From Suffering to Beauty

When I told people I was the OR VVF team leader, I would get blank stares.  “What is VVF?” they would ask.  I would respond with a vague “it’s a fistula caused by childbirth” because, really, I had no idea either.  That was until I found myself standing in the ward surrounded by women who had these fistulas. 

Here’s what I learned over the past month about VVF:

1-     VVF stands for vesico-vaginal fistula which is a hole between the bladder & vagina & is only one type of fistula, there’s also vesico-uterine (a hole between the bladder & uterus), urethro-vaginal fistula (a hole between the urethra & vagina) & recto-vaginal fistula (a hole between the rectum & vagina).  The fistulas cause them to be incontinent of urine & feces.

2-     It’s a symptom of poverty caused by lack of education & availability of healthcare

3-     VVFs are caused by obstructed labor, the women can spend days in labor, often times going to 2 or 3 hospitals or clinics before they find one that would accept them either because they can’t pay or the clinic has no operating room for a c-section.  When they are able to deliver, the baby is dead & the mother is left in ruin.  Fistulas are totally preventable by having access to healthcare & have been eradicated in the Developed world because of the availability of c-sections.

4-     Other complications of obstructed labor include: foot drop, nerve injury, infertility, skin breakdown, kidney disease, prolaspe & maternal death.

5-     The social ramifications are astounding, the women are often out casted because they are wet & smell.  Their husbands leave them because they can’t produce live children any more.

6-     Its not always the young girls (under 17) having babies at a higher risk, most fistulas happen to women of normal child-bearing age.  Its also not always the first baby that causes the problems, the 5^th, 6^th, etc can be the culprit. 

Working with these women & hearing their stories of pain & suffering & yet seeing their smiles, tears, & laughter has shown me a new understanding to the human spirit.  I love coming down to the ward & sitting with the women when they are on bed rest after their surgery, or joining the “VVF conga line” in the hallway, as the ladies go on their daily walks, singing & dancing as they go.

At the end of their time with us, we have a special dress ceremony for them.  It represents their new life, healed & ready to continue with their lives after many, many years of being outcasts.  They are given a new dress, jewelry, & their nails & make up done.  We gather on the ward, singing, dancing, laughing & crying, we go through all the emotions.  These beautiful women stand up & give their testimonies, their stuggles, their hope & their thanks.  We give gifts of soap (to remind them that they are washed new in Christ’s blood), a mirror (to show their beauty), a cross necklace & a Bible.  The ladies are able to leave & start their new life. 

The women on the ward are so unbelievably strong.

Blessings