On stories & sweetness.

I have had trouble blogging this stint on the ship. Partly due to the fact that I’ve often felt worn thin by my schedule and commitments, and I’ve just barely had the time. But also, I think the “novelty” of things has worn off, being that it’s my second time working with Mercy Ships and 6^th (or 7^th?) trip to this continent. And with all that, you start to think a little more before you write...

Who am I to tell you these people’s stories? How could I ever convey them adequately and accurately? I see them as patients for a short time, but there is SO much more to their life, their person, than the snapshot I am privy to on the ship. I don’t want to be the white girl—the vazaha/mzungu—who went to Africa to collect stories and photos with cute babies like she’s collecting sea shells on the beach to show off back home and have people tell her how good and brave and selfless she is. I am often none of those things.

At the same time, I am learning the power of a story. And, I realize that there is no way for those of you at home to know about the reality here unless I share that with you. So in sharing these stories, I am holding you responsible. Please don’t read them and feel sad or sorry or elated for a few minutes and then go about your day. Recognize these are real people. Like you. Pray for them. Consider how their story is stirring you or impacting you. Consider that you could have been them, and they could have been you...

Today I will start by introducing you to DJ Mamisy, the artist formerly known as, simply, Mamisy.

Mamisy had Noma (read more about the infection here) as a young boy which ate away his nose and most of his lips. Still a teenager, he came to the ship with his mom—tiny in frame, strong in spirit. A true firecracker. They stayed many, many weeks on the maxillofacial ward. Mamisy has had several surgeries & is awaiting one more. It’s been a long road for him… much longer than I think he realized when he first came to the ship. He spent a while with a flap of his forehead attached to the vacant area where a nose should have been. Then he had a second surgery which resulted in his lips being sewn together (you can’t make this stuff up!), and most of that time he had a trach, barely able to communicate verbally. Add on top of that the fact that he was very far from family and friends through all of this, that the ship is such a foreign environment to him, that he had to go months without any real food (only tube feeds & Ensure)--- a worst nightmare for most teenage guys I know, and he had to trust us completely at each step… even when it seemed like he was moving backwards. I can still remember Mamisy coming back from his first surgery, drowsy from the anesthesia, head covered with a bloody bandage. Upon seeing him, his mom was in tears. After some inquiry, we found out that their village had warned them we would take his brain when he came to the ship and he would become crazy. She had chosen to take a chance on Mercy Ships and not to believe that, but doubts crept in when she saw her son postoperatively that first time! These are things I don’t have to consider when working as a nurse in the United States. Sure there are misconceptions and trust issues of patients, but nothing like that.

Guess what? Mamisy & his mom’s trust and perseverance paid off. Now Mamisy has a nose and lips, created from other parts of his body because, quite frankly, God is a genius and He designed the body to be able to do that and allowed surgeons to later figure that out.

Mamisy is now staying at the HOPE center—a type of outpatient lodging where Mercy Ships’ patients can go when they no longer need the direct medical supervision of a hospital, but still need to be near the ship for frequent follow-up. 

Can I share with you two of my favorite memories of Mamisy on the ward?

>>It was a weekend shift and I was working on updating the patient census at the charge nurse desk. I looked up to see Mamisy hovering over my shoulder. Through sign language almost as accurate as the signing of the “interpreter” at Nelson Mandela’s funeral, we managed to understand each other. He wanted me to look up a certain Malagasy musician on the computer to play. Soon a blend of reggae/hip hop music blasted through the speakers and, much to my (and the rest of the ward’s) surprise, Mamisy dropped it like it’s hot and partied like it was 1999. This was the evening we dubbed him "DJ Mamisy". The whole ward turned into a dance party after that, DJ Mamisy joining for some of it and laughing at us for the remainder of the time. I'd been praying for a way to break him out of his shell, as the week before I had sensed him becoming increasingly discouraged and withdrawn. Dance is always good for the soul, and I think there should be much, much more of it in hospitals and in the world.

>>After weeks and weeks and weeks of being fed through a tube in his nose or drinking Ensure formula through a tiny hole in his mouth, Mamisy was finally transitioned to a soft diet. Through some “exclusive” connections in the galley, I was able to get some ice cream for him. “Operation Secret Ice Cream” took place in the empty ICU where we whisked Mamisy away to enjoy his special treat (not something patients regularly get to have). He sat there chowing down, ice cream dribbling down his chin and he didn’t care one bit about the mess. The way his lips are shaped currently, it’s difficult for him to grin fully, but I saw Mamisy’s eyes smile bright that evening. After he returned to his bed in the ward, he spent several minutes staring at his new face in a handheld mirror (that became one of his favorite past-times). I was in turn staring at him, marveling at the transformation he’d undergone in the past couple months and thanking God for bringing me to the ship and the ship to Madagascar and Mamisy to us. 

Mami means sweet in Malagasy, and I don’t think it’s coincidence that it’s found in Mamisy’s name. Not only does he have a massive sweet tooth for ice cream, but he also has a sweet future to look forward to and a sweet Jesus looking after him.

Mamisy before surgery

DJ Mamisy in the foreground killing it in Jenga

Mamisy on the Left; This is after his 2nd surgery, but before his 3rd which released his lips.

*I'm waiting for some better "after" photos to show you, all photos have to first go through Mercy Ships' Communications Team for editing and approval & that process takes some time. Mamisy looks amazing now and only has one surgery left to go!!*

* all photo credits to Mercy Ships' lovely photographers!