Mahdi was so happy to go home.
He was in Sheba Hospital for a cat operation but everything was doing so well that he was discharged today and could return home to Gaza via the Errez Crossing point, along with his mother.
In three months, Mahdi needs to return for an echo and will probably need another operation in the future.
Please pray for this wonderfull kid, with his cute heart!
Through a hectic day at Sheba, I tried to sit by Mahdi’s mother while we waited for her son’s cath to end, with the intent to comfort her, but she seemed to need little comfort, and was even a source of joy and peace for me. She is a spirited and fun woman, and we spent time talking and joking away, showing me some videos of her son and her time at Shevet, and just in general passing the time.
Mahdi’s cath was to widen his pulmonary valve, which his condition, pulmonary stenosis, has made it too narrow for enough blood to be pumped through, and the valve is then to weak to pump all the blood out. After a while the doctors brought Mahdi back to the room and gave us the news. Mahdi’s cath went ok, nothing that really stood out. Doctors will see how he does over this next year, but they hope they will just have to give him the same cath to make the repair in about a year. However, if things do not go so well, they may need to do another cath sooner, or even a surgery. At this point, we can only wait and pray, but his mother was quite happy to see him, and he was mostly tired and in a daze from the drugs, as you can see in our picture, where his mother and I have big smiles of relief, he just looks tired and disinterested, which is understandable.
At the end of the day, we left the hospital with the hope that he might be discharged as soon as tomorrow, depending on how long it takes for his mom to learn how to administer his new medicine, but while the work of the doctors will end for some time, we will continue to struggle in prayer for Mahdi, that he can be healed and sustained by God in the coming year.
Today our young friend Mahdi came to Israel for an Echo to Sheba hospital. After checking him in, we had some waiting time, which Mahdi used to play with another child from Gaza.
Finally, the day arrived for Mahdi to have his MRI at Sheba Hospital. It was hard to get him out of Gaza a couple of times and when he did come, the MRI didn’t succeed. Today, things went better and Mahdi had his MRI. Everything went well. The doctors will use this test to collect more information about his heart problems and what they can do to fix it.
Mahdi is a happy child who likes to play and run around. He also likes to discover everything, so his mom and I had our hands full in the waiting area to keep him from getting in trouble.
Today we collected Mahdi from Erez and brought him to Sheba Hospital for his MRI. Two months ago he was at Sheba for a follow-up Echo and there his doctors let us know that he may need another surgery. So for now they want to collect all possible information and images.
After we checked him in, we had to wait for hours until it was our turn to be seen. But Mahdi used that time wisely and slept for a bit.
Firstly, Mahdi was given an IV-canal. It was really hard for him since he was scared a lot by the needle. But coworker Luisa managed to calm him down with the help of an Arabic- speaking doctor. When that was done we had to wait a bit longer and then it was finally time for his MRI. I wasn’t allowed to come with him, only his mother. I made myself ready to wait for another half an hour. Then Mahdi came out after only five minutes. Apparently he refused to lay on the table of the MRI machine. So we will make another appointment for him with anesthesia next time.
After we managed everything, we made our way back to the car. As soon as Mahdi saw it, he was laughing, happy to be out of the clinic. So we drove as fast as possible to Erez so he could be back home soon.
Please pray for Mahdi, that he won’t be too scared of his next MRI appointment and also that the doctors will get good images to decide about a possible surgery.
Even though today was a little chaotic, and things very rarely ever go completely to plan, God is still at work.
This was Mahdi’s first check up in quite a while. Mahdi is a very active young man who loves to move around a lot so you can imagine lying still for what turned out to be very long 2x echo and ECG session was challenging, none the less. Mahdi would much rather have been in the waiting area practicing his Israel driving skills in his favorite Maserati or chasing me up and down the hospital hallways.
Today’s challenges were faced with an awesome smile and a zest for life that is so beautiful to see. The doctor wants Mahdi to come back in a week or so, so they can do an MRI and a CT scan to further check on his on-going progress. Some follow-up surgery may also be required, but this is yet to be decided.
Please pray for Mahdi’s up-coming appointment, that God would give the doctors wisdom to know what is the best plan moving forward. No matter what they decide, I know God is at work in this awesome young man’s life.
Mahdi is a twelve year old child from the Gaza Strip diagnosed with congenital heart defect.
Mahdi does not yet have a local leader to advocate for prayer support.
As of right now, Mahdi still needs $0 toward surgery and related expenses.