Wounds, noma, syndactyly and newborns!

Yesterday I worked on C and D ward. I had plastics patients, which was nice, as that is my comfort zone. There were a few cases of things I hadn't seen before. Syndactyly was one of them. Syndactyly is when 2 or more fingers or toes are fused together from birth. This gentleman had his 3rd and 4th fingers separated on each hand, and now he'll finally have 10 fingers after 4 decades of life! There's another man who had a "noma", which is a disease caused by malnutrition and lack of sanitation. It is an infection of sorts that attacks your face and eats away at it. He had only a hole where his nose should have been! They created a nose for him, which will be quite a change after years of people looking at him strangely, or thinking he's somehow cursed or evil.
I had 3 male patients who had almost identical problems. They all had large infected wounds on their right lower legs that they'd had for over 2 years. These wounds were really smelly and gross, and I sure hope we can cure them! One patient told me his story. He said he'd lost everything - he'd spent all his money on treatments for this wound, and none of them worked. He lost his business, his family had to move away because he couldn't provide for them, and he had to sell everything he owned. How devastating! Especially when you live in a poor country and have very little to begin with. What amazes me is how generous they are with each other. I don't know how many people would survive without the family and community support here.
These stories make me realize what a big difference these surgeries can make in someone's life. Honestly, these men would probably eventually die because of the infection spreading through their blood system. It's so sad to think of all the people we can't help. We have a palliative care program for people who are dying at home. There are people who go out and minister to them, do wound care, and help them out where they can. I think that's wonderful. I've been amazed at all of the different programs Mercy Ships is involved in on land.
Something very cool that happened last night was that a baby was born on the Africa Mercy. One of the patients here had his mother with him as a caregiver. His mother was 8 months pregnant (or so we thought). Last night she gave birth to a baby girl. She probably received the best maternal care ever in her life, because there was a midwife and a doctor there I've been told. I'm excited to get to work this afternoon and see the brand new little life!
This is such a wonderful community and a great place to be. I'm thoroughly enjoying it!