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Whitney, April 2010 |
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Whitney, 2006 |
We still feel that the care we received at Primary and under the care of her Cardiologist, Dr. Young, was stellar. The memories of that place and time still bring tears of joy and sadness. Nothing more bittersweet than time spent in a PICU.
Post-Glenn, we moved to Sacramento. We came here to get closer to sea level (compare Salt lake @ 4200 feet to 42 feet here in College Greens) and to have Whitney's Fontan performed at Lucille Packard down at Stanford. It was a shy two years of waiting for the "right" time with a lot of time spent away from friends and activities not wanting to catch anything that might slow down Whitney's growing... not to mention all the worrying about low oxygen saturations. But it worked and soon enough our little Bean was big enough and showing the right pressures and down to Palo Alto we went.
The surgery went well and the recovery too, though we were readmitted with plural effusions after having been home but one day... but managed to avoid a pigtail or another chest tube. Again I have to say that the care we received at Lucille Packard was, all in all, superb. The nursing was beyond compare. And the recreational therapy, with the play room and the room visits and the musicians was a "life" saver.
It's now approaching the one year mark and Whitney is doing just great. Her stamina is way up as well as her spunkiness (it sometimes seems that we're getting payback for missing the terrible twos). She's in pre-school and ballet class and doesn't seem to have missed a beat. And her cardiology visits are so far apart now that I forget when they are.
June, 2006 Update
Whitney Bean is now a big sister. We have been instructed in no uncertain terms that she is now to be called Sissy. OK! Catherine Anne came to us in the middle of a beautiful, California night. It was a joy to be able to get her and the family out of the hospital in under 36 hours.
Whitney could not be more adoring of her baby sister and is bursting at the seems to start teaching her everything...it seems she grew up overnight. We are so proud of her and feel blessed every single day to have our sweet and loving little Bean here with us... we also feel so much gratitude to all the doctors and nurses who have devoted their lives to giving life back to these heart kids.
April, 2010 Update
Whitney is now 7 years old and making plans to party hard this June 14th when she'll be turning 8. She's informed us that she will be donating her presents to the recreational therapy room at UC Davis Children's Hospital. We think it's a good idea too. We remember a lot of QFT (quality family time) spent in the play room at the hospital... sometimes just watching other kids play when we were too tired and sore to play much ourselves.
The way Whitney lives her life is still a miracle to us. We're blessed for sure. She's still the girl nobody can believe has a major heart defect. She's active, bright, inquisitive and possesses an absolutely stunning inner beauty.
Her heart health continues to be excellent. We see the cardiologist twice yearly now and have had no complications with the exception of a sprung chest wire that managed to poke right through the skin. She dealt with it very bravely...even when she woke up to find it sticking through her nighty.
We do struggle a bit lately with some emotional issues surrounding her inability to participate in swimming and soccer (doctor's orders) when most of her friends do. But all in all, we get the sense Whitney understands what the important things in life really are.
