Ann's-Mercy-Africa-Service-Trip

Yesterday I had a really wonderful experience that I want to share with you. One type of surgery that is commonly done here is removing extra toes and fingers on people who are born with this disorder. One of the patients that I worked with had 2 extra toes on each foot. Often the extra toes are in line with the others and are just extras on either side of the foot or hand. Something like this:

Unfortunately one of the patients that I worked with had 2 extra toes on each foot that stuck out at odd angles. One sticking straight up out of the top of her foot. and another that was coming out of the bottom of her foot on each side. She is about 13 years old and had never been able to wear shoes because of this deformity. She was teased at school all of the time and was really ashamed of her feet.

The plastic surgeon was able to remove the extra toes from her foot. She had to walk with crutches and wear open toed cast shoes with blocks on the bottom for about a month so that she did not put any pressure on her forefoot on either side. After about a month, she was healed enough and was ready for real shoes! We tried a pair on that we had in the clinic, but they were not a good fit. They were too long and not wide enough.

When we tried on the shoes the patient became very excited. She told me that she really hoped to have white shoes. The next day I got to take a trip to Bazaar Kelly, an out side covered market where different vendors sell things. I went with Andrea, one of the Malagasy people who translate for us. We were able to find a brand new pair of white shoes that we thought would work.

Yesterday I got to fit them and give them to her. Many people here shop at a market that sells only used merchandise. I don’t think that she expected to get brand new shoes. We laced them up. They seemed to fit appropriately. We talked to her about wearing the shoes only an hour the first day and then increasing the wear time very gradually in order to not develop blisters which could cause an infection. We then went outside and had her walk up and down to see how they felt.

This 13 year old girl was just beaming! Her whole face lit up and she had tears in her eyes at the same time. Her mother was just as excited and moved to see her daughter in real shoes and so happy. The mother thanked us for the love and care that everyone had given to them on Mercy Africa. She told us that they never expected to be given any shoes, let alone brand new ones. She was so thankful that we had helped her daughter. She told us that they would return to their village and tell everyone about their experience with Mercy Ships.

I will see the patient one more time on Monday to make sure that the shoes still work after wearing them for a few days. Then we will say a prayer of thanks for her good outcome & healing and of going forth into the world to have a good life. Last we sing our discharge song which celebrates the outcome of the surgery, the hard work of the patient and family and all of us. The patient dances in the middle of the circle, then we all clap and hug and send her on her way.

Seeing the joy on the face of this child and her mother made all of the travel and the ups and downs of being here worth it. ❤️