Wateen is stable and in the Children’s Ward of Hadassah Hospital. The Hickman line was placed because she has such tiny veins that taking blood from Wateen took long and was very painful. Normally they would take blood samples several times a day, but as Wateen is such a tiny baby, they decided on one sample every day.
Medical staff are administering appropriate quantities of Albumin to Wateen, however continuously. Presently she can live on small doses. Her problem has been confined to only this protein-losing condition. The Hadassah social worker and Shevet Achim are asking the Palestinian Ministry of Health to consider sending Wateen to East Jerusalem’s Makassed Hospital to cover her long-term treatment.
Doctors have also said that when Wateen is at least ten kilos in weight, she will need a kidney transplant. The future will require much work and patience both for little Wateen and her family. Your prayers are appreciated.
Little Wateen received a mother’s kiss on her cheek this afternoon as we visited her in the Children’s Ward of Hadassah Hospital. Wateen is feeding better and doing well but much work remains to be done in this little baby girl’s life.
Tomorrow morning a Hickman line will be inserted through Wateen’s neck vein directly to her heart, as seen in the diagram below. The doctor said it is risky but necessary due to the large volume of blood samples they will be needing from such a little baby. Wateen’s genetic condition, kidney troubles and other medical issues will require frequent and larger amounts of blood draws in order for the doctors to better analyze and help and even to feed her apparently through this line.
The application will be made tomorrow morning at Hadassah Hospital. Your prayers for both Wateen and her mother are appreciated.
At Hadassah Hospital today, a kidney specialist visited Wateen. In the past, this doctor has treated diseases similar to Wateen’s. For genetic blood analysis, the doctor mentioned that an IV connection is needed, but until now has not been possible in either Wateen’s arm or leg.
The doctor said they will try a more risky IV in the neck tomorrow; if successful, they can collect enough blood for the genetic testing at that time. The IV will also be used to add Albumin to Wateen’s little body. The doctor confirms that until now, there is no known cure for this specific kidney disease in which the loss of Albumin is the primary and debilitating characteristic.
Your continued prayers for little Wateen are greatly appreciated.
Wateen’s grandmother received Wateen’s mother with a hug as she entered Wateen’s room in Hadassah Hospital’s Childrens’ Ward today. The greeting was heartfelt.
Wateen’s mother was very thrilled to look over her little baby girl once again, not even two weeks old yet.
Coworker Hison worked with two phones to coordinate finding the car outside the hospital that would take Wateen’s grandmother back home, inside Gaza.
Then Hison escorted her out of the hospital.
Wateen’s mother will have some training in the care of her daughter and will find much support and kindness in the Children’s Ward. Your prayers for her and for her daughter are most appreciated as they navigate their way through the waters of treatment and getting better.
Little Wateen was sound asleep and completely peaceful today in the Children’s Ward of Hadassah Hospital. She is being fed from a 50 ml. bottle every three hours and it was my turn to give her the bottle.
She gulped for a few seconds and definitely filled her tummy as she became sleepy almost immediately and went back to sleep. I couldn’t get a single burp from her.
Any portion of the bottle not finished orally is then fed to Wateen via a tiny tube inserted down her throat, through her nose. The tube needed to be taped to Wateen’s scalp in a specific way so there was a little hair shaving for our little Wateen. It will grow back soon.
Wateen’s mother is arriving tomorrow, God willing. She will replace Wateen’s grandmother who has been with her since Wateen’s arrival to Hadassah.
Coworker Mary and I visited little Wateen in Hadassah Hospital today.
Wateen has been the PICU on and off but was moved today to the Children’s Ward, on the 3rd floor. The hospital has requested a full-time caregiver for little Wateen. Shevet Achim has placed a request to receive Wateen’s own mother to the hospital but this is taking time.
Coworker Mary has volunteered to stay overnight with the baby and stay with her until her mother arrives, hopefully some time tomorrow. We ask for your continued prayers for Wateen, for her situation and health problems are complex and won’t be easy to resolve.
We found Wateen in the PICU, room 11, of Hadassah Hospital. Coworker Michael and I asked a woman in the hospital to play some music and this gracious musical therapist granted us some time to play her beautiful charming sounds to this protein-losing baby, Wateen.
For keeping Wateen from any infection, entering the ICU room was not allowed, but this woman’s sounds were audible enough to be heard by Wateen. More than a few of us were blessed along with Wateen.
Wateen was moved back into the PICU of Hadassah Hospital the night before last when she took a ‘turn for the worse’ according to the floor nurse in the Pediatric Ward.
Coworker Jonathan and I found Wateen in the PICU, fast asleep and not doing so well the next day. The medical staff there were hoping she would stabilize and be moved out of the unit. They were able to transfer her back to the Pediatric Ward but only for a short time.
Wateen again deteriorated and was placed back into the PICU today. Please continue to pray for this precious baby as her health is fragile and her kidney condition is difficult, if not impossible, to treat. Please join us in praying for answers as to how best to help this baby girl and God be with her.
Today we got a notification from Hadassah hospital that they need some help taking care of Wateen in her room in the pediatric ward. The PICU staff are caring for babies by themselves, but the pediatric ward is far less intensive in patient care. So my daughter Yieun and I went to Wateen’s room to help her grandmother who couldn’t manage well this nine day-old baby. My daughter Yieun always said that she wants to take care of lonely babies and today was the best educational opportunity for her.
When we arrived in the room, Wateen’s hair as she had thrown up on it and the blankets were wet as was her diaper. But Wateen was too cute and beautiful to whine any more. After the cleaning of everything, we took photos of these tiny and small girls and suddenly Wateen raised her small left hand and opened her palm!
Look at Wateen’s tiny hand. She was waving and saying hello to all of us but her hand was too short to reach this elder sister and didn’t yet know how to make that small heart sign.
Afterwards, she seemed stabilized and was sleeping. A few hours later, medical staff finally succeeded to connect an IV line to her scalp where they were able to find a vein and made a turban-like protector to keep the difficult IV line.
This small baby Wateen was mis-diagnosed as CoA (Coarctation of Aorta) in the previous hospital, and Hadassah hospital’s staff examined her but NO heart anomaly except mild valve regurgitation was found. I was very curious why this weird phenomenon happened. I thought, could a severe CoA suddenly disappear just in one day after transfer from Gaza? It is possible the staff training and equipment in the Gaza hospital were inadequate and this must be difficult for the people of Gaza.
But while at Hadassah Hospital, it was discovered that Wateen’s urine contained enormous amounts of protein, mostly albumin, and she was losing a lot of albumin every second into her urine. That made low osmolality of her blood and it eventually restricted her blood volume enough to mimic Coarctation of Aorta. This is a possible theory but we don’t still know exactly why Wateen was misdiagnosed at that time.
Wateen’s blood sample has been sent to a genetic test lab and a few days more are needed to determine why she has this “Nephrotic Syndrome.” Please pray for our Lord’s mercy to keep Wateen from many obstacles.
Wateen was moved last night from the ICU at Hadassah Hospital to the Children’s Ward on the third floor.
Today extensive tests were performed on Wateen. Medical records were shared with coworker Jonathan. Dr. Shlomit Brody said Wateen’s not ready to be moved to Gaza. Although her weight is still only 2,5kg, she has good lungs as she screamed tremendously while taking blood for genetic tests.
Both Arabic speaking and Hebrew speaking staff were working together to help this little one.
And Wateen really didn’t like the blood test portion of her care.
Please keep this little one in your prayers. We’re not sure where Wateen goes from here, but trusting God for her life and thanking God for the medical staff of Hadassah Hospital.
Two-day-old Wateen was rushed to Israel last night after an echo in Gaza showed she had life-threatening narrowing of the aorta. Doctors at Hadassah Medical Center weren’t able to demonstrate the defect through their own echocardiogram, possibly due to the medication given to Wateen in Gaza. So they’ve stopped the medication and are keeping her under close observation.
Please join us in prayer for God’s blessing on this precious life which is just beginning.
Wateen is stable and in the Children’s Ward of Hadassah Hospital. The Hickman line was placed because she has such tiny veins that taking blood from Wateen took long and was very painful. Normally they would take blood samples several times a day, but as Wateen is such a tiny baby, they decided on one sample every day.
