June 24, 2011

It was so sweet this morning. After breakfast, some of the hospital staff came to tell us farewell. They sang a few hymns, read some scripture, and prayed for us. It was really neat. They are so appreciative of everyone that comes, because they know the mission can’t continue without short termers. Dad did yet another hysterectomy this morning. It was a big uterus at 2 ½ lbs, but definitely not the biggest we’ve seen here. Right after that there was an emergency C-Section. Dad got the baby out and it was not responding. It took a little while for it to breathe on its own, but now it is fine. The clinic was slow today, so we got to talk to our interpreter/nurse aide Sato. We found out her stethoscope wasn’t really working, and we just so happened to bring a few extras. We gave her one of them and she was so excited! It was great to see how something we see as just a tool of the trade made such a difference to her. After lunch was the exciting part. I got to help deliver a baby! The woman pushed and Dad got the head out. Then I helped pull the rest of the body out! It was a big, healthy girl! I was so excited! Delivering babies isn’t that hard. I don’t know why Dad complains! Haha! This one was very easy, and I’m glad the baby was ok. Dad had to go in and do a D&C on a woman who was 10 days postpartum. Luckily, the bleeding stopped and he didn’t have to do a hysterectomy. It was an exciting last day! It is hard to believe the 2 weeks is already over. We leave for the airport in Accra tomorrow at 8 am, and it should take about 8 hours to get there. We’re stopping by an orphanage on the way out to visit some kids. I hope the trip goes well. Please pray for safe travels and continue to pray for the patients and staff. We both feel like we got more out of this trip than we could give. It’s hard to believe we could make a difference in just two weeks, but I know that every bit of help that these missionaries receive helps. Hopefully, we will be able to make it back to Togo soon!