Trip Three: Week Ten! August 24-30

 Ten weeks down, three to go (for now)! See the end of this post for an exciting update! :) 

Praise the Lord for a great week! I am thankful for a good week, time off the ship, and new & intentional friendships. 

This week, I continued working in the thyroid room. It was a fairly productive week with 3 surgeries per day. It was the second week working with the same team, so we were able to establish an efficient routine! We finished by 5pm each day, allowing us to enjoy some time off the ship getting ice cream or going for a walk. This was a much-needed change from previous weeks, so I am thankful for the gift of time. 

On Tuesday night, I went off ship for dinner and enjoyed a beautiful sunset (and moonrise) looking out over the port. 

After work on Wednesday, a group from the OR went out for gelato. It is nice getting to spend time with co-workers off the ship and learning more about each other. I have been blessed with a great surgical team this week. 

Thursday morning brought another sunrise run. The weather was perfect and it was a fun time with great company :) 

Each Thursday night, there is a community gathering on the ship followed by ice cream in the cafe. Different departments take turns serving the ice cream and this week it was the OR! In true OR fashion, we dressed up in surgical gowns, caps, and gloves. 

We celebrated our beloved (former) OR admin's birthday on Friday with cake and waffles. Birthday celebrations are taken seriously here on the AFM and the OR office was decorated with banners and signs! 

After work on Friday, the OR team had an evening out at a local karaoke restaurant to celebrate a few different milestones. It was a rainy evening, but fun to be off the ship with friends. 

I was able to get away Saturday and Sunday to a resort/nature reserve, the Palmarium! We left the ship on Saturday morning at 6:30am, boarded a boat, and trekked down the canals and lakes to reach the resort. We were on the boat for about 5 hours before arriving to the Palmarium. Last year, I visited the Palmarium and staying at the "reserve" location and this time stayed at the "beach." It was pretty much the same, but it was nice to see a different area! It was a big group of Mercy Shippers, many who work in the OR. It was a bit rainy, but we tried to make the most of it. One of my favorite parts of the trip was sitting and chatting on the front porch of the bungalow with Fabrice and my new friend Liz! I am grateful for new connections and time together with sweet friends. On Sunday morning, we went and saw more lemurs at the reserve before getting on the boat for Tamatave. We returned to the ship around 5pm on Sunday evening. I did my laundry and got things ready for the week ahead! 

OR Recap

This week, the AFM OR performed surgeries on 40 patients across clefts, thyroids, and pediatric general specialties. The thyroid team saw 13 patients throughout the week. 

One patient we operated on this week had a massive goiter. It had been growing for many years, causing her discomfort, insecurity, and obvious thyroid imbalances. This was scheduled to be the biggest thyroidectomy of the four-week block. During the operation, the surgeons discovered that the left lobe of the thyroid was actually in good condition! The goiter on the right thyroid lobe was the largest the surgeons had ever seen. It is great for the patient that her left lobe was still functioning well, so she will not need much (if any) thyroid replacement therapy after surgery. The right thyroid lobe that was removed weighed 2635 grams (~5.72lbs)!! The surgery overall went well, and she has since been discharged to the Hope Center! 

Update!

Thank you for your many prayers and encouragement as I near the end of this service contract. 

As some of you know, I am excited to announce that I have committed to serve with Mercy Ships next year for the full field service in Togo, West Africa! I have accepted a volunteer position as the OR educator on the Africa Mercy. This has been something that I've been thinking and praying about for quite a while and the doors continued to open for this to happen next year. There are many bittersweet feelings as I begin to prepare to leave for the entire year. I'm anticipating it will be a year of challenges and being stretched in ways I never could have imagined, but I also feel so strongly called to this mission. As of now, the plan is for me to fly to Durban, South Africa in early February 2027 to meet the ship before sailing for ~3 weeks to Togo. Once in Togo, we will spend a few weeks preparing the ship for the March-December field service! I will return to the States either at the end of 2027 or early 2028.

For my more immediate life plans, I will return to Raleigh at the end of September for about 8 weeks to finish up my job at the surgery center and celebrate my bestie Nicole getting married (woo!) before heading back to Madagascar for ~4 weeks! I will help finish the current field service and help support/train new team leader nurses from November 16-December 20, 2026. 

Please text/call/email me with any and all questions you might have about what I'm up to or where I am! 

I am grateful for the continued opportunities to serve with Mercy Ships and for the support you all have provided! I plan to continue sharing updates about my time onboard and the preparation beforehand. Woohoo, praise the Lord!