Of the eight children who were brought to Wolfson Hospital on Tuesday for the heart clinic, three were invited for admission in the future:
Naseem:
Naseem is a one year old boy who has a large hole in his heart. He will be invited for surgery when he is four years old, and in the meantime, he will be brought to regular check-up appointments.
He was waiting with his mum when we arrived at the Gaza Border crossing, and they were among the last to be returned in the evening, so they had a very long day. But he never complained and was well behaved and sweet, even waving from time to time.
Retaj:
Retaj is little two year old girl who has a hole in her heart. She has been invited for a catheterization in May.
Ala:
Ala is a little boy aged 9 months who has a large PDA, which is blood recycling through the lungs instead of being pumped around the body. He has been invited for a May catheterization as well.
Of the six children who were brought to Wolfson Hospital today for appointments, two of those have been invited for admission at a later date.
Bessan:
Bessan is a 6 months old girl who has a defect in her heart which allows blood to transfer unnaturally between the chambers. The hospital wanted to admit her today to begin the treatment process, but because of a fever she was returned home and will be invited later.
Saed:
Saed is an 11 year old boy who has a post-operation complex of some kind. The hospital wanted to admit him also, but decided instead to invite him for catheterization and surgery on the first of May.
We are hoping that these four children from Gaza Strip will receive treatment for their heart defects at Wolfson Hospital in the future.
Ihsan:
Ihsan is a lovely looking and sweet little boy who has a hole in his heart. He was brought to Wolfson today, and will be invited for surgery on the 21st of March.
Shams:
Shams is a little girl of 4 years who also has a hole in her heart. She will be invited for a catheterization later on.
Mohammad:
Mohammad was brought to hospital today for follow-up following surgery of a month ago. He has a hole in his heart and will need further surgery when he is 5 years old. He is presently about 5 months old.
Fawze:
Fawze is a little boy of 13 months who has congestive heart failure, a mitral valve cleft, and may be invited for surgery later.
Malak:
Malak is a little girl aged 18 months who was brought from Gaza to the hospital in Tel Aviv today. She will be returning every 6 months, and at the appropriate time, will be admitted for heart catheterization. Malak has tricuspid atresia, which is where the valve between her right atrium and her right ventricle fails to develop normally.
Ali:
We also brought Ali, a 2 year old boy, to the hospital today, and he too will be expecting surgery in May. Incidentally, Ali also has tricuspid atresia where the valve between the right atrium and the right ventricle fails to develop normally.
Sama:
Sama was brought to hospital today and she is to expect surgery in May 2012. Sama has a hole between the left and right atria in her heart.
This week's Gaza Report is about 2 children who were brought to Wolfson Hospital this week for assessment, and who will need surgery in the future, Mai and Hadeel.
Mai –
Mai is a lovely sweet little girl who is very quiet, and loved to spend time with another little girl who accompanied her on her trip to hospital. Following her echo, the doctors established that she will need a special catheterization to mend a hole in her heart, and the special equipment required for this catheterization is not presently available to the doctors: so they will order it! Mai will be called in for treatment when the hospital has the equipment.
Hadeel –
Little Hadeel's case is complicated. She has a closed artery in the heart but the doctors do not consider they can operate yet. They will be calling Hadeel for another assessment in 3 months time with the hope of being able to operate eventually. When Hadeel was referred to Wolfson Hospital by the specialist in Gaza, he was hopeful that Hadeel's situation might have been able to be dealt with by catheterization. However, upon the closer examination at Wolfson, the doctors are of the opinion that they cannot do a catheterization.
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This week's Gaza report is about three children from Gaza Strip who are pinning their hopes on heart surgery in Israel, Omar, Mohammed, and Nessan.
Omar: As soon as I saw him in the room awaiting an echo evaluation, Omar turned away, a shy smile hid amongst his mother’s clothes. His mother pushed him forward and away, encouraging him to go play with me. The seven-year-old’s contagious laughter soon echoed around the waiting room, drawing curious stares from other children and their mothers, as we played various hand games. Before long, Omar had made a new friend with a boy who was here for a follow up appointment. Together, the boys had a blast running down the hospital halls, making funny faces, goofing around, and bringing smiles on the faces around them.
Omar’s echo showed that he has a leaking valve in his heart, and doctors invited him to come in two weeks for surgery. Please pray for peace for the family as they prepare for surgery, and that God would bless the hands of the doctors as they repair the child’s heart in just a few short weeks.
Mohammed:
This little boy should have had surgery when he was 6 months old, but now he is three years old. Dr. Alona wanted to give hope to the family, and agreed to do a catheterization as a preliminary step to see if surgery is possible. But in all reality, Mohammed’s case has been discovered very late, and the doctors are not sure if medical intervention will be possible. Please pray for the doctors to have wisdom in how to move forward.
Nessan:
This 2-year-old boy, Nessan, has been invited for surgery next June to correct a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), which is a hole between the ventricles of the heart. He was shy the entire time I was with him in the waiting room, nearly bursting into tears when I took him on a fast ride in his stroller down the hospital corridor. However, I finally got him to laugh by entertaining him by his mother’s side, where he feels most secure.
This week’s update is about two children from Gaza who are hoping for life-saving heart surgery in Israel, Saher and Elham.
Saher:
Saher arrived at Wolfson Hospital on Monday morning to prepare for a catheterization on Tuesday. By Wednesday this little lady was walking around the hallway of the hospital as if nothing had ever happened. A catheterization is usually investigative in nature, in order to determine more precisely how the heart and / or lungs are functioning in this particular patient. Although Saher has returned to her home in Gaza, we look forward to her being invited back for her surgery around the end of January.
She was delighted to receive a new hand knitted outfit donated by friends of Shevet Achim.
Elham:
Elham arrived this morning in response to her invitation for surgery. Like many of the children who are evaluated at one appointment and then later invited for surgery, things change in the time "in-between.” After all the blood work is completed, the medical team found that 1-year old Elham had come with a cold. So she was returned to Gaza without her surgery, and will be invited again after she has had time to recuperate and the surgical schedule permits.
From this Tuesday's Gaza clinic we expect 4 children will be invited for surgery during January: Seba, Lama, Asmaa and Mohammed Alqadi.
Seba:
Seba is a one and a half year old girl who came from Gaza on Tuesday with her father. Her young mother died of cancer in July of this year shortly after giving birth to Seba's brother. Seba's father brought her to be admitted for a catheterization on Wednesday. As Seba was being examined, the nurses discovered she had a rash in the groin area which could introduce infection at the nearby site of the catheterization. This was a risk the doctors were not willing to take. She returned home with a promise from Dr. Alona that Seba would be invited back for her surgery next month and they would forego the cath. She suffers from Tetrology of Fallot.
Lama:
Lama is 8 months old. When I first met her mother she seemed troubled because Lama was not sleepy. Very young children are often sedated so that they can lay still long enough for an accurate image of their heart to be taken. Lama's mother was sitting next to me saying, "No sleepy." I started talking to Lama and yawning. We all know how contagious yawning can be. With the added help of a sedative I appeared quite effective and made an instant friend of that mother for the rest of the day. Lama has had a previous surgery in which a shunt was placed in the aorta, and doctors now suspect a coronary fistula (an unnatural connection between one of the coronary arteries and a cardiac chamber).
Asmaa:
Asmaa is a one month old baby girl. All wrapped up in white baby blanket for most of the day, it was difficult to get a glimpse of this sweet little bundle. But as the day wore on, her mother's arms grew tired and she was willing to let others share in the joy of holding her child. Asmaa's diagnosis is pulmonary stenosis and a ventricular septal defect of about 4 mm.
Mohammed Alqadi:
Mohammed is a 4 month old baby boy who traveled to the clinic with his grandmother. Diagnosed with Downs Syndrome, this little one will have multiple health issues to deal with. He will be invited for repair of a ventricular septal defect next month.
Seba Abu Seta, a seven month old little girl from Gaza was evaluated at the Tuesday clinic for the Palestinian children this week. She was escorted by her grandmother. Her evaluation showed her heart to have the TOF defect (Tetralogy of Fallot) and she is invited for surgery next month. We look forward to seeing this child's health improve so she can enjoy a full life. We will keep you updated as her treatment progresses.
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