Today We Danced

VVF surgery has finished but the work is no where close to finished. We are still working with the women who are recovering after surgery. This set of surgery feels much different than the last set. It has it's own unique set of challenges and joys. Even though VVF has been around basically forever we are still just at the beginning of figuring out the best way to treat these women. There is not a lot of research out there and every case is a little different.

I am asking for prayers for one women in particular who I screened and have cared for over the past two weeks. Her name is Beatrice, she had a bit of a unique problem and had a different surgery than most of the other women. I won't go into the details but she has an infection that is resistant to all but one of the antibiotics we have available. So what she needs is prayer and I know God is bigger and can heal her wounds and her infection. I want so badly to dance with her and I believe this will happen.

When I stop and think of the women that are going back home still leaking and when I think of those we never even have the opportunity to help it breaks my heart. The statistics are staggering, at the current rate that VVF surgeries are being done it would take 700 years to treat all the fistula patients that are currently suffering with this condition. But the thing is I can't think about all of this all the time because it becomes overwhelming and discouraging.

So today I am celebrating because today we danced. Four beautiful women celebrated God's healing today. The ceremony was wonderful. I'll share the story of one of the women, Veronique. Veronique has had 4 surgeries. She has had 3 of them with Mercy Ships this year alone, one in March, then again in July, and finally just last week. Today she danced! She stood with the attitude and sass that I love about her and she gave a testimony. She thanked God, the doctors and the nurses and then with tears streaming down her face she shouted, "Today, I Veronique am dry!"