Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Monday, March 11, 2013
Iraq trip 2013!
I just got back yesterday from my 4th medical mission trip with the International Children's Heart Foundation, to Najaf, Iraq! We did some very complex surgeries this trip but we had a great team and the kids did well! Here are a few of them....
This little sweetheart was a doll while she was sleeping, and usually screaming mad when she was awake! She was much happier when she got to leave ICU and go to the pediatric ward.
Going for a walk around the ICU....a requirement before discharging to the ward!
Up on the ward - first he showed off his new electric toy truck, then got his chest dressing changed, then posed for a photo! He will be going home soon. =)
Up on the ward - still looking stoic!
This boy was so cute when we visited him on the ward. He knew where his medicines were, how to get his chart from the nurse's station, and rattled off answers to all our questions through the translator. Feels like a new kid now that he has a healthy heart!
This boy stole my heart from the first day! He was very sick before surgery, and came back from surgery also very sick. After a rough couple of days, he started making serious progress!
Very sick baby...Six months old and weighing only 4kgs, Musa was a baby who was too little for us to operate on in November last year, because we did not have the right equipment for him. When we discussed his case during the planning meeting on our first night in Iraq, the surgeon remembered him and said "that boy LIVED?" He's a fighter!
On day one he still had an open chest, day two he had a peritoneal drain, day three - he was extubated and making strides!
Musa getting some cuddle time. I would have taken this baby home with me if I could!
Weighing only 2.3kg, little Ali was our smallest patient!
After surgery - nice and pink! He recovered very quickly with his new heart!
Here is a photo of Ali's bed just after he arrived post-op. Miraculously the local staff found an incubator we could warm him in. His bed space almost looked like a real PICU! (since you can't really see all our plastic and tape rigging things together!)
Nice and pink, off the ventilator and breathing on his own less than 24 hours after surgery! His mother was very happy.
Sharing a room with 6 other patients in a one-room bustling ICU makes for a very bright and loud environment! We had some trouble getting this little guy to sleep for very long, but his sunglasses helped a little.
Of course the easiest way to get a tiny baby to stop crying is to just hold them all the time....we did a little of that too!
This lovely girl was one of our final cases, and she had her mitral valve repaired. Here she is, almost ready to go to the ward, with a new bear to match her new heart valve.
Little Shakur had a fairly uneventful surgery, but had ongoing rhythm issues post-op that kept him pretty unhappy. He demanded that his older brother stay by his side at all times, and nothing we did could ever get him to smile!
Baby Girl
This little sweetheart was a doll while she was sleeping, and usually screaming mad when she was awake! She was much happier when she got to leave ICU and go to the pediatric ward.
On the ward, cuddling with mom! Much happier but still no smile! (I did get her to smile on the last day when she came back to ICU for an echo - I gave her candy while she was waiting her turn!)
The Little Man
This handsome guy was a real star after surgery - he coughed on command! Here he is relaxing after extubation with his new teddy bear and his motorcycle.
Going for a walk around the ICU....a requirement before discharging to the ward!
Up on the ward - first he showed off his new electric toy truck, then got his chest dressing changed, then posed for a photo! He will be going home soon. =)Sir Mohammed
Looking very stoic and ready to leave ICU.
Up on the ward - still looking stoic! Thumbs up!
My Little Musa!
Very sick baby...Six months old and weighing only 4kgs, Musa was a baby who was too little for us to operate on in November last year, because we did not have the right equipment for him. When we discussed his case during the planning meeting on our first night in Iraq, the surgeon remembered him and said "that boy LIVED?" He's a fighter!
On day one he still had an open chest, day two he had a peritoneal drain, day three - he was extubated and making strides!
Musa getting some cuddle time. I would have taken this baby home with me if I could!Little Peanut
On Tuesday, week 2 of our trip, we scrambled to find a seventh bed to add to our ICU. Squeezing 7 patients into a unit built for 4 was a tight fit, but this tiny guy needed immediate surgery! He was transported from another hospital 3 and 1/2 hours away for urgent repair of a serious heart defect called TGA (transposition of the great vessels). With this heart defect, the body gets very little oxygen and most babies die within the first week of life if they are not repaired. At 10 days old, this baby reached us just in time!
Weighing only 2.3kg, little Ali was our smallest patient!
After surgery - nice and pink! He recovered very quickly with his new heart!
Here is a photo of Ali's bed just after he arrived post-op. Miraculously the local staff found an incubator we could warm him in. His bed space almost looked like a real PICU! (since you can't really see all our plastic and tape rigging things together!)
Nice and pink, off the ventilator and breathing on his own less than 24 hours after surgery! His mother was very happy.
Sharing a room with 6 other patients in a one-room bustling ICU makes for a very bright and loud environment! We had some trouble getting this little guy to sleep for very long, but his sunglasses helped a little.
Of course the easiest way to get a tiny baby to stop crying is to just hold them all the time....we did a little of that too!
This lovely girl was one of our final cases, and she had her mitral valve repaired. Here she is, almost ready to go to the ward, with a new bear to match her new heart valve.Grumpy Bear
Little Shakur had a fairly uneventful surgery, but had ongoing rhythm issues post-op that kept him pretty unhappy. He demanded that his older brother stay by his side at all times, and nothing we did could ever get him to smile!
Even after he was discharged to the ward, Shakur wouldn't smile! Here he is with Farzhana, the ICHF nurse educator for Najaf. She tried everything to get him to smile and he always refused.
On the last day, I told Farzhana "hey, Shakur came to ICU for his last EKG, and I gave him a teddy bear and he smiled!" "Really??!"
Yep.......
There it is.
Miracles happen every day. =)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)