Just a quick note. I'm almost to the end of my last night shift and then I have four, glorious days off stretching out in front of me like a promise. The plan is to head up country early Friday morning. If all goes well, (meaning the cars don't break down or get stuck in the mud and a certain security guard is in a friendly mood) I'll spend the weekend on top of Mount Nimba.
So you might not hear from me for a few days. Never fear; I'll be sure to come home with stories.
Thursday, October 2. 2008
off i go
Wednesday, October 1. 2008
three dollars and sixty-one cents
(I wish I could explain how excited I am to write about this.)
Exactly a month ago I got a comment on one of my blog entries. It was from a woman I don't know and will probably never have the privilege of meeting.
Today, my roommate came into the cabin and mentioned offhand that I had mail. A huge parcel, she said, a gleam in her eye. I ran down to the office and, sure enough, there it was. We gathered together on the floor and opened it up, exclaiming over every new treasure we pulled out. For about ten minutes it was every Christmas morning I've ever experienced, right there in Cabin 3414.
Here, for your vicarious pleasure, an itemized list. (Click the photo to see the numbers.)
1. A note of encouragement, something that grows more and more dear the longer this outreach goes.
2. Pill crushers. In an interesting twist, I came to work tonight to find one in the cabinet. When my coworker pulled it out to use it, she was warned by the off-going nurse. Pharmacy sent that over and said to guard it with your life. It's the last one on the ship. Not anymore.
3. A big bag of foam stickers. I can already picture them stuck to every part of our kiddos' faces.
4. Red pens, which are always in short supply and which we need for doing chart checks at night. Pencils, which are practically gold around here, and which I need all the time as a charge nurse. (My PICU buddies from home with sympathize with that!) And lots and lots of other pens, which, let's face it, are a nurse's best friend. (It's either pens or IV lorazepam ... I get confused.)
5. Stickers! Thousands of them! Enough said.
6. Pipe cleaners and googly eyes and little pom poms. How better to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon on the wards?
7. Hair clips. I know two little girls in B Ward who are going to go nuts when they see these.
8. Kaleidoscopes, which turn out to be a source of incredible amusement for kiddos and nurses alike.
9. Stencils. I didn't know this, but one of our ward supervisors was just bemoaning the fact that we don't have any stencils on the ward. Cry no more, Laura, your wishes have come true.
10. Pencils. Even more pencils, and these ones have fun erasers!
11. Okay, now this is an incredible choice. Bendy straws are childhood, and all kids love them. That much goes without saying. What the woman and her daughter didn't know is that all of our plastic surgery kiddos are given Pediasure to drink. The vitamins and nutrients in it help their wounds to heal, but there are plenty of little ones who kick up a huge fuss when presented with their twice-daily cans. I can see Pediasure time being a lot less traumatic in the future...
12. My favourite gum, which I'm figuring they knew about because I mentioned it in a former post, but let's be honest here: how awesome can you be?!
13. Beautiful, big boxes of watercolours and enough paintbrushes to go around. I just cleaned out the activities cupboards on the wards last week and realized that a lot of our paintbrushes are nearing the end of their lives. Of course there would be more in this package.
14. Three dollars and sixty-one cents, folded up in a tiny little ziploc bag.
You see, the woman who sent me the package (I still don't know her name) wrote me an email to tell me that the box was on its way. My daughter also read that you have to pay for mail and put in a few dollars of her own money because she felt bad that you would have to pay for something that someone wanted to give you. I hope that's okay.
She hoped it was okay that her daughter, five years old, wanted to go to the store and pick out all these perfect treasures that already have the kids in ecstasies. She hoped it was okay that the little one, when she heard that I'd have to pay to receive the package, wanted to put in her own money, because it wasn't fair that I had to pay for her gift.
Three dollars and sixty-one cents. I don't know what that little girl was planning to do with her money before she heard about our ship full of kids. All I know is that she didn't spend it on herself. She put it in a little plastic bag, tucked it into a box of love and sent it all across the ocean to me.
I hope it's okay if I, in turn, am convinced that it's families like this who give us hope for the future.
Exactly a month ago I got a comment on one of my blog entries. It was from a woman I don't know and will probably never have the privilege of meeting.
I found your blog through a link, also and I have prayed for you today. I think what you are doing is amazing and courageous and I am so proud to know that you are doing what you are doing in God's name.I wrote back to the woman, giving her my address and my full endorsement of her plan. Please, I asked her, don't send anything too heavy. We pay by the pound to get mail over here.
Is there anything that I or my family can do to help you? I know you mentioned getting a care package and I have a 5 year old daughter to whom I am trying to teach generosity and selflessness. I plan to have her read some of your entries about the kids who have much less than her and if there is any way that we could send something that would make it into their hands, she would be ecstatic. ...Please let me know what would be most helpful things to send, either to you nurses and doctors or to the kids on your ship.
Again, you are in our prayers. Keep up the amazing work!
Today, my roommate came into the cabin and mentioned offhand that I had mail. A huge parcel, she said, a gleam in her eye. I ran down to the office and, sure enough, there it was. We gathered together on the floor and opened it up, exclaiming over every new treasure we pulled out. For about ten minutes it was every Christmas morning I've ever experienced, right there in Cabin 3414.
Here, for your vicarious pleasure, an itemized list. (Click the photo to see the numbers.)1. A note of encouragement, something that grows more and more dear the longer this outreach goes.
2. Pill crushers. In an interesting twist, I came to work tonight to find one in the cabinet. When my coworker pulled it out to use it, she was warned by the off-going nurse. Pharmacy sent that over and said to guard it with your life. It's the last one on the ship. Not anymore.
3. A big bag of foam stickers. I can already picture them stuck to every part of our kiddos' faces.
4. Red pens, which are always in short supply and which we need for doing chart checks at night. Pencils, which are practically gold around here, and which I need all the time as a charge nurse. (My PICU buddies from home with sympathize with that!) And lots and lots of other pens, which, let's face it, are a nurse's best friend. (It's either pens or IV lorazepam ... I get confused.)
5. Stickers! Thousands of them! Enough said.
6. Pipe cleaners and googly eyes and little pom poms. How better to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon on the wards?
7. Hair clips. I know two little girls in B Ward who are going to go nuts when they see these.
8. Kaleidoscopes, which turn out to be a source of incredible amusement for kiddos and nurses alike.9. Stencils. I didn't know this, but one of our ward supervisors was just bemoaning the fact that we don't have any stencils on the ward. Cry no more, Laura, your wishes have come true.
10. Pencils. Even more pencils, and these ones have fun erasers!
11. Okay, now this is an incredible choice. Bendy straws are childhood, and all kids love them. That much goes without saying. What the woman and her daughter didn't know is that all of our plastic surgery kiddos are given Pediasure to drink. The vitamins and nutrients in it help their wounds to heal, but there are plenty of little ones who kick up a huge fuss when presented with their twice-daily cans. I can see Pediasure time being a lot less traumatic in the future...
12. My favourite gum, which I'm figuring they knew about because I mentioned it in a former post, but let's be honest here: how awesome can you be?!
13. Beautiful, big boxes of watercolours and enough paintbrushes to go around. I just cleaned out the activities cupboards on the wards last week and realized that a lot of our paintbrushes are nearing the end of their lives. Of course there would be more in this package.
14. Three dollars and sixty-one cents, folded up in a tiny little ziploc bag.
You see, the woman who sent me the package (I still don't know her name) wrote me an email to tell me that the box was on its way. My daughter also read that you have to pay for mail and put in a few dollars of her own money because she felt bad that you would have to pay for something that someone wanted to give you. I hope that's okay.
She hoped it was okay that her daughter, five years old, wanted to go to the store and pick out all these perfect treasures that already have the kids in ecstasies. She hoped it was okay that the little one, when she heard that I'd have to pay to receive the package, wanted to put in her own money, because it wasn't fair that I had to pay for her gift.
Three dollars and sixty-one cents. I don't know what that little girl was planning to do with her money before she heard about our ship full of kids. All I know is that she didn't spend it on herself. She put it in a little plastic bag, tucked it into a box of love and sent it all across the ocean to me.
I hope it's okay if I, in turn, am convinced that it's families like this who give us hope for the future.
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