Relief was writ large on the faces of Nadeem Sajjad and Tayyaba Nadeem, parents of two-and-a-half year old Noor Fatima, the Delhi-Lahore 'Dosti' bus passenger who underwent a successful open heart surgery at a private hospital in Bangalore on Tuesday.
"We are relieved now", the couple, who spent a sleepless night yesterday, told PTI. "We felt elated and paid obeisance to Allah after doctors came out of the operation theatre to break the news that the surgery was successful."
With strains of anxiety and tension visible on their faces, Nadeem and Sajjad said they had not even a drop of water since morning. "We are relieved now after seeing our child," they said.
"Dr Rajesh Sharma informed us last night that the surgery would be performed tomorrow morning. And both of us could not sleep. Especially my wife, who was very tensed up since the surgery was a complicated one," Sajjad said.
"My daughter unmindful of the tension we went through was happily playing till she went to sleep and we were in tears thinking about tomorrow as the innocent child did not know that it would undergo a high risk surgery," he said.
"Without knowing what was in store for us tomorrow, we left everything to God," 29-year-old Tayyaba said.
Recounting the tension filled moments she went through this morning, Tayyaba said she and her husband were worried when their daughter was moved into the operation theatre between 0630 hrs to 0645 hours.
Sajjad and Tayyaba said they had to undergo 'highly painful hours' awaiting the outcome of the surgery, which went on for about six hours.
"After surgery the doctors came to us and told it has been successful," the couple said. "Only then we could literally breathe."
Sajjad and Tayyaba were in the grip of emotion when the child was brought into the Intensive Thoracic Unit and the couple was allowed to see her for 'just about 60 seconds'.
"Her face and breathing seemed to be normal, though she was unconscious. However, we are confident now," Tayyaba said.
Sajjad said doctors had told him that they would be see Noor twice daily and she would be kept in ICU for two or three days before being shifted to TI BH.