The surgery today went ahead as planned. It took about three hours, and this surgery will prepare the heart for the big surgery, likely to be next week, where his great arteries will be switched.
The mother was surrounded throughout the afternoon by friends, and she coped very well, of course shedding a few tears.
When he was brought out of surgery, she was full of gratitude, and thankfulness for the medical team. She was very happy to see Mohammed and said how beautiful he looks. I thought this is a special perspective to be able to look past all the tubes, drains, medicines and machines, to see only the beauty of her son.
As with many of our Shevet babies, nicknames develop. For Mohammed, “Mr Spi” seems to be sticking. “Spi” means “white” in Kurdish, and we are all remarking on his colouring, as Mohammed is in stark contrast to the other babies with low oxygen levels. They all have a grey-blue tinge to their lips, fingers and skin, whereas Mohammed looks very healthy.
He was happy and interactive today in the ward before going into surgery. It wouldn’t be easy to tell just by looking at him that he had such a critical heart defect, requiring two open heart surgeries!
He is well loved by everyone and many of the staff members who came to carry out tasks for him couldn’t help but give him some big smiles and come and greet him.