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(See all of my "Baby Nora" posts here.)

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Doctors drain fluid from Noor’s back
Mark Bixler, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Doctors admitted Noor al-Zahra of Iraq to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Wednesday morning to drain fluid from the baby’s back.

Surgeons performed a life-changing operation on the Iraqi infant last week, a month after soldiers with the Georgia National Guard encountered her while raiding a house near Baghdad. Doctors removed a mass of skin from Noor’s back and repaired a damaged portion of her spinal cord.

A follow-up appointment Tuesday revealed fluid on Baby Noor’s back, the hospital said in a statement. In Wednesday’s procedure, doctors hope to determine whether her spinal cord is leaking fluid or whether the fluid is the result of post-surgery swelling.

[Read on here.]

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Posted by Bill Faith on January 18, 2006 at 05:15 PM in Baby Nora | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

(See all of my "Baby Nora" posts here.)

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Doctors find swelling in Baby Noor’s back
Mark Bixler, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Doctors at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta found some swelling today on the back of Baby Noor, the Iraqi infant brought to Atlanta for treatment of a severe form of spina bifida, but they could not immediately determine the cause.

The exam found no evidence of a fluid build-up in Noor’s brain, which would have led to a second surgery to insert a shunt to drain the fluid.

Children’s Healthcare said in a statement that the fluid probably was either spinal fluid or fluid that resulted from post-surgery swelling.

Surgeons plan to drain the fluid in coming days and continue to keep close watch on the baby, who is staying with a metro Atlanta host family

[Read on here.]

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Posted by Bill Faith on January 18, 2006 at 04:54 AM in Baby Nora | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

(See all of my "Baby Nora" posts here.)

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Baby Noor out of hospital for now
By Mark Bixler, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Doctors at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta discharged 3-month-old Noor al-Zahra of Iraq on Friday.

Plans to insert a shunt to drain fluid from Noor’s brain were scrapped after exams found no accumulation of fluid. That may mean Noor will need less intense follow-up care in Iraq, but it’s still possible that she’ll need a shunt, hospital officials said.

On Monday, surgeons removed a mass of skin from Noor’s back and repaired part of her spinal cord. She suffers from spina bifida, a birth defect.

[Read on here.]

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Posted by Bill Faith on January 13, 2006 at 07:40 PM in Baby Nora | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

(See all of my "Baby Nora" posts here.)

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Baby Noor may not need Wednesday surgery
By Mark Bixler in Atlanta and Moni Basu in Baghdad

Doctors at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta will decide Wednesday whether to proceed with plans for a second surgery on 3-month-old Noor al-Zahra of Iraq, the hospital said Tuesday.

Surgeons scanned Noor’s brain today to look for a build-up of fluid, common in such cases, but the exam found no such accumulation, the hospital said in a statement. Dr. Roger Hudgins, the hospital’s chief neurosurgeon, has tentatively scheduled a surgery for Wednesday to insert a shunt that would drain fluid, but the hospital said he will wait until tomorrow before deciding whether to proceed.

Noor continued to rest at the hospital Tuesday, a day after Hudgins and a colleague performed for free a life-changing operation on a baby encountered by National Guard soldiers from Georgia who were raiding a house near Baghdad last month.

Doctors say Baby Noor was smiling and cooing after the first surgery to correct a severe birth defect.

Hudgins told CBS on Tuesday morning that the 3-month-old from Iraq had a quiet and peaceful night.

[Read on here.]

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Fox news has a fairly good news item here for those of you who don't want to go through the registration process for the Atlanta paper.

Posted by Bill Faith on January 10, 2006 at 04:06 PM in Baby Nora | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

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Iraqi girl’s kin praise God after good news from surgeons
By Mark Bixler in Atlanta and Moni Basu in Baghdad

After surgeons delivered good news from the operating room Monday morning about 3-month-old Noor al-Zahra, a wave of relief washed over the baby’s grandmother Soad.

Tense muscles relaxed. An electric smile lit up her face. She wept. “The results are good,” Soad said through an interpreter. “Thank God. Thank God.”

She also thanked Dr. Roger Hudgins, chief neurosurgeon at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, where the operation was performed.

“Noor is very, very strong,” the grandmother said. “From her first days, she’s been very strong.”

“She is very strong because her family is strong,” Hudgins said. Hudgins and Dr. Fernando Burstein operated on Baby Noor, as she has come to be known, nine days after the infant arrived in Atlanta from Iraq suffering from a severe case of spina bifida.

They removed a mass of skin from the baby’s back and repaired a damaged part of her spinal cord. Their efforts came a month after Georgia National Guard soldiers in Iraq encountered Noor while raiding a house near Baghdad.

[Read on here.]

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Linking to Mudville's latest Open Post and OTB's latest Beltway Traffic Jam.

Posted by Bill Faith on January 10, 2006 at 01:57 AM in Baby Nora | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

(See all of my "Baby Nora" posts here.)

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Surgery completed on Baby Noor
Mark Bixler The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Iraqi baby brought to Atlanta for life-changing surgery is out of the operating room and recovering at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Surgeons finished their work about 10:30 a.m., three hours after they began. They plan to discuss the baby’s condition at a press conference at 4:30 p.m. today.

The surgery was undertaken to repair a portion of 3-month-old Noor al-Zahra’s spinal cord that did not fully form during her mother’s pregnancy. They also hope to remove a mass of skin that has grown up around the cord.

The doctors predict success but envision Noor spending her life in a wheelchair with limited control of her bladder and bowels.

“Our best scenario is that she will be a paraplegic,” said Dr. Roger Hudgins, the hospital’s top neurosurgeon, who will perform most of the surgery.

Yet, her future has brightened immeasurably since Georgia National Guard soldiers in Iraq discovered her on a raid last month. Iraqi doctors told Noor’s family they could not help her and that she would likely not live long.

Soldiers from a Gainesville-based unit of the 48th Brigade Combat Team made connections that led to today’s surgery.

Read on here.

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Posted by Bill Faith on January 9, 2006 at 03:55 PM in Baby Nora | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

(See all of my "Baby Nora" posts here.)

From Power Line:

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A word from Laura Armstrong

Laura Armstrong is the daughter of the legendary Vietnam War hero Roger ("Black Bart") Bartholomew, and a hero in her own right as far as we at Power Line are concerned. Having played a key role in the campaign to remind voters of John Kerry's slanderous attacks on Vietnam veterans, Laura is now enjoying life with her husband (a Marine who recently returned to the States) and writing for the Marietta (Georgia) Daily Journal. Here is her latest column:

If I could force the critics of this war to look anywhere right now, I'd make them look at Georgia, at a little baby, and at the good-hearted Americans who're moving heaven and Earth to help an Iraqi family.

I'd show them Baby Noor, the 3-month-old infant who's traveling from Abu Ghraib to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta for life-saving surgery. I'd point them at Georgia's 48th Brigade Combat Team, the regular folks at Douglasville's Shepherd of the Hills United Methodist Church, Senator Saxby Chambliss and every other kind soul behind the spirited effort.

[...]

This rocks John Kerry's world, because he and his cronies say our troops "terrorize Iraqi women and children" in the middle of the night. Don't ask me why, but a majority of liberals and democrats want us to believe that, even though they claim to "support the troops". (If they're not characterizing our professional soldiers and Marines as evil occupiers, they're painting them as misled victims).

[...]

[Read the whole thing.]

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Posted by Bill Faith on January 5, 2006 at 05:05 PM in Baby Nora | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

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Surgery scheduled for Iraqi child with potentially fatal birth defect

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- With a series of tests completed before surgery tentatively scheduled for Monday, an Atlanta hospital discharged a 3-month-old Iraqi girl flown to the United States for a life-saving operation.

Specialty physicians at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta determined treatment options for Baby Noor, who has spina bifida, a birth defect in which the spinal column fails to completely close.

Noor, her father and grandmother are staying with a host family in Atlanta, arranged by Childspring International, an Atlanta-based national charity.

Noor "is in good condition, is responsive and smiling and seemingly resting comfortably," neurosurgeon Dr. Roger Hudgins, who will perform the surgery, said after the initial evaluation.

[Read on here.]

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Posted by Bill Faith on January 3, 2006 at 10:04 PM in Baby Nora | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

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Noor, days from surgery, otherwise developmentally normal
Mark Bixler, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Iraqi baby in Atlanta for life-saving medical care has weakness or paralysis in her legs but is otherwise developmentally normal, doctors determined Monday.

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta said 3-month-old Noor al-Zahra is “smiling, interactive and playful” and is “eating well and gaining weight.” The hospital is assembling a team to perform free surgery tentatively scheduled for Monday.

Read the whole thing here.

Dr. Roger Hudgins, lead neurosurgeon at Children’s Healthcare, found that a mass on Noor’s back was not leaking fluid, which means her chances are low of contracting meningitis, said Kevin McClelland, a hospital spokesman. The doctor found “weakness or paralysis in the lower extremities, which will likely impair her ability to walk.” But he believes the baby will otherwise develop normally.

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An aside about the Atlanta Journal-Constitution web site: To follow most of the links in my Baby Nora series, you'll have to go through a short sign-up process. It's a one-time process that I went through well over a year ago. In that entire time I have yet to receive one unsolicited email from the paper. Just do it.

Posted by Bill Faith on January 2, 2006 at 05:28 PM in Baby Nora | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

(See all of my "Baby Nora" posts here.)

"Baby Nora" arrives in Atlanta.

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Baby Noor arrives in Atlanta

Baby Noor, the little Iraqi girl born with a severe spinal cord defect , arrived in Atlanta Saturday afternoon and moved a big step toward the medical care she needs to survive.

The baby’s grandmother cradled Noor in her arms as she stepped off an escalator and walked in the terminal of Hartsfield-Jackson International about 4:10 p.m [Saturday 12/31/05].

[...]

Members of the Gainesville[GA]-based Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment found the baby during a search of the family home in the slums of Abu Ghraib, just west of Baghdad.

[Read the whole thing here.]

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Child’s smile melts hearts, renews hope
Mona Basu, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Baghdad, Iraq — Journalists are not supposed to become part of the story they are reporting. All week long, I kept telling myself that I had to keep my distance.

It wasn’t easy.

The subject of my stories was a beautiful 3-month-old baby who represented all that is good in the midst of an ugly war that randomly snuffs out innocent lives almost every day.

Noor al-Zahra, born with a severe spinal cord defect, could not understand why Iraqi doctors lacked the resources to make her well. She didn’t understand the incredible risks her family and American soldiers had taken so that she might have a new chance at life.

But Noor could flash a smile that melted hearts.

She could fix her gaze on mine and take me away from the evil that lurked outside — the rocket attacks, improvised explosive devices, car bombs and gunfire.

She took me away from the shocking living conditions of her neighbors; away from the children with no shoes playing in mountains of trash and streams of sewage that snake through eastern Abu Ghraib.

[Read on here.]

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Miltary.com has more on the story here. Hat tip: Greyhawk..

Posted by Bill Faith on December 31, 2005 at 06:00 PM in Baby Nora | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack