A Long Hard Road with a Good Good End

Two of the most miraculous stories since I’ve been here concluded last week, both with happy endings.

Mohammed Majib, a child rejected from hospitals in Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and even one hospital in Israel because the surgery he needed was “impossible,” went home last week completely healed. Mohammed’s heart worked by precariously balancing two coexisting heart problems, tipping the scales in either direction meant immediate death. One problem was a “transposition,” basically that his heart worked in reverse, pumping blood the wrong direction, a fatal condition in its own right if not reversed in infancy. But Mohammed also had a very large hole in the middle of his heart, and it was this hole that allowed the blood to mix (normally a very bad thing) sufficiently, that in spite of his heart working in the wrong direction, it still was able to limp along. There was no knowing how long his heart would last in this condition, but all signs pointed to not long. A particularly bold and compassionate surgeon who we have counted on in the past for these sorts of dangerous surgeries said he would take the case. The surgeon said that he believed surgery was possible, perhaps one now and another surgery one year later to complete the necessary procedures. Mohammed’s surgery was put off a few times because of the immensity and danger involved, and this played on the minds of both Mohammed and his father, now having spent months away from home began to doubt if they really should have come, if the risk was worth it.



After a lot of encouraging, both in the direction Mohammed and his father, and toward the surgeon, the first surgery took place and was a complete success. Not only was the first surgery a success, but the 9-year-old’s body was strong enough to do the second surgery less than a week later! After some Gortex, a piece of cow heart, and some careful reconstruction Mohammed was on the road to recovery, and less than a month after was going home!

Akram’s story, if you have been following the blog, has been an amazing one which has finally reached its beautiful conclusion. After more than a year and a half of being away from home because of his physical ailments, he is finally with his family again. After a year of tuberculosis treatment, a lung surgery, and an open-heart surgery, Akram bears many scars, but through them, a new life. Were it not for these very illnesses, Akram would never have met the Lord and understood Him in a personal way that many wouldn’t willingly undergo.


Strong bonds were built between Mohammed and I, and with his father as well. Akram and I shared a friendship that I pray will continue; I hope that I was able to demonstrate some shadow of an example of what it means to live out the teachings of Jesus. It’s very easy to lose this in the midst of the event of the surgery itself, but it was the day to day living together, loving one another, and sharing everything that the heart of a different sort is moved. When we all finally said goodbye it was painful and at the same time an incredible sense of accomplishment surrounded it. I’m certain the same conflicting feelings passed through Akram, his mother, and Mohammed and his father; each moved to tears during our goodbye but certainly so excited to return home.

For more info, pictures, and video of their stories, see their final blogs at these links: Akram and Mohammed

Vacation Picture Highlights

First day in Cairo




Sunset on the Nile


Relaxing by the Red Sea in Dahab, on the Sinai peninsula


Breakfast with an ocean view


Sunrise at the top of Mt. Sinai


The Burning Bush in St. Catherine's Monastary


Climbing a cliff face in Wadi Rum with ancient Nabatean drawings (pictured here perched precariously hundred of millimeters above the desert floor)


Jumping over a huge bush on the way down the Great Dune in Wadi Rum (click on the picture for a bigger version)


The Treasury of Petra

Half Written Blogs

In large part, my decision to focus solely on my personal blog is because I have so many half written blogs that never reach the polish I demand of myself in the time I have to write them. I hope that in eliminating the need to produce a regular newsletter I can focus on submitting what I hope are more reflective and in-depth posts, as opposed to the summarizations and brevity to which I am confined in a newsletter. I am afraid that because of the aforementioned problems I have done poorly at keeping everyone abreast of substantial happenings here, and for that I apologize. I’ve abbreviated in length and depth for the sake of getting out the information that is long overdue; here is what you have been missing, and what has kept me from writing.

Staff

Things at the house in Jerusalem have been tumultuous to say the least. Of the 10 full time workers who were here when I started only 1 remains. Apart from the founder himself there is only one person still working who has been on staff longer than me. In my time here firings, quitting, and leaving for other reasons have been nothing short of commonplace. Recently 2 board members left, a woman that co-founded this ministry quit, and the Jerusalem Coordinator announced their resignation which was effective last week. Surviving this transition has been tremendously stressful in its own right, but it has also forced us to take up a lot of extra slack, and rely heavily on short-term and new, potentially long-term volunteers. The work hasn’t slowed down a bit and this has required that on more than one occasion that I lead the Jerusalem staff in some capacity. My long coveted job description, which I finally received a couple months ago, is essentially null as we are forced to concentrate on only essential tasks.

Maddison

For those of you not in the know, Maddison, my girlfriend of a year and a half came out to volunteer with Shevet and support me in mid-July. Given that Maddison is one year away from a degree in Social Work, and intends to focus in the hospital setting, there could be no better match for her talents and the needs of this ministry. Indeed she has assimilated herself to the work with ease, and developed a report with the patients and hospital staff that has frankly made me envious. It has also been incredibly beneficial for me to have someone that is so concerned with my well being, and she has gone to great lengths to encourage me and take care of me when I have reached my end. Her friendship has also been a relief in this ministry which is now dominated by grey hair. Maddison expects to leave at the beginning of September to finish her degree, and begin her internship at a hospital in Southern California.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Finances

It was something like two months ago now that I first saw a doctor to figure out “what’s wrong with me,” some symptoms chronic, others new. Along with daily indigestion, food intolerances, hunger crashes and other problems I have encountered before, I began experiencing memory loss, lack of focus and concentration, and persistent exhaustion from doing even the simplest tasks. Long story short, after seeing a family care physician, a neurologist, having lots of blood work and other tests done, their best guess is that I have developed Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. If this is the case it is no doubt due in part to my responsibilities here. I say, ‘if this is the case’ because as of yet, I have not heard back from my insurance company who I need to reimburse the several hundred dollars I had to take out for the initial tests, so that I can move forward with further tests to reach a diagnosis and receive treatment.

After returning from my week off, I have done my best to daily leverage myself into a work load that is on the lighter side, as I haven’t yet had a return of the new symptoms. I doubt it will be possible for very long but I hope to find a manageable balance somehow.

Another financial burden has popped up as well in the form of student loans. Before I left for Israel I double and triple checked that I had all of my school loans accounted for and set them up to be automatically paid (and then had my resources at APU confirm my triple check, at least three times). Well, it turns out that all this effort was a catastrophic failure. In a packet of mail I received from my old home address in America a couple months ago were two bills from two different loan companies informing me that I was approximately 6 months past due on their loans. They had been sending the bills to my old home address and this was the first of them mailed to me here. All told I paid about $800 to get current on them, and I now have more than $100 in monthly expenses that I did not plan for when I raised support.

Vacation

When I could barely do anything without becoming exhausted, had my financial resources drained, and found myself perched precariously amid staff politics, I took a vacation for a week. It seems very counter intuitive in some ways and but I hope it makes complete sense in others. It wasn’t easy, I had been trying to get some time away for months, and I finally had an opportunity, and seized it. The trip was exhausting physically, but allowed me to recharge in the more important ways, emotionally and spiritually. It also allowed me time apart from the business to spend some quality time with Maddison.

Here is her update which recounts our ambitious journey, I'll try to upload photos soon:

8-20-09

WOW! What and AMAZING week I had! As I mentioned Justin and I were allowed a week off to travel. After a couple of weeks of trying to find travel buddies, we were getting discouraged when no one was able to come on this amazing trip we had planned. So finally after much prayer an consideration, our leaders at Shevet gave us the go ahead as long as we stayed in separate rooms.

So early Tuesday morning we were dropped off at Jerusalem Central Bus station, with our very detailed and ambitious week long itinerary, and only a backpack each! We took a bus to Eilat (the southern most point of Israel) and crossed into Egypt at the Taba border (we had already gotten our visas ahead of time) from their we went to the bus stop to take a bus to Cairo, and met up with 7 other young travelers waiting, who were already being haggled by taxi drivers, after getting a very good price and having a few laughs, we all decided to share a ride to Cairo.

We finally arrived exhausted in Cairo at 9pm, and luckily found our way on a metro to downtown where our hostel was. After making our way slowly through a crowded downtown Cairo we arrived at our hostel at 11pm, and crashed. The next morning we woke up bright and early determined to see Cairo in a day. We took a cab to the pyramids at Giza arriving at 8am, and they were breathtaking! We explored and took pictures, and finally rode on a camel to get a better view!

After the pyramids, we headed to the Museum and saw all of the amazing things in there, including the treasure of King Tut. We finished the night by getting some take out, and riding a felucca or sail boat on the Nile at sunset. After walking through the busy shops and streets, we headed back to our hostile to rest for more travel in the morning.

The next day, we headed to the bus station, and took a bus to Dahab, a beach city on the coast of the Red Sea on the Sinai. The travel took all day, and we arrived to our next hostel right on the beach! The next morning we woke up and had breakfast at our hostel’s restaurant, and laid on the pillows in the hut starring at the ocean waves. After a while we went snorkeling, and Justin (never having snorkeled before) was so surprised at the tropical fish and coral 5 feet into the water! That evening we went to a fancy open air restaurant on the ocean called Ali Baba, I got steak, and Justin was able to pick out the fish he wanted caught fresh that day!

You would think after that we would want to sleep, but we had bigger plans. At 11pm we went on an expedition through the hostile, and a group of 10 traveled 2 hours to the base of Mt. Sinai arriving at 1am. At this point we began the 3 hour hike up the mountain with hundreds of others! We stayed with our group and our guide, and made it up to the top. It was freezing cold until the sunrise, which lit up the entire area around the mountain. It was beautiful! After traveling back down in the heat, we visited St. Catherine’s monetary, and touched the burning bush!

After a 2 hour ride home, we arrived at our hostel at noon and slept almost completely through the next night! The next morning we woke up to travel again, we took a series of buses and taxis to get the Taba border, and then crossed back into Israel, only to continue to the Aqaba border and enter into Jordan! Finally we arrived in Aqaba Jordan and rested for the night, we even had McDonalds and never had we loved it so much! The next morning we took a short bus ride to the Wadi Rum visitor’s center, where we had prearranged an overnight tour of Wadi Rum and the Bedouin camps. We met up with a German couple, and convinced them to join us, lowering the price for all. We went on a bumpy jeep ride all through the Wadi, seeing the house of Lawrence of Arabia, and got our and climbed/hike everything we could, we climbed the great sand dune, and jumped over a bush, playing in the sand on the way down. That night, we all climbed to watch the sun set over the desert, and had a Bedouin dinner. We slept on mattresses under the millions of stars, and other than the mosquitoes it was phenomenal. The next morning, we headed on a bus for the ancient city of Petra!

Arriving in Petra, it is a mile long walk through a canyon to the city. Once through we were greeted with the massive Treasury carved into the mountain (as seen in Indiana Jones) it was breath taking (but that also could have been all the hiking we were doing) We spent the day exploring the old ruins of the city, stopping in the shade and talking for an hour with a teenaged Bedouin boy about his life, and trying not to die in the hot sun. A little girl no bigger than 6 was trying to sell me a rock necklace, and after talking with her for a little while, she mentioned that she liked my earrings and we made a trade! After riding on some donkeys and a horse or two we headed back to Aqaba for the night, and to Jerusalem the next day.

The morning we were heading back I got very sick, my insides were all messed up, I had bad back pain, and shortness of breath, and once we got to the house we realized I had a fever. As soon as we got back, I realized I would have little time or place to rest, the house was full or new people. A new family staying to volunteer, and Jonathon the head of the organization was replacing Alex at the house, as Alex would be moving on to other things, and new families were also staying at the house. Another Christian couple from Iraq was also staying at the house, literally every bed and room was taken by someone. There was no where to go to be alone, and we were also having a goodbye party for Alex. I tried to stay conscious through it, and then crashed for the night.

I slept most of today, and I am feeling a lot better now medicated. 3 of our most cherished children will be leaving us to Iraq tomorrow. Akram who has been hear nearly 7 months, Mohammed whose surgery I watched, and Hindereen. (all stories can be found in detail at Shevet.org) Tonight we nostalgically say goodbye, and there was a huge feast with desert and all. Sidra is home from the hospital and no brain damage was done, praise God.

This week will be a crazy one, please continue to pray for health for everyone hear, and safe travel and reunions for the kids leaving us. Pray for Justin, as Akram was one of his closest friends over his months here, and it will be had for him to say goodbye. A GREAT praise for my sister Emily. She had her second MRI, and was able to meet with the doctor immediately following, he said he was extremely encouraged that there has been zero growth in her tumor, and that means she will have another MRI in 2 months, and then again a few months after that. So continue to pray, but this is great news to give us all a little relief for the time being. Thank you for all of your prayers and support, and as always feel free to pass this on to whomever you would like!

In Him,

Maddie

Updates from Maddison:

I haven't had a chance to write in the blog for a while, Maddison came out here about 2 weeks ago and has been doing updates herself. Here are her updates, as good as anything I could write about the past two very intense weeks, and provide an interesting (flattering) third person perspective on me. What could be better?!

Week 1:

Shalom!
I thought I would give you all an update on everything I have accomplished in the week that I have been here! I have barely stopped moving since I have been off the plane, and by the grace of God I have experienced more in this one short week than most will ever get to in a lifetime!

My reunion with Justin was more amazing than expected, although I was nervous (we have not seen each other in 6 months!) I was greeted with many hugs, roses, strawberry belts on my pillow (my favorite), a walk around the music and lights of downtown Jerusalem, and a nice dinner at a beautiful restaurant of humus and pita! Little did I know this was the most time I would be spending with Justin the entire week.

The following day we started with our morning meeting which includes prayer, worship, a bible study, and the daily assignments and updates. The Shevet House is in Jerusalem only a few minutes walk from the Old City and an hour from the hospital in Tel Aviv. The “house” includes sleeping areas, offices, a kitchen, and a whole separate living space for the Iraqi mothers and children staying with us. 9 year old Mohammed recently out of surgery was asking for Justin and he spent the day visiting at the hospital, I literally spent the day recovering from jet lag and worshiping and praying. Every night the staff eats a meal together.

The first half of the week a missions group from Texas came and helped clean, and do work projects for us, so we were able to build relationships with them, and they were a huge encouragement to me. We were able to do crafts with the two Iraqi moms and kids staying here at the house, and it was good because we all were able to get to know each other a bit better.

Tuesday is the craziest day of all here. In addition to the Iraqi children living at Shevet and receiving surgeries, every Tuesday we provide transportation and service to certain sponsored children who are allowed in for certain tests and check ups for the day from Gaza. This requires multiple trips to the border and hospital and back (3 total) This week was especially crazy because in addition to the Gaza run there were 3 major surgeries that happened to fall on the week I arrived (they are usually more spread out)

Thursday was personally the most incredible day for me, in the morning I decided to go and visit the hospital and see the kids that I already know well. There are children in the ICU, intermediate ICU, and the ward, and I have been able to find my way around the hospital fairly quickly considering everything is in Hebrew! It was supposed to be a short visit when we suddenly found out that one of our Gaza patients baby Hala was going in for surgery. Alex (one of my supervisors) had to leave and take the van, and he asked if Mary (another brand new and older woman volunteer) and I would “cover it” and take a bus home. “Covering it” requires us to meet and wait with the mom, escort her to the doors of the OR and pray with her if she allows, take pictures before and after surgery, and find out as much information as we can for the blogs written later (these can be found at Shevet.org). I was excited for the challenge, and Alex quickly introduced us to the mother who we could not communicate with at all, and we walked with her as she watched her 3 month old be wheeled into surgery.

As we were walking to the waiting room, a doctor passed us in the hallway, and I was able to ask him a little bit more about the surgery she was about to undergo. He explained that this is the first of a series of 3 surgeries she will need in total, and that they were waiting to see if she made it through this one before they talk about the future. Hala is only 3 months old, and has only one valve where she is supposed to have two, and this was causing a lot of excess blood being pumped into the lungs, and not enough in to the rest of her body. The Doctor explained to me that this surgery was to tie something around the valve in order to decrease the flow of blood into the lungs, and that the risk came in deciding how tight it needs to be.

Hearing we were apart of Shevet Achim, the Doctor invited me to come and watch the operation, and I was able to watch the entire thing very closely (less than a foot away!), even getting commentary in English, from multiple Doctors, about what was happening throughout! I was asked a lot of questions myself, and was able to explain a little more about Shevet Achim, and what we do. A specialist was called in to determine exactly how tightly it should be tied, and I was able to pray for Hala throughout the surgery, while she was less than a foot away! Praise be to God, the surgery was an overall success, and she will have two more to come.

Another huge blessing was as they were still stitching her up, I was able to quickly leave, and report the good news to the anxious mother and Mary who were waiting in ICU. Soon after Hala was wheeled out, and her mother was by her side again. I was also invited by the doctor to come in for the next surgery this coming Sunday. Once I got back to the house, I was told by all the staff members that being invited in rarely happens, and that the relationship between Shevet Achim and the Doctors has been a long process this was a big step!

Today (Friday) I was final able to breathe a bit, we rested, and went out to dinner and Shabbat began, which means I will be able to rest more tomorrow as well. After dinner Justin and I were finally able to spend some more time together and walk down to the Old city, through the Damascus gate and to the Western Wall (Wailing Wall) it was incredible, and my heart was literally filled with joy. It was an awesome end to a crazy week!

Please continue to pray for Justin and I and the children here undergoing surgeries, but also be encouraged God is doing amazing things here! Also continue to pray for my sister, the latest news is that we are getting a better MRI image, and are simply waiting for insurance logistics to work out, but she is doing well. Thank you all again for your support, and feel free to pass this along to whomever you please!

In Him,
Maddie

Week 2

Shalom! Wow another crazy week! (Pace yourself it is a long one)
Shabbat was restful, and Justin and I went to the missionary church that most of the Shevet staff goes too. We rested a lot after that, and walked more around the old city that night, climbing to the roof tops of the houses in the city where we could see the Dome of the rock. It was a restful Saturday, and I bet it was because God knew we needed it with the week ahead.

Sunday started off bright and early at 6am with watching 9 year old Mohammed’s 5 and a half hour heart surgery. Because of my familiarity with the OR layout and staff, I was able to bring in another Shevet volunteer Emily who also wanted to watch. She is also from Azusa Pacific University, and has been here for 2 months already. Before the surgery I was able to connect with my new friend Alina, the anesthesiologist I met last time, and we talked more. We made friends with one of the nurses who was going to be operating the bypass machine and she was able to keep us company and explain what was going on when Dr. Sasson couldn’t. We were able to talk with her about Shevet and exchanged information for her and Alina to come to Jerusalem to visit!

The doctor was excited to show Emily and I the pictures of Mohammed's heart before and after his previous surgery. We were able to see how small the aorta was, and what an amazing job they did in enlarging it. The results of the first surgery were so amazing and unexpected, and his recovery went so well, they decided to go ahead and do this second surgery and repair the hole in his heart.

The hole was in between the two ventricles and needed to be repaired with
Gore-tex so that blood could not mix and flow between them. During the surgery Mohammed was put on bypass, which is basically an artificial heart and lung machine that pumps oxygenated blood to the body during the surgery, completely bypassing Mohammed's heart so that they are able to stop it and work more effectively on it. Once the doctors were able to open the ventricle and get a better look, they saw that the hole was a lot bigger than they had originally thought. However, this didn't seem to slow them down, or worry them in the slightest and things continued right along.

We were able to walk with Abu Mohammed as they wheeled his son into the ICU, and we were all there as Mohammed slowly started to wake up. The surgery went extremely well, and this little boy who was turned away from multiple hospitals earlier in the year, should recover and be completely fine soon!

However there was another problem, during the operation, Emily (see picture below) kept complaining of severe back pain, and eventually had to leave the operating room. Our nurse friend and I continued to leave and check on her, and the pain got so sever we decided it would be best for her to be checked out in the Emergency room. After being checked out the doctors tested her kidneys and thought she had a kidney infection and was admitted to stay the night. More tests were going to take place later on. But even with strong medication Emily’s pain remained very high.

The next day, I was able to go to the hospital and sit with Emily and visit the other patients as well. All updates on individual patients and their entire story can be found at Shevet.org under “Children now in Israel” Emily was fine and we talked for hours until her meds wore off and then I could see how sever her pain was. She had thrown up, and had spiked a fever. The doctors had her on antibiotics, but continued to test other things. At the end of that day the doctors decided she had pleural pneumonia.

However during the night we received word that Emily had deteriorated, and had major breathing problems, they were now testing her for Swine flu amongst other things, and moving her to ICU, anyone who wanted to see her had to wear a mask.

Tuesday was another crazy Gaza day, we brought 5 kids and a parent each to the hospital and got them all checked in and settled. Visiting the other kids we had in the hospital, checking up and Emily, and then returning the 5 kids back to Gaza. The border was closed for a prisoner transfer, and Justin and I waited wit the moms at the border for 2 hours, we had some fun with the little ones though. (See pictures below)

One of the Iraqi children that is very close to my heart is Sidra. She was staying out the house the first night I got to Jerusalem, and had her surgery the first week I was here, she is ALLLways smiling, and Justin and I love her tons, at this point she seemed to be recovery great. (See pictures below)

Thursday was a long but happy day. Most of our Iraqi patients were discharged and able to come home to Jerusalem with us. Including Mohammed! Sidra, Hindereen, Mohammed, would be joining Deya and Hewr at the house, and it would be full of kids again! We brought them all home, and were very excited.

Friday we were going to have dinner all together with the families to say welcome home, but we were completely out of food, and had to do a weekly market run. Emily’s condition was not improving much, and her mother actually flew from the United States to be with her. At least they ruled out Swine flu. Donna one of our head volunteers stayed with the mother in Tel Aviv, so this left us with 4 people at the house to do the shopping (which is less than you realize when you see what we have to do!) One of the 4 is a new staff member from the UK named Tim, he as gotten a crazy introduction as well. We drove to 3 different markets, the Co-op where we got things in bulk, the Arab market where we got veggies, and the Jewish market where we got meat. At the Arab market Justin dropped us off to circle the van, the rest of us ran into the tiny produce shop, and Robin yelled out how many kilos of each thing we needed, and we all ran to bag it up. It felt like a scavenger hunt. Feeding 5 children, 5 parents, and 7 staff takes a lot more food than you could ever imagine. We got that all done, and headed to the Jewish market. Justin had saved the Jewish market to go with me so we were experiencing this together, and let me tell you it was an experience! Hundreds of people, yelling, pushing, the smells, and the sights it was amazing. We ate lunch their got the meat and had a blast!

That night we al had Iraqi food prepared by the mothers, and we rested a little more, going to sleep a little early not thinking anything because Sabbath was tomorrow however, once again, God must have known we needed it. My Sabbath was far from restful. I was actually supposed to lead worship at the church we go to with some other staff, but instead I was awakened at 4:45am by a pounding on my door. Donna our lead staff was still gone, and as I woke up I hear Mohammed’s father outside the door. He was trying to get my attention without coming in out of respect, and all he said was Sidra, Sidra. I sprung out of bed, threw on some clothes and rush to the families sleeping area. Baby Sidra had not slept all night, had thrown up, and labored breathing. I went and got Justin, who called the Ward and were told to give her some Tylenol like medicine, and bring her in. Always smiley Sidra was crying and in a lot of pain. Justin and I worked together to mash up the pills mix them with water, and put them in a syringe for her to drink. We loaded her in the van, and took her to Tel Aviv. After we got their they admitted her, did blood tests and an X-ray. At around 10:30am Justin and I drove home, and exhausted passed out. When we woke up we got news from Donna that Sidra had fluid build up around her heart, they had re opened her chest, and she went into cardiac arrest, she actually died on the table, and they revived her, she is sedated in the ICU now.

Later that night, it was brought to our attention that Mohammed and Hindereen had fevers. We took their temperature, and it was very high, while Justin called the Ward, I set them up with a the fan, and cool wash cloths. They advised us to bring them in, and we did. When we got to the hospital around 10pm, we were told their was no room, apparently there was a virus going around the hospital, and many of the kids had fevers already. After waiting for a long time, and getting them check out they were both admitted, Hindereen was put on a bed in the hallway! We prayed with them both before we left, and arrived back at the house after 2am.

This morning I got word that they are testing the whole hospital for Swine flu, but that Emily is doing better and they are moving her out of ICU.

We have today off to rest, and Justin and I might try and see some more sights. Please continue to pray for all the kids and staff here. Also continue to pray for my own sister Emily and my family back home, the latest news is that Emily will be having another MRI in the next few weeks and then a lumbar puncture eventually, but as for now she got her wish of an uninterrupted time at Hume lake Christian Camp! Have a great week!

In Him,

Maddie