Tales of VVF land and TIA

I'll start with ward news and then go on to my recent weekend trip to Abomey and meeting the king.

I have been in VVF land since my second week here. At first, I was a little disappointed at not being in the Maxfax ward with all of the dramatic changes that you see after surgery, however, as time went on, I began to realize how very rewarding it was to get to know the lovely VVF ladies. They are survivors, comedians, mothers, friends, and members of a small club.....the club of VVF. They are a support group for each other and will chatter away (at least when they know each other's language). They take care of each other's children, tell each other what to expect, and chide each other if they think the other person is not being polite. So you get to know the ladies, and the ones that you get to know the best are the ones who have had complications, and oh how it hurts when things don't go as hoped. We pray but God in His wisdom does not always give us the outcome we think is best. One of my favorite ladies went home on Wed. still wet. She had come in for a VVF and a RVF (rectal vaginal fistula) repair and for a while, we thought it had been successful. Unfortunately that was not the case. She has another fistula somewhere that was not found in the original surgery. I had not realized, but it can take several surgeries to repair the damage done. Dr Steve told a story of the man who pioneered the fistula repair surgery. He is now somewhat reviled as he developed the technique on his slaves, one of which he operated on 31 times....without anesthesia. However, in a note as to how much these ladies desire to be continent, it was found that he had obtained informed consent from her for each of the 31 times.....she was a survivor. One of the things I love most about Zenebon is her sense of humor. I have to tell you, I had no clue as to what words where coming out of her mouth, but I could always tell when she was finding us amusing. Not to get too scatological, but we are very concerned about our ladies' BMs. Before you think us too weird, remember that we are nurses, and , in addition, constipation can ruin the repair....so very important to go frequently and have soft stools and we give them several meds to hasten the process. Well one of the ladies (Wessigui) had not been in several days and we where concerned that she might have a small bowel obstruction...so quite important for us to visualize the "movement". We made her dually aware of this fact and on the momentous day that she actually produced said BM, she flagged down the closest nurse(Jilly) to show off the byproduct. I was Wessegui's nurse that day, so Jilly called me over so that I could (with pride and exaltation) also share in this wondrous occasion. Well I thought that Zenebon was going to fall off her bed, she laughed and laughed and laughed, so, we laughed with her. Please pray for Zenebon, she is some kind of lady.

Last weekend we went to Abomey which was the capital of the kingdom of D'ahomey of which Benin used to be part. We had our trip put together by a "tour operator" so (although we felt we where paying a premium price) we where happy. We where supposed to leave at 8:30 on Saturday, have several stops throughout the day, reach our motel in time to see the Fruit bats in the courtyard before they took off for the night have a walkabout and then a leisurely supper. Well all I can say is TIA. Ah, what does that mean you ask? This is Africa, TIA, a phrase oft repeated by us Westerners. It was to be uttered with varying degrees of frustration all day Saturday. Our guide showed up with both her small children, TIA, the car was 2 and 1/2 hours late, TIA, the van was not the new air conditioned one that we had been promised, TIA, being caught in traffic for at least an hour because the van was late, TIA, observing meat being sold in a village where we had stopped so the driver could put "minutes" on his phone and realizing that some of the pieces had paws and other pieces had tails and that it was indeed rat, TIA. Going to meet the first king and having one of our group proposed to by the elder, TIA (we think he was kidding), being allowed to see where said elder's father was buried literally in his back courtyard, TIA. He actually had a great sense of humor. He called Miriam over so that she could see her Father-in-law's grave. Never seeing the King as we where several hours late due to car being late, etc, etc, TIA. Having one of the places on our itinerary stay open late and give us a tour any way, TIA. Loosing our hotel reservations (with the fruit bats) because we where so late, TIA. Having 3 of our group having to sleep in one bed (it was a large bed) TIA. Having the kitchen open back up at 9:00 at night so that we could have supper, TIA. Not an auspicious first day and by the end of it, we where saying TIA with gritted teeth, telling ourselves that this was and adventure.

Sunday was a new day and turned out to be much better. After having to wait 30 minutes for the "King's palace" ( a UNESCO world heritage muse am) to open up, we had an enjoyable time. We then grabbed bread and cheese for lunch after which we went to meet another King. We where ushered into his presence with all due pomp and circumstance. Not one, but two courtyards before hand, we had to take our shoes and hats off. He was sitting on his throne with his robe thrown across his lap and some sort of sceptre hanging from his shoulder and we shuffled in bowed, and found ourselves a seat on the floor. As he turned his attention to speaking to us....his cell phone rang...TIA. Anyway, he was an interesting and educated fellow and was very versed in American history and in Obama.

I'm getting ready to go to a dress ceremony so need to run..besides, I'm sure I've bored you enough by now. Take care....I look forward to seeing everyone is just a few more days.