More on Iraq....from Kenya

 Meet "small small baby". Her name is something like "sami" but somehow she got nicknamed small small baby and it really stuck. (she wasn't that small, she was 3.5kg!) She has transposition of the great vessels - meaning the major blood vessels are attached to her heart backwards. This causes blood to circulate around the body without ever going to the lungs to pick up oxygen. When our wonderful cardiologist described her to the surgeon he said she was "berry blue". Many babies born with this defect are also born with a large hole in their heart that actually helps them survive longer by allowing some oxygenated blood to mix with the blood pumped to their body. This baby had only a very tiny hole, so it was a miracle she was still alive at 3 weeks old. The surgeon said "if she lives until Monday, we will operate."

 Well, small small baby is a fighter, and she got her surgery! She is the fourth arterial switch operation ever to occur in Iraq. She did have some respiratory complications after surgery that required extra care, but she has pulled through very well! Of course, now that  she is pink, we had to give her a pink blanket too. =)

Small baby's x-ray two days after surgery - the lungs usually appear black (filled with air) but as you can see, our small friend had completely collapsed her left lung. After a lot of extra therapy and attention, she began to re-expand. 

 Having a little snack! Eating is a lot easier for her now that she has oxygen in her blood!

 Sweet baby having a rest with her pink blanket and her orange dinosaur.

This little girl is just adorable. Within hours of coming back from surgery, she came off the ventilator, and not long after that, was demanding water.

  The next day, she got her pacer wires and chest tubes removed, and got out of bed to walk. 

Two days later, she was playing in the staff break room and posing for photos! I love my job!!

 

 Here is smiley (first kid that tried to smile for the camera) out of bed walking and ready to discharge to the ward! =)

This beautiful girl had to keep her pacer wires in a few extra days after surgery. When she came back to ICU to have them removed, she was soooo scared! I held her hand while they were pulled out and she clenched my hand in a death grip! As soon as she realized it was over (and not nearly as scary as she thought it would be!) she loosened her hand, looked at me and the nurse and immediately said "Thank you. Thank you."
One of my favorite memories from the trip!



I wish I had taken a picture of this ventilator BEFORE I cleaned about 6 layers of dust and dirt off of it. We needed to get another ventilator working, and this one was the best option. I pirated a part off of one of the other non-working vents, but it still had a problem with the switchboard. Luckily, the hospital had a biomedical engineer and he was able to reconnect it! The ICU staff thought I was crazy to spend so much time on it, but the very next day we needed four vents at once and had to use it!

One of the cutest little babies EVER. This baby girl actually had a very serious complication post heart surgery - one day after surgery her heart repair completely clotted and she had to go back to the OR and have a second repair. Luckily, it was discovered quickly, she got excellent care, and she is now recovering very well! We had a fully awesome team. 

This was our very last case, and he was a perfect note to end on. He extubated within 1 hour post-op, and immediately put his thumb in his mouth! Poor guy was having a lot of trouble since he had an arterial line and an IV line on his thumb sucking hand - he was so happy when we found him a pacifier! Sweet baby! 

Power lines in Iraq. Hmm.....seemed like a good idea at the time?

The view from the "windows" in the break room. Oh yes.

On our last night, we went straight from the hospital to a dinner hosted by the Ministry of Health, the city Mayor, hospital officials, and others who hosted us in Iraq. These are lights in the amazing hotel where we were treated to an amazing dinner with amazing HOT food! 

Unfortunately, my camera battery was pretty much dead so I only got photos of my food and the ceiling lights. There was a ceremony where we were awarded personal wooden plaques in honor of our volunteer service. Everyone was wonderful and we had a really great time. They really went out of their way to show their appreciation! I really hope I can go back again and be a part of the wonderful work that is going on there! 





We operated on 19 children in 9 days. While we completely transformed the lives of these children, there are thousands still waiting for surgery in Iraq. If you want to donate to help these kids - follow the links below!
These are ALL great organizations and they are changing many lives - not just the children that are operated, but also their families, their communities, the surgeons, nurses, hospitals, even the government. They are bringing hope to hopeless people and the ripple effect is immeasurable!


The International Children's Heart Foundation - babyheart.org - the incredible medical team!
Preemptive Love Coalition - Preemptivelove.org - great people with great vision - visit their awesome blog!!
Living Light International - Livinglightinternational.org - two ladies living in Bagdhad who moved a few mountains for us. =)

If I made a Bucket List....

I have yet to make a Bucket List. If I do, I think I might have some difficulty coming up with a list. Some of the things I have done and places I have gone are things I never would have thought up on my own. Yesterday was one example! It was Sunday and we took the day off of surgeries. Two of the ICU staff went in for a few hours in the morning to check on our kids and then we had the whole day to do....whatever we wanted. Although, when you're sitting in a guest house heavily guarded by soldiers, you don't really feel like you can go do whatever you want on your day off. After a lazy morning and breakfast around 9, the general consensus was that we wanted to go to Babylon - since it is only an hour (ish) from where we were staying. About 12pm, we went outside to soak up some sunshine and pose for pictures with a few of the guards while we waited for the van to be ready. A few minutes later, we were told we were not going to Babylon, a lunch had been arranged somewhere else instead. An hour after that, we were told we could skip the lunch and still go to Babylon. A few minutes after that we were told, no, there will be no going to Babylon because no transportation or security had been arranged. I'll spare you the rest of the schedule changes - around 4pm - we were on our way to Babylon!

 Pulling into the front gate of Babylon - we had made it through 4 police check points and were a little uncertain they were going to let us in the gate of Babylon after 5pm, with darkness quickly approaching. Our amazing driver convinced them it was still a good plan, and we were let through!

 The main gate to Babylon! This is a replica, the actual gate was apparently abducted by some Turkish archaeologists and now lives in Germany.

 Me, standing by the gate! At this point we were told we could not go in because there was no time to tour the city and everything was closed anyway. We rushed around, trying to take photos before all the sunlight faded. Then suddenly, they decided we could go inside for 10 minutes! 

 Some sort of map of the city that I took a photo of while we ran through the entryway. Seriously did not look at it at all, just snapped a picture and ran after the rest of the group. =)

 I'm not sure what this is. But there is an information sign next to it, in Arabic, and our guide was speaking very quickly about its significance as we ran by. We had the coolest guide ever, he was so excited to give us a speed tour of Babylon and was animatedly rushing us from point to point, trying to give us as much of an experience as he could! Many times he said, "You must come back, you must come back. I give you nice tour - you need three hours!" He was awesome. Unfortunately, I was so enamored with the fact that we were walking through an ancient city at dusk, and too distracted by his awesome accent, that I can't remember half of what he said. So these pictures will all have fictitious descriptions, because I have no idea what I took pictures of!!

 This is one of the original streets, complete with the original broken and eroded stone underlay. It used to have stone pavers, with sanscrit writing on them. Apparently, these stones were also stolen by the Germans. (It was actually Turkish archaeologists that stole everything, but we had quite the joke with one of our team members who was German, because many times during the tour our guide said "Germany! Germany!" to indicate that the Germans had also abducted the original of whatever it was he was showing us.)

 A piece of one sanscrit inscribed stone the Germans accidentally left behind.

This is the entrance to King Nebuchadnezzar courtyard, which had 5 squares. The first square was for security purposes - anyone who entered without first visiting the Ministry of Papers and getting the correct clearance before visiting the Ministry of Stamps to verify the correctness of their approval papers, was immediately shot dead on sight. The other 4 squares were for various other important royal business, like building fiery furnaces.

 This is the top of one of the original gates into the city. Where you see the bricks change color is all new construction restoring the city. Over time, dirt/sand have built up and covered the original gates. (I was listening during this part of the tour, so I think all that's actually true...)

 Babylon! 

 Babylon at sunset. 

City wall decorations they used as landmarks when giving people directions. (Turn left at the second mythical animal and the bathrooms are straight ahead on your right.)

  An interior room in Nebuchadnezzar's palace that was mainly used as grain storage until the roof fell in. Then it was used as a temporary holding chamber for the lions when their regular enclosure was being cleaned.

This was the royal laundry chute.

 Babylon just before dark.

 Pausing to hear our guide repeat what he said about the roads through Babylon. He had SUCH an amazing accent! (Seek us honor red and fife busy: 605 B.C) 

 One of the last photos I could get before dark. 

 This is an archway they built as a cool backdrop for tourists to take photos in front of.

 The lion. (Want to see Leon? Half time? Horrie Horrie! These why!) Want to see lion? Have time? Hurry hurry this way!

This is the lion's view of Babylon. Such a cool experience!! 

And then there were three!

 Small but mighty! This adorable little four year old got all her tubes taken out today and will transfer to the ward tomorrow. She put up quite a protest when we got her out of bed to walk, until she saw her dad and walked straight to him! Afterward, she made him get in the bed with her, and she promptly fell asleep in this position.

 First smile of the day! This sweet girl was the first case today, and she woke up very quickly and was extubated within 30 minutes. Here she is a few hours later, already trying to smile!

 

 I saw this little one in the hall as she was going for surgery. She was laughing on her way back to the OR!  She got extubated within 2 hours, but was still snoring soundly by the time I left the unit today. 

 One more photo of my little friend from Thursday!  I love this little guy! 

 Ali came back to the PICU for an echo today, he almost  smiled. Almost. =)

We have Sunday off, and I am looking forward to sleeping in! It's been a really great trip so far!

Another day, another heart surgery!

This little guy was patient number one! Here he is dressed in his new pink outfit, ready to discharge to the regular ward, one day after his surgery!

 He has the most amazing eyelashes! 

 This boy feels like he fell down a flight of stairs, broke his nose, and had open heart surgery a few days later. Because....that's exactly what happened. He did great after surgery, and was even the first patient to have all his tubes removed and get out of bed and walk. He's a star!

There's nothing like breakfast in bed...=)

Sweet little baby! I spent literally hours patting him to sleep over and over again. He is doing well and plans to discharge to the ward tomorrow.