Today was the follow up Echo at Sheba Hospital for precious little Nozhdar. It was an early start for them both but to my amazement, the Echo was over even before I was able to park the car and get back to them. I found Nozhdar busy chasing his balloon and hanging out with mum to fill the time until we could head back home.
Good news is the fluid around Nozhdar’s heart is gone and everything looks good. Please pray the follow up Echo in a week is still good so they are one step closer to going home. We’re thankful for this awesome news and progress, and we pray blessing over Nozhdar, this lovely lively little man.
Today at Sheba Hospital, Nozhdar had his third echo within a week and his doctor had the great news that Nozhdar looks so much better now! The fluid around his heart decreased significantly so the doctor was able to reduce one of his medications from three times a day to only one time a day.
He wants to see him again on Sunday when he hopes to decrease another medication. This is all really great news and Nozhdar’s mother was very thankful even though she was a little bit disappointed as she hopes with every echo that Nozhdar will be allowed to go back home to Kurdistan.
Nozhdar showed a lot of patience during his echo, cuddled with his mom and especially enjoyed the cars in the waiting area afterwards. Thank you God for all the progress he is making!
Nozhdar’s echo last week showed that he had a significant amount of pericardial effusion (fluid accumulated around his heart), which is common after open heart surgery but needs to be treated. His doctor prescribed some extra medications to help,
and Nozhdar had another check-up this morning to see how well the medicine is working.
We’re happy to find that the fluid around Nozhdar’s heart is already decreasing. It’s not gone just yet but better than a couple of days ago. He needs to continue his medications and come back for another echo on Wednesday. Please pray that the fluid will continue to decrease so Nozhdar can go home.
Nozhdar is a sweet little guy with a big grin and an infectious laugh and we had a lot of fun in the waiting room before his echo.
Today was a little disappointing for Nozhdar and his mother. Nozhdar had his echo and ECG and then we waited for the doctor. It took a long time and we asked at the desk if the doctor would see him. After some hours of waiting the doctor left the hospital without seeing Nozhdar.
Nozhdar’s mother was disappointed about it. She had hoped that this echo would be a step closer to going home. During the day Nozhdar had a lot of fun in the hospital. We also love to have him in the house with us. He is very cute. Please pray for Nozhdar.
Finally the day had come for Nozhdar to return to our community home in Ashdod. Discharged at last, Nozhdar’s mother was so relieved to finally journey back to Ashdod and to the other Kurdish mother’s staying there with their children.
Nozhdar was ready and waiting to leave as soon as they heard the news. It seems the occasion called for a new outfit, so mum was off to the mall to find her lovely smiley son some new clothes and a soft toy to celebrate. The sweet taste of freedom beckoned.
Nozhdar will need to return for some more genetics tests to determine what syndrome it is that is causing his hands to have five fingers, but that is a question for another day.
We are just going to savor the sweet taste of freedom on our way home. Lord we thank you for a good outcome from Nozhdar’s procedures and look forward to spending more time with this gorgeous little man.
Nozhdar is doing very well after his surgery at Sheba Hospital. His mother is very happy about this outcome.
Since he woke up, he wanted to get rid of all the tubes gave the mother a lot of work during the day and night. Luckily Nozhdar doesn’t need most tubes anymore, so slowly the doctors remove them all.
Thank you for all your prayers. Nozhdar is recovering so well and fast. God is good!
This day started early for Nozhdar and his mother as he was going into surgery at Sheba Hospital this morning at eight and the nurses already started preparing him for it much earlier. I arrived in his room at 7 and his mom directly hugged me tightly. She kept herself together to be strong for her boy, but I could feel that she was very nervous.
At eight in the morning, his mom was allowed to bring Nozhdar in his stroller to the preparation room, as this was the only way he calmed down and accepted the situation. He was fighting against his IV and everything that looked like any medical device. When we arrived in the preparation room and the anesthesiologist talked to his mother, Nozhdar didn’t cry anymore, but looked very skeptical. A little bit later his mother was allowed to carry him to the OR and wait until he fell asleep before she came out again. At this point, all her emotions came out too. She hugged me and didn’t stop crying. Her little boy was just at the beginning of his open heart surgery and she was worried. What if he will not do well or will never come out again?
After some time, mother calmed down again, could sleep a while, talked to a few other mothers, and ate with me. The doctors had told her that the surgery will take around four hours, but after only three hours, the surgeon exited the OR and told us the surgery is finished and they are just closing his chest now.
They successfully closed his ASD with a patch and Nozhdar is doing well.
And again his mom hugged me directly – this time relieved, happy and thankful! ‘Spas bo xwa,’ thank God!
After another hour, Nozhdar was back in his room. When we went to him two hours later, he was slowly waking up and fighting against his ventilator – so the doctors extubated him and we found him breathing on his own and getting more and more alert. Later when his mother left his room for a while to buy Nozhdar a few little things, he was crying so the nurses played some YouTube videos on the screens next to his bed. This evening his mother sent me a couple of pictures of Nozhdar recovering more and more. He just arrived last week in Israel and now his heart is already repaired – such a miracle!
Thank you God for being with Nozhdar and his mother today. And thank you for this amazing surgery. Please let him stay stable in the next critical hours!
Today I received a great phone call from Sheba Hospital to bring Nozhdar for surgery tomorrow. It is a big surprise that he will go into surgery so soon. His mother was happy about the news.
In the hospital Nozhdar did a good job during the echo, ECG and virus tests.
Nozhdar has an unusual hand. He has five fingers, but his thumb is just like a normal finger. The cardiologist linked this hand formation together with the kind of heart defect Nozhdar has to a syndrome. They probably will do more research on that.
For now Nozhdar is with his mother waiting for the big day tomorrow. When I gave his mother a hug to say goodbye, her emotions came out. She is nervous.
This night shortly after midnight, Nozhdar’s mom called me to the family house because Nozhdar was hot and didn’t stop crying. When I checked his temperature, I saw that he had a fever and as he already developed a cough and a running nose the day before, we decided to bring him to the Sheba Hospital Pediatric ER.
After long hours there, he got his blood test and an x-ray and then we waited a couple of hours for his first echo which was scheduled for this morning. His cardiologist found out that he only has an ASD and not also multiple VSDs which was diagnosed in Kurdistan. He also said that Nozhdar is cleared to go back to Ashdod from a cardiac view. Therefore, we went back to the ER. There they did again a blood test and started some antibiotics for him as they suspect that he is developing pneumonia. With the pictures from the echo today, the doctors will decide in the next days about Nozhdar’s surgery.
For Nozhdar and his mother, this was a very exhausting and difficult start here in Israel as we spent nearly 13 hours in the hospital, starting in the middle of the night until the early afternoon. Please pray that they will get some rest now and for wisdom for the doctors as they make the decisions about Nozhdar’s treatment plan.
Early this morning I picked up Nozhdar from the airport. We arrived with his mom to our community home in Ashdod. They were very tired when they arrived to the house, so they first wanted to sleep of course.
Nozhdar is a cute little guy. When he gives you his smile, it will make every day better. Tomorrow morning Nozhdar will already have his first echo at Sheba Hospital and we pray for him and his mom and all their time waiting in front of them.
Today was the follow up Echo at Sheba Hospital for precious little Nozhdar. It was an early start for them both but to my amazement, the Echo was over even before I was able to park the car and get back to them. I found Nozhdar busy chasing his balloon and hanging out with mum to fill the time until we could head back home.
Good news is the fluid around Nozhdar’s heart is gone and everything looks good. Please pray the follow up Echo in a week is still good so they are one step closer to going home. We’re thankful for this awesome news and progress, and we pray blessing over Nozhdar, this lovely lively little man.
