It was a joy to see Qusai leaving the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem today after more than two months of life-saving treatment. Our coworker Berith exclaimed “Now he looks like a baby!” as compared to when he first arrived.
And what a transformation in his mother, who seemed numb and distant when she came to Jerusalem from Gaza for the first time in her life. Today she insisted on making the rounds to say goodbye to her dear friends in both the children’s department and the ICU!
The last farewell was to Berith at the Erez crossing back into the Gaza Strip. Qusai will be in a week’s quarantine there before he can meet his father and siblings again. Won’t they be surprised! We hope to see him back in December for another checkup.
After more than two months in the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, Qusai had a final echo today to potentially clear him to return home to Gaza. The chief cardiologist Dr. Julius told us the heart is working well, and once his mother is prepared to manage his feeding tube Qusai will be heading home!
It was with great joy that I glanced into Qusai’s room today, facing the joyful eyes of his mother. Our immediate question was,”How is he? Is he okay?” and she said, “Yes!”
He has grown since the first time I saw him. It makes me so happy to see this. Co-worker Margarita asked his mother if she could hold him, and it was so beautiful to witness the following scenario.
Qusai fixed his eyes on Margarita’s face, and listened to her praying for him and speaking with him. He smiled, and his little chin started to shake. I thought he was about to cry, but he wasn’t. It seemed by the reaction on his mother’s face, that this is something he sometimes does. And then he started to hiccup. I have no medical expertise, but am myself a mother, this gives me hope. There is truly a fighting spirit in this little guy, and it makes the hope rise inside of me that he is on the right path. The path that leads to life.
Please continue to keep Qusai, his family and the medical staff covered with your prayers.
Even if Qusai’s start in life has been a rough one, it doesn’t mean it has to continue that way. To look into his eyes is a wonderful experience, because even if he is in the state he is right now, there is a curiosity in them. A strength.
The last time we were visiting, I whispered while talking to him, and it seemed like he was listening to every word. I spoke life into his body, i spoke of strength, and of hope, because as long as there is life, there is hope.
He has been extubated for the second time now, so please pray that he will be able to breath on his own successfully. He needs your positive support.
When we reached Qusai’s ICU room today we found doctors had to put him back on mechanical ventilation over the weekend.
Dr. Asaf, the attending physician, reported that Qusai’s heart is doing well, and he is taking nutrition, but an infection is keeping his lungs from functioning as they should. He’s on intensive antibiotic treatment, and doctors are hopeful when the infection clears that Qusai will be able to breathe again on his own.
Leen’s mother again came with us to support Qusai’s mother. I can feel the peace in Qusai’s mother, and I am convinced she will have a huge impact on Qusai’s healing process.
Keep this little fighter in your prayers, and also his family and all the medical staff.
We found precious Qusai still in the ICU this morning, on a high level of oxygen support but breathing on his own without mechanical ventilation, and seeming to squint back at us out of his left eye.
After trusting his life into the hands of the Lord, we took his mother out to the waiting area for a much-needed time of connection with another mother from Gaza:
Leen and her mother (pictured above right) are waiting with us in the Jerusalem guest house until Leen’s next appointment, and Leen’s mother was a wonderful encouragement today to Qusai’s mother, who is feeling very alone in this vast hospital.
Today we visited Qusai and his mother in the Pediatric Cardiac ICU at Hadassah hospital in Ein Karem. Co-worker Claudia took Erika and I along for our first visit. Qusai’s Mom was visibly happy to see Claudia. She was at her son’s bedside; he is still on a ventilator with many monitors, but was somewhat active and wiggly.
Mom joyfully showed us a short video of her beautiful boy with his eyes open! The head nurse gave us a bit more information about Qusai’s diagnosis and recent surgery. He has a long list of cardiac issues: Tetralogy of Fallot with Pulmonary Atresia; small pulmonary arteries; a double right-sided aorta with vascular ring; and tracheal compression.
This last part is the most concerning, since the abnormal aorta and the blood vessels arising from the aorta made a circle around the trachea (windpipe) and made it soft and narrow as it developed. As Qusai gets weaned from the ventilator, his windpipe will need to stay open. Qusai had bronchioscope (camera scope) yesterday to evaluate this area, and results were as expected. There was some narrowing, but it was mainly open. This will allow the medical staff to continue to slowly bring down the ventilator settings, as he tolerates.
Qusai has a long road ahead of him with multiple surgeries in his future, but he has started well and strong. His mother is devoted and loving. She has two other children, a seven year old and a six year old, waiting for their baby brother to come back home to Gaza.
During the conversation, Claudia saw something interesting with the main nurse’s shoes (you can see it in the picture above). It looks like she is really in the shoes of those who serve others with heart problems; she really loves what she is doing and we could feel it.
As a summary, we conclude that if we are involved with people, we need to understand that our work is also our calling and this nurse definitely a calling. May we all flourish in our callings and remember that where our own shoes are concerned, how mightily blessed are the feet of those who bring good news!
Qusai is much better today. He is even opening his eyes!
The doctor said he is doing much better than yesterday, step by step the sedation is reducing and probably they are going back home soon.
Qusai’s mom looks more calm and happy today, she thanked me for our company during this process. It’s always a good feeling to know we are in the correct moment supporting someone that needs our help. We are called to be a blessing wherever God plants us.
Thanks for your help and support. Together, we are being a blessing.
I went to the ICU of Hadassah Hospital in Ein Karem today to ask after Qusai. He was in surgery. An informed nurse said the surgery was complicated and taking some time.
I met and talked with Qusai’s mother who had a circle of other moms around her when I found her in a waiting room. She and I went for a walk while waiting; there is a hospital park area just outside. I used Google translate to chat with her. We had some coffee together.
Eventually, Qusai was brought back to the ICU. He is under sedation but, according to the surgeon, he is stable. The doctor said thaty this surgery prepared Qusai for the next surgery. If all goes well, Qusai will go home to Gaza and return to Hadassah Hospital after three months for an Echocardiogram.
Thank you all for keeping this little one and his family in your prayers.
When we arrived to the hospital room, Qusai’s mother was alone because they had already brought Qusai elsewhere to be tested. It was a long wait for this anxious mother. Via Google translation I tried to tell her that a long wait is a good sign. It means that the doctors don’t want to miss anything important that might equip them in helping her son in the best possible way.
A doctor told me that there are big problems with his heart, and that the road will be long. He said something that I have learned to live by, “We will take one day at a time.” He told me that Qusai’s life is stable, and I think that is the most important thing right now.
Please lift up this precious little boy and the rest of his family in your prayers, and especially his mother.
Entering the hospital room, I didn’t know what to expect, and there he was. Sedated, without knowing all the efforts going on around him from caring medical staff, Qusai rested.
A nurse gave him medicine through a vein in his little hand. All the machines he is wired to might seem scary, but what a blessing they are. He is intubated because he needs help breathing, and every change in his condition is closely monitored. The hospital crew is doing a marvelous job, I’m so happy he’s here. Even if it is a horrible state Qusay is in, there is hope. The peace that filled the room gave witness to that hope.
Please lift up this wonderful little baby in your prayers, and his mother who is with him, but also the rest of the family.
To the joy of his 28-year-old mother Qusai looked beautiful and healthy when born earlier this month. But he soon looked blue and had difficulty breathing.
At the hospital in Gaza doctors suspected a heart problem, and on echocardiogram discovered multiple complex defects.
He’s now in the ICU in critical condition and on mechanical ventilation, awaiting transfer to Israel–his only hope to live. Doctors at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem are working to make a place for him despite crowding caused by Covid-19, and have asked us to bring him on Sunday, August 2. Please ask God with us for grace for Qusai until then, and for all the days of his life that will follow.
It was a joy to see Qusai leaving the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem today after more than two months of life-saving treatment. Our coworker Berith exclaimed “Now he looks like a baby!” as compared to when he first arrived.
And what a transformation in his mother, who seemed numb and distant when she came to Jerusalem from Gaza for the first time in her life. Today she insisted on making the rounds to say goodbye to her dear friends in both the children’s department and the ICU!
The last farewell was to Berith at the Erez crossing back into the Gaza Strip. Qusai will be in a week’s quarantine there before he can meet his father and siblings again. Won’t they be surprised! We hope to see him back in December for another checkup.
