Thursday, April 21 (day #7)

Today is our final day in Amman. It has been a fast week filled with lots of hard work and emotions. We arrive at the hospital at our usual 7:30 time.
The first patient we looked at today was Ahmed Abood, the Syrian boy that we operated on yesterday. What an amazing difference–he came to the OR yesterday so blue with oxygen saturations in the 40′s….Today his color is pink and his nail beds are pink and his oxygen saturation is 90% !! He is resting comfortably with Grandma at his bedside.
Hiba looks great (and sweet)…she will be transferred to the floor this morning. Raneem, Dua’a, Ahmed, Marah and Maryam remain in the ICU but all are very stable and doing well.
We are only doing one case today. It will make a total of 14 for the week–a mission record for our team. Our patient is Jana Tawfeeq Ibraheem U’wais, a 3 1/2 year old Egyptian girl from Amman. She is an adorable little girl who has Down’s Syndrome and Atrioventricular Canal. The case went very smoothly and she was sent to the ICU by noon.

Jana in the OR

After the surgery, post op rounds are done on all patiens, echos completed as needed, the instruments and equipment are packed into the travel trunks and many good byes are exchanged. The staff at Al-Khalidi no longer ask “if” we will be returning, but tell us that “when” we come back, their new operating rooms will be open and that they think we will be quite pleased with our new rooms. We look forward to it.

Jill packing up our supplies
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Then its back to the hotel to pack our personal belongings, shower and check out. We are planning to go to a place for dinner tonight called The Panarama, a restaurant that overlooks the Dead Sea, The West Bank, Jericho and Jerusalem. Following that, we will be dropped off at the airport for the 19 hours of travel to home.
Amman is such an amazing place. It is rich with history, culture and spiritual energy. It is beautiful and inspiring. And we have made so many life long friendships here with people who are caring and genuine. This is good bye for this trip, but the people and life in Amman are in our hearts every day. We’ll see you all again Spring 2011..Insha’allah.

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