When you see Qusay’s smile today, you would never think that he was struggling for his breath few days back.
Qusay is a thirteen years old regular patient at CBH as he suffers from chronic Asthma since eight years. His mother is used to his asthma attacks which she handles very well using his medication. If things deteriorate, she would bring him to CBH where our medical team in the day care unit would take care of him for few hours and send him back home.
In one evening in September, Qusay used a perfume to freshen up. He never thought that this innocent spray would lead him to the Intensive Care Unit where he will reach a point to fight for his own life.
It seems that the perfume irritated and blocked Qusay’s bronchioles causing breathing difficulty. As the family does not have a car, Qusay’s mother gave him the usual medication, and inhalations, and thought of waiting until the morning to come to CBH if needed.
However, the boy’s situation kept deteriorating and after midnight, Qusay would get more and more tired. The mother finally calls on the neighbor to drive her to the closest medical center to Dheisheh refugee camp where the family lives, which happens to be the public hospital.
In the public hospital, the medical team tried different solutions with Qusay but they informed the parents that he needs advanced intervention. Known as a pediatric referral center for the Palestinian government, the medical team at the public hospital contacted CBH to receive Qusay in the pediatric ICU.
Upon his arrival to CBH, Qusay’s Oxygen levels were very low. The ICU team prepared the parents for the worst. The medical team started positive pressure ventilation in order to improve his O2 saturation. This exhausting procedure for the team took over two hours as the child’s body was very relaxed and not responsive due to the high doses of medication he already endured.
When showing some O2 improvement, the child was connected to the mechanical ventilator and proper medical intervention was provided.
On this CBH intensivist, Dr. George Juha, comments: “the fast intervention by the team and proper implementation for the ICU protocols saved the life of Qusay. He would had died or at least suffered from severe disability due to the Oxygen insufficiency in his blood otherwise.”
Two days later, we met Qusay in the ICU room; he seemed very normal and was preparing to go back to his family and school. The lovely boy is not only alive, he is also healthy and sound thanks to CBH expert ICU team and the availability of life saving equipment.
Prepared by: Shireen Khamis
