Despite a torrential downpour today, we were able to safely get Hur and her aunt to Sheba Hospital for another follow-up echo. Glory be to God, the results were very positive. Her surgery was succesful and she is recovering from her surgery well. She also seems to be gaining weight appropriately so the doctor told her caregiver that Hur no longer needs nutritional supplements. Some of her medications were also decreased to twice a day instead of three. Her next follow-up appointment has been scheduled for three-months from now.
Lord-willing Hur and her aunt will be able to join the other Gazan families in Bethlehem while they wait for Hur’s next appointment.
As we drove to the hospital today, we discussed how western culture commonly regards rain in a negative connotation; however, God has used rain in the Bible as a blessing to represent his faithfulness. In Joel 2:23 it says “Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for He has given you the autumn rains because He is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains.”
So, we are grateful to the Lord and glad that He has given us both his blessing of rain and of good news for Hur.
Hur was discharged from Sheba Hospital today to Shevet Achim’s Ashdod home. We welcome her and her aunt with loving arms. She is excited to be reunited with the other families staying in our home also.
We are so thankful for the care that she received in the hospital and for all the staff that helped explain Hur’s medications as well as even obtain them. Her aunt received a loving farewell from the other families who remain in the hospital and a warm welcome from the families in the Shevet Achim home.
Hur will continue to have multiple follow-ups in the near future for appointments from different specialties, including hematology, neurology, cardiology, and nutrition.
We pray that Hur will thrive during her stay here.
Hur is very close to a discharge from Sheba Hospital. Today she had a blood-test and a brain-test to see if everything is okay. She is eating well and behaving like a healthy baby.
I always like to see it when an emergency baby is close to a discharge. I only know them with all kinds of tubes around them. But today I could see what a beautiful baby Hur is.
It makes me extra sad knowing that Hur and her aunt can’t go back home. I felt sad not being able to say that everything will be okay, because we don’t know if it will, but we trust God that will provide.
In the meantime, Hur and his aunt are welcome with us in our community house in Ashdod as soon as they are discharged.
Hur is doing very well, what a blessing! Especially if I look back at her blogs, seeing where she came from. Today she is moved out of the ICU to the Pediatric Ward at Sheba Hospital. She still needs a little bit of oxygen-support and learning how to eat.
Hur’s aunt is very happy about this. Coworker Keyla and I had a good conversation with Hur’s aunt because of the current situation between Israel and Gaza today. God gave us the right words to encourage her, even though it’s difficult to know what to say in this situation.
We ask for your prayer for Hur, for her aunt and for their family.
Today at Sheba Hospital I wanted to see little Hur. Unfortunately I was not allowed to go into the room. The nurse told me that she has a dangerous bacteria, and it’s very contagious.
I did get to see Hur’s sweet aunt. Her aunt looked worried. Hur was having some difficulty breathing today. The doctor told me she is not doing so well. Hur is extubated now, and hopefully doesn’t have to be intubated again.
We pray for this little girl. May God give her strength to breath well on her own and may he bless her through this difficult time.
Yesterday at Sheba Medical, we thought Hur needs diaphragm surgery, that’s why coworker Lene and I went really early today to the hospital. We talked to the doctors and I asked if Hur’s surgery is today.
At first they said there are more important surgeries that’s why she needs to wait. So they postponed the surgery for this afternoon. An hour later, Hur’s aunt came to me and gave me the good news: her diaphragm looks good and that the doctors decided not to operate! Praise the Lord for this miracle!
Today coworker JoMa and I went to the ICU in Sheba Medical Center to visit Hur and Hur’s aunt. As we talked with the doctors they said to us that Hur is still stable, but that now they want to wait a few days before deciding their next step. She is still extubated which is a good sign. Her aunt was very pleased to see us and still had a lot of strength.
We ask for your prayer over Hur’s situation and for the doctors working with her.
The past few days have been confusing for Hur, with steps forward, steps backwards, and some steps in new directions, but today we are hoping to continue her process of healing. Just a few days ago Hur was extubated, and them reintubated the next day due to issues with getting enough oxygen.
Doctors at Sheba Hospital also gave her a CT scan, where they found some thrombosis, and have begun anti-coagulation medications. They hope this will solve the problem, and with her continued stability they are going to try extubating her today, and hopefully for the final time.
We pray for her healing, and that God will forge this path of recovery for her, that he can clear the way so this sweet little girl does not need to beat every obstacle by herself.
At Sheba Hospital today, Hur’s aunt came to me with the news that Hur is reintubated. She couldn’t get enough oxygen to breath on her own yet. The doctors are trying to find out what went wrong.Right now they are thinking of something in the brain, so Hur went into a brain MRI today.
We ask for your prayer over Hur’s situation and for her aunt and the family.
The day after his surgery at Sheba Hospital, coworker Willem and I saw that a couple of nurses were making Hur ready to go to the operating room. We asked what was going on and found out that Hur’s chest was left open after surgery. Hur bled a lot from his surgical site, but now it stopped and the doctors felt safe closing the chest.
Hur’s aunt waited with us in the waiting area and after an hour, Hur was back in his room. His aunt is relieved that Hur is stable now. We ask for your prayer for the next days.
When I arrived at Sheba Hospital today, Hur’s aunt was already sitting in the waiting room, the place to sit during her niece’s surgery.
We had a good waiting time, and every now and then there were more Gaza grandmothers showing up to sit with Hur’s aunt.
After five and a half hours, the surgeon came out and told us that the surgery went without complications and that they could do a full repair. We only had to wait another hour for the chest closure. But this hour turned out to be three hours, due to a bleeding in the chest. Hur’s aunt was worried, but thank God, Hur is stable now and the chest is closed.
Please pray for the coming 48 hours, which will decide if Hur is recovering well from the surgery.
After a speedy admission to Sheba Medical, we were surprised and disappointed by the need to wait for Hur’s operation. With her state being near critical, we assumed that she would be operated on within the coming days, but when doctors discovered a bacterial infection that Hur was battling, that made us all have to step back and take a breath.
Since her admission ten days ago, we have been waiting for news and results, watching Hur beat her infection bit by bit, and today doctors gave us the good news that she might have beat her sickness. The doctors are very cautious with this news, but have cleared her for an operation in the coming weeks, and her rate of recovery will determine how fast that happens. Her aunt is very relieved by this news and although she keeps her composure, we can see the relief and joy in her eyes.
As of now, we wait for doctors to meet and decide on their plan of treatment for Hur, and hope that she will gain strength quickly so that she can follow the doctor’s plans as soon as possible. We know God gives strength to the weak, and two-week-old babies with a bad heart and an infection are about as weak as you can get, so we pray that God will give her strength to fight each battle.
Today I met little Baby Hur’s aunt. She was preparing some food for herself and immediately gave me an apple to enjoy and told me that Hur is ‘taaban ketir,’ which means ‘very sick.’
Hur has a bacterial infection and she receives antibiotics and blood transfusion to clean her blood. Hopefully she will recover well from this and then she is ready for surgery.
This weekend has been a painful waiting game for Hur’s family, with some level of mystery of her heart defect, and the hospital not being able to plan a route of recovery. The specialized surgeon is arriving to Sheba Hospital on Tuesday and they can plan a procedure then, but right now her family can just wait and pray.
Currently she is stable and expected to stay that way until the doctor arrives, but at this point there is so much we cannot know, and must persevere and endure through the darkness, so that we may soon see the light.
Little baby Hur, a beautiful nine-day-old girl, was emergency transferred to Sheba Hospital late last night. Coworker Bjorn and I found her sleeping with her aunt waiting patiently at her side.
We heard from the doctor that Hur’s ride from Gaza was rough and painful for her, but they’ve managed to stabilize her. The doctor team will discuss surgery on Sunday morning, and she’ll likely be operated on early next week. Pray for her!
