Amman Jordan Riley Heart Mission #37 – Day 4

Before Omar made it up to the PICU yesterday, he began having bleeding from suture lines in the OR. It required a significant amount of transfusions of blood and clotting factor products and additional suturing to stop it. Finally around 9:30 pm we made it to the unit with Omar in stable condition. A little later we went directly to the home of one of our GOLA/Rotary friends for a quick and amazing meal and fellowship.

This morning we returned to find all of our patients doing well and ready for more progress today.

Rouh

The team on rounds

Wateen

Today we are doing a re-operation Rawia Abdo. She is a 2 year old girl from a tiny island off the northeast coast of Syria – Arwad. She had tetralogy of Fallot repair when she was just under a year old. Since then she developed a narrowing below the pulmonary valve that needs to be repaired. Every time Maha has visited her here in the hospital, she has been playing with and talking about animals.

Rawia in 2022 – and this trip

Dr. Mark and Dr. Maha resected a significant amount of scar and muscle below the pulmonary valve and put in a new monocusp valve. Everything looked good at the end of the case.

Our second case today is a 5 month old Syrian girl who is one of a set of twins – Aya Al Salamat. She has a large Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) and severe failure to thrive. She weighs about 3kg (about 6 lbs 10oz). Our plan today is to place a band around her main pulmonary artery to limit the amount of blood flow to her lungs which will help breathe more easily and gain weight better.

Aya (right) next to her twin brother

Khal and Tim with Aya

Aya’s PA band operation went well. Her post op echo showed a maximum Doppler gradient across the band of 46 mmHg. This is about half of her body’s systolic pressure. A good result. Riad plans to keep a close eye on her tonight.

For some of our team it was possible to go back the hotel early. A few stayed back to discuss more patients with Khal. Although we definitely enjoy the great dinners and companionship of our Amman hosts and friends, tonight we have off. Which will give us all a chance to get to bed early and refresh for tomorrow.