Newbies

Last Thursday ten new women came back from the screening trip to Pujehun, a province in the northeastern area of the country. I have to admit, when I heard there were ten, my first thought was, great, now they are bringing back women just to say they tried, but I'm sure they are not really actual VVF cases. I confess, I was wrong. All ten women have VVF. There are a few that are not ready for surgery since they are less than three months post-partem but they will stick around here until they are ready. One of them said she didn't mind staying here a month before her surgery since no one at home wanted her around anyway. That surprises me since this young woman has a smile that doesn't end. She is always smiling and on the verge of laughing it seems. I would love to know what she is thinking.

These ten women just make me laugh. There is something different about them all. Even the two frail looking young girls who speak only fullah are always smiling. The first two of the ten went to surgery today, the two who speak only fullah. It absolutely cracked me up when I was wheeling her back to her bed in the stretcher after surgery. We were on one side of the enclosed area which forms a rectangle with the open sky in the middle, if that makes any sense, and the rest of the women were eating lunch on the other side. When they saw her going back to her bed, they all stopped eating, stood and peered and stretched to see her. The patient got a large smile on her face and waved. It was like she was a princess or something. They were all smiles seeing her so well. The second patient went to surgery and came back without problems as well. There was a third who went to the OR for an exam with sedation but I was told that as she was going in, the other patient who was in recovery wanted to see her as she was walking by into the operating room to show her she would be ok.

This part of the day I would have paid to see, but I'm sure it happened... I was talking with one of the evening nurses tonight and she told me this story. She said one of the women who came back as one of the ten walked into blue ward after the two fullah speaking patients came back from surgery. She walked over and looked at one. She had a catheter and two stents, meaning there was a small tube going into each of her kidneys with a small bag attached. She walked over to the other. That patient just had a catheter. This women proceeded to walk out to the rest of the women and tell them, "Some of you will come out with only one tube coming out of you. Some of you may have one large one and two small ones. I don't know what this means but you will be ok." I can imagine this and it makes me smile. The women really take care of each other.

Quick Seibatu moment today...I was walking close to her and put my arm around her as we walked. I looked at her and said twelve days. She smiled and said, "Just tell me the day I have to go. Say today you will go and I will go. " That makes sense. No more countdown. Just enjoy each day without the stress of wondering what tomorrow will bring.