A Beating Heart!

Today was a big day. I showed up at the hospital this morning with two other interns and Jeremy with the intention of seeing nine year old Navar have heart surgery. When we got there Navar was sitting in the room with her father. After just a few minutes of watching Navar and Lydia play patty cake, a head nurse came and asked for one of us to scrub up. Hastily I followed her back, and was quickly dressed in scrubs. I walked into the surgery room filled with triumphant opera music where Dr. Cicek, the head cardiac surgeon, was in the middle of the surgery of a teenage Arabic girl I didn't know. Before I looked over the barrier between the girl's face and her open chest Dr. Cicek asked if I had seen blood before. I said yes and hesitantly popped my head over for a look. The sight of an open chest with a beating heart inside is something to behold. It's one of those things you see yet take a second to comprehend. I watched as the calm yet assertive Dr. Cicek mended the young girls leaky mitral valve and hole between her atria. The whole thing was a bit of an adrenalin rush. I couldn't take my eyes away. After and hour and a half or so, I walked out and Alex and Lydia were asked to observe Navar's Surgery.

Navar's surgery took four and a half hours. I went back with her father after the surgery to hear what happened and Dr. Cicek with a bit of a dazed/relieved/excited look said the surgery was successful but that the problem she was diagnosed with was incorrect. Instead of Tetralogy of Fallot she had Double Outlet Right Ventricle (DORV) with an eight centimeter hole in her heart. This turns out to be one of the most complicated heart surgeries possible, and Dr. Cicek performed it with a successful outcome. It's amazing! I've truly seen God in these last few moments. Navar still has a lot of recovery to go through, but with more time, thoughts, and prayers hopefully she will be running around with a healthy heart. Leah, Chro, and Jeen still have to receive heart surgery, and hopefully they will receive it within the next few days.

Thanks everyone for all the support in helping me come to Iraq. We have one more day and then we fly out. This experience has been amazing, and it has culminated in a little girl receiving major heart surgery. If you supported me thanks, and if you've supported the kids if PLC or plan to thanks even more.

All the best,

Preston

http://preemptivelove.org

P.S. I should have more pictures and videos up soon:)