Grateful For Her Underpants

Yes, she is grateful for her underpants. And she is not afraid to say it. She has been leaking urine constantly for the last 5 years. She last saw her husband when he left her at the hospital and said he was going to get the money to get her released from the hospital. He never returned. I would imagine it would be hard to find a person more grateful. She told her story and then sat down and then jumped up and interupted and explained she has not been able to underpants for 5 years.

Yesterday I went down to the dress ceremony for these 4 women. 1 had had this problem for 20 years. 1 still has a husband. That is unusual. The ceremony was translated from English to French and then into 2 or 3 local languages. I was at a church service on the ward on Sunday and I know there was almost simultaneous translation into 7 languages. A bit hard to stay focused but very interesting.

The entire ward clapped for these women, laughed for these women and nodded. The other 25 understood all they had been through. They have been through it as well. One woman in the ward during the ceremony would not look. She has had the surgery but is not dry. A patient I visited had had 7 surgeries before she was dry. One of our doctors went up country, brought back, I think, 20 women. They were going to stay in a hotel on the way down to the ship but no one would take them because they smelled bad. So he stayed with them in the bus as they slept. No room in the inn for them, either!