
Discharged to Ashdod and Gaza

Not needing extra oxygen support

A long journey

Moved to the intermediate ICU

Still doing well
Mohammed is still extubated! He doesn’t even need oxygen-support anymore. It’s so nice to see this little boy finally breathing completely on his own and doing well after he was struggling for such a long time.
The doctors at Sheba Hospital still haven’t made a decision about another surgery for little Mohammed. For now they will just wait and give him time to recover.
Thank you God for healing this boy and bringing him so far!
Extubated
I was very surprised at Sheba Hospital today to find Mohammed breathing on his own. He looked so good. His doctor said they still haven’t decided about his surgery. First they want to see how he is doing while extubated. If he does well and improves, he might not need the second surgery now. If he fails again, they will do surgery most likely soon.
Mohammed’s grandmother was, as always, a great person to have around. She took such good care of another mother whose child was in surgery and encouraged her. Thank you God for this wonderful lady and her beautiful grandson!
Another surgery
When coworker Jakob and I walked into the ICU at Sheba Hospital today, we saw that there was a lot happening in Mohammed’s room. The ICU staff made him ready to go to the CT-scan area. We spoke to his doctor who said they think Mohammed’s atrial valve is leaking. This is a complicated problem, and the doctor doubted that the surgeon will take the chance to fix it.
Another problem is that Mohammed’s aorta is narrowed. This can be fixed in a second surgery. After the CT-scan, the doctors and surgeons will talk about Mohammed’s case and decide if they will do another surgery and if they will fix both problems or just one of them.
Mohammed’s grandmother is finding some things to be difficult. She is in the hospital already for a while now and she has problems with her own dental health. Please pray for her, for Mohammed and the doctors who have to decide how to help Mohammed.
Day after

Successful surgery
When I arrived in Sheba Hospital this morning, Mohammed’s grandmother came to me and told me her little grandson is finally in his heart surgery. We were surprised because we didn’t know about it earlier but very happy that he is finally stable enough that the doctors can do his surgery. The doctors were able to successfully fix his AV canal, everything went well and Mohammed is stable back in the ICU.
As we were very busy in the hospital today, we didn’t have a lot of time to wait with his grandmother and so we were very glad that a lot of other mothers and grandmothers waited with her. Thank you God for this successful surgery! Please help Mohammed to finally recover now.
Reintubated

Big eyes

Mohammed is still fighting. Today he was awake and looking at me with his big eyes. He has problems with breathing so the cardiologist and the pulmonologist will see him in order to determine if this is a problem from the heart or the lungs.
Waiting until January
As I visited Mohammed today at Sheba Hospital, he was sleeping quietly in his little bed. I was very happy to see him still extubated after having issues with his left lung recently. His doctor told me that his lung is recovering well, but he needs to wait some more time before his surgery can take place. The doctors want to operate on him at the earliest sometime in the beginning of January, but for the time being, he has to wait and regain strength after all the setbacks he’s had through viruses.
Join me in prayer for little Mohammed for this time he has to wait. Pray for strength for his family and himself.
Trouble breathing
This morning I visited five-month-old Mohammed in the Pediatric ICU at Sheba Medical Center.
When I entered his room, he was sleeping peacefully and in fact he looked a bit better today. However, doctors are still skeptical about his condition. After getting sick by a virus twice, he has difficulty breathing.
For this reason, the doctors are thinking about helping him with a breathing tube. Overall, however, Mohammed is stable – thank God! May he continue to stand by him and also bless his grandmother who is faithfully at his side.
Steady as we go

Virus after virus

A little progress
I visited our cute Mohammed again today to check in on his progress. He is still stable and making some progress. I talked with the wonderful Arabic nurse and she explained that they are not sure yet if Mohammed’s pneumonia is viral or bacterial. Once the test results are back, they will have a better idea on the path forward.
Please pray for a speedy recovery for Mohammed so the more serious heart issues can be dealt with.
I am looking forward to the day I see Mohammed smile back at me.
A rough start
Our new emergency child from Gaza, Mohammed, arrived late last night and he is in a stable condition.
He has had a rough start having to deal with a respiratory infection which needs to clear up before the doctors can decide on a plan to deal with his VSD heart condition.
Please pray with me that Mohammed’s chest infection will quickly heal so the heart condition can be dealt with in a timely fashion.