In late January, I had to be hospitalized due to a kidney stone and a hole in my left kidney. Thankfully none of my friends from the ship took a photo when they visited me, except for Mark but the photo he took was the view of the ship from my hospital window. (Small white dot in the middle). I am thankful for God’s provision in so many ways.
KRB Update 2150 My Time in Hospital
KRB Update #2150 February 20, 2010
My Time in Hospital
Imagine the worst pain you have experienced in your life… For me I have been pretty healthy and had only been the hospital at my birth and a short overnight when my tonsils were removed as a 3 year old. On Sunday evening (Jan 24th), I started to feel horrible pain in my lower left side of my back. After much consideration, I paged the crew nurse. She came and was soon followed by our crew physician and they started to give me shots to help my pain. Since the Africa Mercy Hospital was closed down it was not possible to do any diagnostic tests. They made arrangements to rush me to go the emergency room at the local hospital in La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain. In the waiting room, as I was crying and shaking, a woman went to get the ER nurse and brought her to the waiting room and pointed at me and it was only a couple minutes and they were calling my name. A nurse was able to get a line in my left hand and the only words he spoke to me in English were ‘Pain Killer’ – then it was back and forth with X-ray and a scan which showed them the rupture (small hole) in my left kidney made by a kidney stone. The next day, our crew physician, Dr. Craig, came in as the nurse was explaining that they were taking me for surgery to insert the tube to relieve the pressure for the hole to heal. They also shared that I would be in the hospital for 1-2 weeks and it hit me hard as the ship was leaving on Sunday. Soon I was wheeled off to floor -2 for the surgerical procedure as I stared up at the lights in the hall. I was shaking and scared – 90 minutes later I was out with the tube and a bag to collect urine from that kidney. I couldn’t sleep but I really couldn’t do much of anything. The nursing and other staff told me in Español what to do and when. Friends from the ship visited me in the afternoon and early evening – this was so encouraging. Our OR Supervisor shared that “it was good that it happened in Spain where they have experts to take care of you as if we were sailing, our options would have been so limited and probably would have to air evacuate you out”. The situation in Togo and Ghana would not have been any better either. At the University Hospital, they had the doctors and nursing staff and all the equipment to care for people with this problem. God was taking care of me and providing for me. Then there was the hope that I could be discharged Saturday afternoon and the ship was sailing on Sunday morning. But with the advice of various ones of my leaders it was decided it would not be good for me to sail and mentioned a housing option. In the end on Saturday, severe pain returned for three episodes, but it was probably just blood from the hole for the tube or some tissue. I was able to watch the ship sail from my hospital window (see photo) and it was emotional, but I had a peace that God was providing for me. Monday came and the doctors gave me the go ahead to be discharged – they knew the ship had left and were glad to hear I was staying on the island and advised me to take the rest needed before returning to Africa. On Sunday and Monday, my mind was clearer and able to talk more with the hospital staff and able to share about Mercy Ships and what we are doing in Africa. Later on Monday afternoon, I was able to leave the hospital and started the time of rest and recuperation. I received many greetings and messages that I am praying for you via email and also via Facebook – I was overwhelmed with all the love expressed.
Some Lessons Learned: In addition to drinking liters of water every day, I feel that now I can relate better with the patients I visit in the hospital on deck 3 of the ship: *being in the hospital with staff who speak a language other than one’s first language *wearing the hospital gown and just trying to get to the toilet with your urine bag and IV tubes and pole *the challenge of taking a shower *the horrible feelings of pain *the fear of surgery – being scared and uncertain *the joy of having a visitor *the great desire and longing to be discharged and the disappointment when that is delayed.
Our hospital will open tomorrow as we welcome our initial patients for this Togo 2010Field Service.
Thank you for your prayers (though I realize not everyone knew about this), encouragement and love expressed.
Ken Berry – Final Mgmt Team Mtg Jan 10
My friends Ken and Ann Berry will be leaving the ship this week. I have known them from the very early days on the Caribbean Mercy in ’94 where we served together. They have been instrumental in the launching of the Africa Mercy and has been serving as our Managing Director and my supervisor. They will continue with Mercy Ships but out of the IOC in Texas serving in Marine Operations and in particular on our generator project for later this year. We will have a farewell party on Tuesday evening for them.
Iglesia Santa Ursula 24Enero10
Today was our last Sunday to attend the evangelical church here in Tenerife. We were given an opportunity to share our thanks and so I translated for Clementine who has known the people of the church since last year. For me, it has been good to be able to worship the Lord in Espanol once again like when I served on the Caribbean Mercy in Latin/Central America. I know that we will stay in touch and that they are praying for us as we leave soon for Lome, Togo.
Public Tours
On Thursday, we opened the ship to the public here in Tenerife for the opportunity to come and visit. We are thankful for the hospitality of the Ports of Tenerife in allowing us to be here. My first tour was actually a group from the evangelical church that I have been attending – isn’t God’s timing great. In the photo, we are in Ward D that is set up to give the tour guests an idea what the hospital is like – though we couldn’t find a pulse on the guy in bed #6 : – )
Work Phase in Tenerife
The Technical Work Phase continues to go well here in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. They reported this morning that we have passed some inspections and more will probably happen next week with the Port State Inspection and Flag State Inspection. All of the safety equipment is receiving their annual servicing. We continue to pray for all those working on these technical work projects for safety and that there will not be any ‘show stoppers’ for us leaving at the end of the month for Lome, Togo.
Loro Parque touching dolphins
Many of the crew and in particular the families were able to visit Loro Parque in Puerto de la Cruz – on the other side of the island. It is like a Sea World, if you have visited there. I went last year and spent the day with the Kronester family.
In this photo one of the Samaraweera kids had the chance to be in the ‘Dolphin Show’ and go out in the boat.
Logo on Stack Jan ’10
One of the project during this technical work phase is replacing the logo on the stack of the Africa Mercy. As we changed our logo awhile back, we need now to replace the old logo on the ship. You will notice in the background the hill/mountains as this island has many mountains including the highest point in Espana (Spain).
KRB Update #2149 January 10, 2010
Technical Work Phase
Greetings to you all at the beginning of a new year 2010!!!
I am writing to you from on board the ship while in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands – islands owned by Spain but only 100 km off the African coast near Morocco (see the map below). You may ask, “What are you doing there?” The ship is required to go
through various inspections, obtain various certificates, etc and this is the closest place a ship of our size can go to for these services. Without the required certificates, we would not be permitted to sail. Mercy Ships has had a long term relationship with our agent and vendors here which all help in our dealings with them. There are many ship repairs that need to be done when the hospital is not in use and when the number of crew members on board is lower (as many long term crew take vacation during part of this time). We are not required to go into the drydock as that is when they take the ship out of the water – in those cases all the families have to move off for safety reason, but the singles and couples remain living on board with limited services. When I asked “What are some of our main projects happening this time?”, our Captain Tim shared the following: annual checks, lifeboats serviced and certified, water tanks (see photo) and other tanks cleaned and surveyed, hull surveys, work on the anchor chains, modification on the upper deck 8, modifications in almost every area of the hospital on deck 3, and general maintena
nce and smaller projects.
Personally, I am not involved in the technical work, though they have asked for volunteers from the general crew to assist with crawling into the tanks and doing the cleaning. I have been working intently on all the required final Benin ’09 field service reports and in particular on each of the 14 final project reports for the hospital and the activities off the ship. I strive for integrity and excellence with our reports, including our statistics and financial reporting on these projects. In addition, I continue to serve as the advance team liaison on board as our team is in Lomé, Togo. I am also working on preparations for our next field service in the nation of Togo (sailing date of January 31st).
Greetings to you all at the beginning of a new year 2010!!!
I am writing to you from on board the ship while in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands – islands owned by Spain but only 100 km off the African coast near Morocco (see the map below). You may ask, “What are you doing there?” The ship is required to go
through various inspections, obtain various certificates, etc and this is the closest place a ship of our size can go to for these services. Without the required certificates, we would not be permitted to sail. Mercy Ships has had a long term relationship with our agent and vendors here which all help in our dealings with them. There are many ship repairs that need to be done when the hospital is not in use and when the number of crew members on board is lower (as many long term crew take vacation during part of this time). We are not required to go into the drydock as that is when they take the ship out of the water – in those cases all the families have to move off for safety reason, but the singles and couples remain living on board with limited services. When I asked “What are some of our main projects happening this time?”, our Captain Tim shared the following: annual checks, lifeboats serviced and certified, water tanks (see photo) and other tanks cleaned and surveyed, hull surveys, work on the anchor chains, modification on the upper deck 8, modifications in almost every area of the hospital on deck 3, and general maintena
nce and smaller projects.Personally, I am not involved in the technical work, though they have asked for volunteers from the general crew to assist with crawling into the tanks and doing the cleaning. I have been working intently on all the required final Benin ’09 field service reports and in particular on each of the 14 final project reports for the hospital and the activities off the ship. I strive for integrity and excellence with our reports, including our statistics and financial reporting on these projects. In addition, I continue to serve as the advance team liaison on board as our team is in Lomé, Togo. I am also working on preparations for our next field service in the nation of Togo (sailing date of January 31st).
Last Sunday, I was invited to a local evangelical church (Iglesia Cristiana Fuente de Paz y Esperanza) here on the island. My friend Clementine had met some of the people from this church last year and invited us to return. I was given the privilege to share in their morning service; I chose to share in Español and thought I will watch their faces to see if they can understand my Español. My language skills have not improved since I am not using it regularly except in correspondence with friends in Central America and with the few crew members on board who speak Español also. One recent slip/goof at a store was calling a lady here ‘Madame’ and saying ‘s’il vous plait’ (please in French).
Serving Together,
Keith
Email: [email protected] – using this email account for personal correspondence
Mail: Keith R. Brinkman, Mercy Ships, P.O. Box 2020, Lindale, TX 75771 USA
Cleaning Water Tanks
As part of our ship repairs, modifications and inspections in this season in Tenerife, this is a photo of some of the crew cleaning the water tanks on board the ship. Others were cleaning other tanks much dirtier than this, but they did it willingly. I continue working on reports from our time in Benin and preparing things for our upcoming field service in Togo.