I met Sila and her parents today for the first time at Sheba Hospital during Sila‘s surgery. When I got there at 8 o’clock, she had gone back 20 minutes previously and her parents were in the sitting room. What followed was a four hour roller coaster of emotions. Her parents were obviously distressed over their child’s first surgery, which is very normal. But what wasn’t normal, was that due to Sila’s fungal infection, doctors were unable to do what they had wanted to do in this surgery attempt and instead stanched some of the blood flow and decided to do a surgery next week. This obviously distressed Sila’s parents who first got news that the surgery will be next year, but thank God we found out this was a miss-speak, and in reality, she will be having surgery in a week, which while better, obviously was not easier for her parents to absorb.
I found Sila’s parents to be very kind and was able to bond with her father over a shared profession. I was a contractor in the United States and he is a contractor in Jenin, so we got to talk a little bit about that and I found out that he helps stabilize walls and also builds them, which is something I’ve done a little bit of. Sila‘s mom is very, very quiet, but also seems to be very sweet. We were not able to talk very much though during the day, but I look forward to getting to know both of them better as we spend time while their daughter is in the hospital.
Please pray for Sila that the setback will actually be a gift from God and that her body will be able to handle the surgery better because of it and pray for her parents that they will have the stamina to endure another long hospital wait.