny or informative in recording our message for the answering part of our telephone.  It was either too long, crazy, and/or she thought my various attempts were not so funny.  So finally I resorted back to a 'saying' that started on the Caribbean Mercy when we showed disapproval for something that we didn't like which is, 'Imakickyahead!' and translated to: I am going to kick your head.

So the phone answering message that Don got was:

Leave a message or Imakickyahead!!!

Don has a sense of humor, but I wonder what he thought about that!

(I am sure Stephanie was proud of me for that one too, NOT!)

Medical Screening Pictures

Caution: Medical Screening involves some graphic pictures and is exhaustive with over 800 low resolution pictures

That being said, I have completed the Screening Album and it is available on our picture page permanently or by clicking this link if you receive this by email subscription -

http://tyroneandstephanie.com/pictures/Screening

Stephanie probably appears in the album 6 to 8 times, and of course I was busy cooking on the ship so you won't see me there...screening day was actually the day before the Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf came to the ship.  And following that day was the pastors conference.  And following that day...

You can probably relate some of the pictures to earlier posts and maybe future ones, about patients that Stephanie will directly or indirectly be involved with...and for my part I have probably fed every Mercy Shipper you ever see in any of these pictures (whether they liked the food or not! [laughing]).

Benjamin

I was in the dining room last night with a plate of food, ready to sit down for dinner with my friends, when someone told me that Benjamin (the 14 year old boy that I wrote about in my last blog) had a Respiratory arrest (stopped breathing) when being transported to CT scan. He was intubated and evaluated, the CT scan showed extensive brain damage including a midline shift (meaning not good). The family was called in they said their goodbye and were going to return this morning to come get his body. The plan was to keep him alive on the Vent until the family could make it at 8:30 am to come get his body.

 This morning I woke up at 6:58am and was supposed to be at work at 7:00am, I through on some scrubs and ran down stairs. I had to take some deep breaths, I didn't know what I was going to find when I opened the doors of the ICU. The lights were dim and there were 4 Dr.s and one nurse and the captain praying for him before they took him off the Vent. The initial sight was so peaceful, so different from at home in the ER.

At 7:30am Benjamin was gone.  Ali and I washed his body and said our goodbyes. I can't express in words the connection that I had with this little boy. I only knew him for a couple days, but when you pour your all into keeping a child alive and comfortable the connections is there.  It is so hard to see a child die, to see his father grieve, and see his little body be carried down the corridor in a body bag.

Now as I am in my cabin and trying to process all of this I just thank God for letting me have the time I did with this sweet little boy.

ICUalicious

There are somethings I never get used to, no matter how long I have been a nurse. One thing that gets me every time is a kid in pain. Last night Megan and I worked in the ICU and we had 4 patients, 2 kids and 2 adults. We both had one child and one adult. I had Benjamin who is 14 years old. He was referred to the ship by a local hospital (this is quite frequent) with some swelling on his left eye, fever, and a myriad of other symptoms. When he was brought to the ship his frail little body was giving up. He was not very responsive and was rushed to the OR. When I received report (they call it "hand over" here), he had just gotten back from the Recovery room. His head was wrapped with gauze and he just looked so uncomfortable. My heart just aches for kids that are in pain or just uncomfortable. My first instinct is to try to calm them down with soft words and gentle touches (these are the times I wish I could sing better than an ear piercing sqwauk) but none of these measures help. Benjamin was still minimally responsive and gets very agitated at times (he flops around in bed) which is common with people that have brain injuries. Please pray that Ben wakes up and is able to be his regular 14 year old self. When I look at him I wonder what he is like. Does he play soccer? Is he chatty or quiet? I pray that one day I will know.

Each day that I am here I see God working in my life more and more. It shouldn't be a surprise but it is. For some reason (arrogantly I suppose), I  find myself thinking that I will give of myself but not receive as much in return. I am shocked each time when I see God work in my life, man I have so much to learn. I am currently reading Timothy and am learning how to take instruction. Paul writes to Timothy and tells him what to do and also encourages him in his ministry and personal life. Through this I am learning that instructions and encouragement is not bossiness. I have a tendency to become defensive when someone gives me instruction on something that I think I have under control. So, here I go. My goals for now will be... listen, learn, and let go.

Screening Day Pictures