Sineor went home to the loving arms of his heavenly Father earlier this afternoon. The Hadassah Hospital ICU called this morning to tell us that Sineor was struggling following his big surgery yesterday. His heart was beating weakly, and his blood pressure was very low.
An hour or so after, coworker Luisa and I arrived in the hospital, the doctors told us that they were doing everything possible for him, treating him with adrenaline and dopamine, and giving him maximum support, but that he still wasn’t responding. Half an hour later, they called his mother to a separate room and delivered the difficult news, that they expected Sineor to die in the next few hours. She was having a very hard time even before this news, and afterwards she was inconsolable. She tried to wait with Sineor in his room for a while, but she couldn’t take it, and was so weak from not eating or sleeping that she fainted several times.
Jonathan and coworker Doro came to support her, as did another Kurdish mom whose child had recently been discharged from the hospital. All of us were praying, praying hard for a miracle. A miracle that didn’t come. Finally, the doctors told us that it would be a matter of less than half an hour. His mother was able to be with him in his room for those last minutes, kissing him and whispering his name until the very end.
Sometimes, God waits till Heaven to send the miracle. Always, we know his way is better. Often, we can’t see it in the moment, and we cry out with Mary in John 11:21 “Lord, if you had been here [he] would not have died!”
But we can trust and hope in Jesus’s response in verse 25, “I am the resurrection and the life.” He is our hope in life and in death. No matter what it looks like now on this broken earth, our Messiah has conquered death, and death will never have the victory. But we still await the resurrection; we still await the righting of all wrongs; we still await the consummation of the Messiah’s conquest of death.
In the meantime, we weep with those who weep.
Please pray for Sineor’s mother, who is unable to cope with the loss of her only child, and is having a very difficult time. Please be praying also for Sineor’s father and the rest of the family at home. Please pray that our merciful Lord will somehow give his mother peace, and comfort.
Our Lord knows the plans He has for us. And we trust Him to know best.
This morning while visiting Sineor and his mom at Sheba Hospital, there were a lot of doctors gathering in Sineor’s room, doing an examination on him to see if he is ready to be taken off the ECMO today. Later in the afternoon, Sineor was finally taken into surgery while coworker Elise and I were waiting with his mom in the waiting area.
During the whole procedure, his mom was really worried. We heard that in the surgery, doctors wanted to give Sineor a permanent pacemaker because his heartbeat was a bit abnormal. During almost the whole waiting time, Sineor’s mom was praying and praying, hoping for her boy to be well and safe. Because of her worries for Sineor, she didn’t eat so much the past few days, so I was really glad when she wanted to go with me to get some food.
We were even more glad when we finally heard after only five hours of surgery, that the surgery went well and Sineor is doing well off the ECMO and with his chest closed. Suddenly Sineor’s mom was so relieved and could finally smile again. The doctor also told us they managed to repair one of Sineor’s valves. And when Sineor finally came back to his room in the ICU, all the doctors who were there welcomed him with a big applause and cheering.
Praise to God our father for everything that he has done for Sineor and his mom today! Still the next 24 to 48 hours after the surgery are really important in his recovery process, and please continue to pray for him. Because he just had his surgery, he is still in a critical condition, but we hope and pray that everything will go well for him and his mom. Thank God for God’s love and mercy, again and again.
When coworker Elise and I met the mother of Sineor today in the Pediatric ICU at Hadassah Hospital, she didn’t look so good. She was crying and couldn’t even stay in Sineor‘s room which is why she was sitting in front of his room the whole time. Also the doctors realized that she is not feeling so well and needs some time to sleep. So when I asked them if it’s okay to leave Sineor alone for some time, they we’re totally okay with it and assured that one of them will always be in his room. Because he is on ECMO, one of the doctors or nurses has to be in his room 24/7. They were so friendly to us and especially to Sineor’s mom; they even offered their help to her if she needed anything or if she needed something done for her.
We are thankful that Sineor is a little better than yesterday but still in a difficult condition. His doctor explained that a lot of patience is required until Sineor will be okay. We would say in Arabic, “Shuai shaui” which means step by step or a little at a time.
Please pray for Sineor and his good recovery. Please also pray that God will be with his mother and give her courage to face these next days of waiting.
At eight o’clock this morning, Sineor’s mother started the long wait during his surgery at Hadassah Hospital.
They told her at first that it would be an eight hour-long surgery. By about 4:30 pm, it became apparent that his surgery was going to be longer than expected. A wonderful and helpful Hadassah Hospital social worker came and told us that something was taking a little longer than expected.
A couple hours later, she came back and explained that Sineor’s main surgery was over, but that his heart was very weak and the doctors wanted to give him a bit more time on the heart-lung bypass machine to see whether or not he needed to go on the ECMO machine.
After another hour and a half of waiting, a kind doctor came and told us that they had decided that Sineor needed the ECMO, and that he was also having some bleeding which they hoped would soon slow down.
Throughout the day, in all that waiting, Sineor’s mom never stopped praying and crying for her only son. She drank some water, but every time I asked her if she wanted anything, she would respond, “I only want Sineor!”
By this time it was nearly 9 pm, and Sineor had been in surgery for more than twelve hours. A while later, another doctor told us that the bleeding was under control, but that he was still critical. They began the process of putting him on the ECMO.
After another few hours, the surgeon came out and told us that Sineor was doing better, had seen great improvement in the last few hours, and was being prepped to go to his ICU room. After another hour and a half of waiting, Sineor’s tired and worried mother was finally allowed to see him at about 2 am.
It was difficult for her to see Sineor connected to all the tubes, but in the moment, the joy of seeing him overwhelmed the other emotions, and she cried and stroked his curly hair and held his hand and spoke softly to him. The surgeon told us that this heart defect if one of the most difficult to surgically treat, and that Sineor has a long road ahead of him.
Please, Father, be with Sineor and his mother in these next hours and days. Heal Sineor, Father, and be with his mother. In Jesus’s name, amen.
Sineor was admitted to Hadassah Hospital awaiting his big surgery tomorrow morning. He is becoming very confident in his walking abilities! Today, while we were waiting for his room to be ready, he ran all over the waiting area, all by himself.
After they took him to the pre-surgery checkup room, he became very upset.
First they tried to take his blood pressure, but he didn’t like having a stranger roll up his sleeve and wrap some weird band around his arm, so he cried and cried, and they couldn’t get a good blood pressure reading.
Afterwards we went into a room where the heart surgeon explained Sineor’s surgery to his mother. Sineor has switched great arteries, but his heart is also turned around. They need to do a complicated surgery to switch his arteries and the function of his atria, the upper chambers of his heart.
The doctor was very encouraging, but also honest – she told Sineor’s mother that there is a 5% chance that Sineor could die during or shortly after surgery. This was very difficult for his mother to hear, and she cried for a couple minutes. By this time Sineor was also crying – he saw the doctor and thought she was going to try and take his blood pressure again. In fact, it was even worse – they wanted to draw blood for a blood test! Sineor really hated that, but with the help of his mom, the doctor, and a helpful Arabic speaking nurse, they managed to get some blood from him.
He calmed down afterward, when they took him to his room, and when I left he was cheerfully toddling around the pre-surgery ward. He is making friends with all the nurses and doctors, and is continuing to learn to talk.
Please pray that his surgery tomorrow will go well, and that his loving mother will persevere through the time she’ll be waiting through tomorrow.
Chubby one-year-old Sineor is charming everyone he meets. He is learning to walk, though he doesn’t yet have enough confidence to go more than a few steps on his own. However, he will run off at great speeds while holding onto my finger. He really enjoys going up and down (and up and down again) the three stairs between the kitchen and the livingroom in our Jerusalem Guesthouse.
He is learning to talk a little bit, so when I start counting the stairs in Kurdish: “Yek, Do…” he will triumphantly finish, “Sey!” And then he wants to do it all over again. When he gets tired of the stairs, he will play with duplos – or with my glasses – or explore all the drawers and cabinets in the kitchen.
Today when we went to the old city, he was scared by the crowds. A young Muslim woman gave him a candy to cheer him up, and he held onto it for the rest of the day, becoming very upset whenever he dropped it. We love this sweet boy!
The surgeon at Hadassah hospital is on vacation for two weeks, so Sineor can’t have his surgery until he returns. However, I’m definitely not going to complain about having this cute boy in our house for a little longer! Please be praying when he does have surgery that all will go well, and that he’ll remain stable until then.
On his first day in Israel, Sineor had a diagnostic echo at Hadassah Hospital.
After a few hours of sleep in the Shevet Guesthouse Jerusalem, Sineor and his mother needed to go to the hospital for his appointment.
As soon as we arrived there, at the desk, the person in charge needed to create an internal profile for Sineor.
The echo takes more time than the Mom was expecting, so she started to ask if everything was fine, because two more doctors entered to the echo area to check Sineor’s heart. They were pretty curious about Sineor’s heart,since because his oxygen rate was 90-95.
After the echo, Sineor’s mother was asking if her son will have surgery soon, to which the doctor replied yes, he will be admitted at some point in the very near future to the hospital to make his surgery.
Little one-year-old Sineor from Kurdistan arrived safely in Israel late last night.
He was very tired, as was his lovely mother.
However, he couldn’t sleep in the car on the way to Jerusalem, so instead he listened to children’s songs on his mom’s phone.
He’s much more awake this morning, and as I write this, he is babbling happily in the taxi on the way to Hadassah Hospital for his first appointment there. Please pray for this sweet little boy as he starts this new adventure in Israel.
Sineor went home to the loving arms of his heavenly Father earlier this afternoon. The Hadassah Hospital ICU called this morning to tell us that Sineor was struggling following his big surgery yesterday. His heart was beating weakly, and his blood pressure was very low.
But we can trust and hope in Jesus’s response in verse 25, “I am the resurrection and the life.” He is our hope in life and in death. No matter what it looks like now on this broken earth, our Messiah has conquered death, and death will never have the victory. But we still await the resurrection; we still await the righting of all wrongs; we still await the consummation of the Messiah’s conquest of death.
