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. =)