So what surgeries are we doing anyway?

Most of our patients have what we call “burn contractures”. At some point in the past they had severe burns caused by spilled boiling water, a house fire, or some other accident. Sadly, many people in Africa die from these injuries due to infection and limited access to medicine. If they do receive medical treatment, it is minimal… maybe only some antibiotics. But even after surviving the incident and all the risks that come from open wounds, they are left with scar tissue that knits together incorrectly. Their joints and limbs literally melt together and are not able to move and extend the way they should. My patients have lived with these scars for years… unable to cook, carry water, or do other daily activities at home.

For some context, below is a picture of a former patient of Africa Mercy before her surgery. She was not my patient, but her scars are very much like my patients’ when they arrived.

The scar tissue won’t ever completely go away… the main goal is to restore function. In surgery, they cut the webbed scar area apart and take a graft of skin from the thigh to piece together the arm, shoulder, and back in a way that will allow more range of motion. Our surgeons use this technique to restore movement to ankle joints, elbows, knees,  and fingers too.

When they come back to the ward, their limb is wrapped up in a stint so that the new wound and growing tissue will heal correctly. It looks something like this.

Their arm is set straight out at that 90 degree angle for 2-3 weeks. As you can imagine, the splint and donor site get pretty uncomfortable and itchy. It makes sleeping… interesting…  trying to find a comfortable position. On the brighter side, it has created a whole dance move of its own in our ward.

My first patients will finally get their splint off soon. Then the real work begins… dressing changes and physical therapy. Both of which are very difficult and painful. Even now, with new surgical wounds, there is risk for infection or that the grafts will not heal correctly. It will be about 6 weeks of dressing changes and therapy before they can leave the ship. They will probably need to check in with  our outpatient clinic for even longer than that.

It is and will continue to be a long road for my patients that have already endured so much. The scars won’t ever go away, but our hope is they will know that scars are nothing to be ashamed of. It’s a part of their story, but they are not defined by it.

It’s been wonderful to see that hope beginning to come to life… watching them befriend one another and form our own little community. I pray it’s comforting for them to see they are not alone… patients can share their experience together and they see there is a whole crew of people working to make them well.

But when we discharge our patients, the hope is for something like this… smiles and full range of motion to do whatever work God has in store for their lives.

Please be praying for our patients. Thank you for loving us well.