Surgery continues!

Zahraa, the first child to have surgery has headed home and is doing well!

And surgery continues. The surgeons are working on their tenth case today, and the kids recovering in the ICU and step down unit are doing well.

After playing soccer with these guys in the halls for a week, they now have had surgery and are recovering in the ICU.

Taking the Reigns

(Local nurses leaning the in's and out's)

Some of the coolest experiences that I've had here have come from watching the local medical staff and our international staff interact and learn from each other. ICHF's goal is to make themselves obsolete in whatever country they are trying to help. So instead of just dropping in, performing a few heart surgeries, and then leaving, they attempt every time to make the local team completely independent of ICHF. And since I have been here, this approach has been very evident. The local nurses, perfusionist, anesthesiologists, doctors, and surgeons have been the main performers of every operation, and form what I have heard about past operations, this is a major milestone for pediatric heart care in Iraq.

As one can imagine, when performing heart surgery, these moments of learning can become very tense, but when is heart surgery not intense. Allowing the Iraqi surgeons to take the reigns in these most tense situations, is what will continue to save the lives of children in Iraq, even while ICHF and PLC are not in country.

The medical professionals of Nasiriyah, Iraq are making huge advancements in the care of children with congenital heart disease every day while we're here, and this will soon continue to be the case after we're gone. By ICHF and these local medical professionals making the investment in time and money now, Iraqi children will be running and playing with healthy hearts in the future.

And so it begins!

The first child had surgery on Tuesday. Before the surgery began of course, she had the pre-surgery butterflies, and who wouldn't with syringes going around like these.

The surgery went well, and her mother was able to see her soon after, which is always a great moment to witness. This little girl was quite the princess as well. When one of the local nurses went to get her clothes, she said, "Get me some milk as well." Watching her recovery was a great sight, and now her personality is bigger and healthier than ever. Great little girl.

After hanging out in the OR and the ICU quite a lot, I went out to the ward area to see all the others in need of surgery. Some had driven or ridden a buses for long distances. I went around asking their stories and trying to get a glimpse of who they were. This picture is of the future soccer team of Iraq. Almost every boy says the first thing he wants to do after surgery is play soccer, and that definitely makes me happy. I went out with some of the guards the other day to get soccer balls to give to the boys and play with them in the hall. Some of the girls jump in as well. It's been good times, but there definitely is tension in the air for those awaiting surgery or possibly awaiting a longer waiting period. There a lot of kids in need and a limited amount of medical professionals. All in all, though, people are really hopeful and the surgeries have been successful. I'll give an update of the other surgeries and relationships made among staff soon.

Masalam,

Preston

Rockstar Much: (Traveling to Nasiriyah)

Arriving in Baghdad was definitely a surreal experience. I don't believe I realized exactly what I was doing until I got there, and let me tell you, Baghdad is much different from what it has been betrayed as. As an American, of course I have terrible preconceptions of the area, but the more I visit Iraq the more it breaks those preconceptions. The people in Baghdad were very nice and the city was actually quite beautiful. From what people say about the are, it was absolutely gorgeous before the start of the war. Anyway, on the plane ride to Baghdad, I sat next to a person who was probably the most hardcore/Bourne Supremacy/Bear Grylls fella I've ever seen. He was ex-British military and current security force for whoever hires him around the world. For the first hour of the flight I just stared at his hands knowing he could kill me with his pinky. But after striking up a conversation about weird accents and silly Americans (I wasn't going to dispute him) we had a pleasant time drinking coffee together. So, it was another lesson in not judging a book by its cover..... Anyway, I digress.

When we got to Iraq, after a lost baggage fiasco, we headed to Nasiriyah in a convoyish style, with Iraqi police in front and behind making people clear the rode for us. This was really cool at first, but after a while I just felt like a bully watching the guards points AK's at people to close. Were safe and nobody was being threatened. I think some people here are just a little to carless with their big guns, and that should definitely change. All this aside, the guards were still very appreciated and we arrived safely after an interesting bathroom stop.

We're staying in a really nice place, with Nasiriyan people that feed us the best food and are so nice. For our safety, supposedly, we have to stay inside the building with guards, but nonetheless we are having a great time with each other and our new, absolutely amazing Iraqi friends.

After arriving, the head hanchos got to work very quickly, assessing the soon to be patient's echocardiograms and discussing what approaches to take. This is the cardiologist Dr. Robert from Liverpool, and there are PICU nurses, a respiratory therapist, perfusionist, cardiac and OR nurses from all over the globe. It's really been spectacular to listen to these professionals talk about what they do and the different approaches their countries take towards healthcare. Sometimes I want to stop them mid-sentence and just say, "Sorry, but you're spectacular... now continue." All I'm saying is these children in need are getting world class care.

Finally, Don the perfusionist had a birthday celebration with cake and fire-code-breaking birthday toys brought from our new Iraqi friends.

Sorry if this seemed rushed, but I will have more on the surgeries that happened today tomorrow.

All the best,

Preston