Baby D. was originally scheduled to have heart surgery on May 9th. He was to be admitted to the hospital on May 7th, however. Two days before he was to be admitted, he got very sick with bronchio-pneumonia. He's had that before, so we're not sure if it never really went away or if it came back on its own again after being totally treated. He ended up back in the children's hospital and surgery was called off. Unfortunately a side effect of these heart problems is a low immune system with continued respiratory issues, and Baby D. has certainly had his share of respiratory issues!
May 8th, Elizabeth, a nursing student from Texas who asked to come and care for Baby D. before/after his surgery arrived in Bolivia. She stayed with him at the hospital, and when he was discharged, she continued caring for Baby D. in isolation. Katrina, a former Casa de Amor volunteer, has also come back to Bolivia for a couple weeks and has been helping a lot with Baby D.'s care, as well. He is finally eating more than an ounce at a time (he's up to 4.5 ounces!), and GROWING! Heart surgery has been rescheduled for May 22nd, and he was admitted to the hospital today!
Someone must be with him 24/7 in these few days leading up to surgery, so Elizabeth and Katrina will be taking over these shifts. After surgery, he will be in ICU for several days (I think just through Sunday as long as everything is going well) and no one is allowed to stay with him… Although Elizabeth somehow talked the doctor into letting her stay with him in ICU which we are happy about as he won't be alone! The scary part about these few days in ICU is that he's expected to go into heart failure during the first 12-48 hours. Keep him in your prayers!
So… now we wait for surgery. From what I've heard, his hospital admission was fairly uneventful. He has a private room, another thing we are happy about! He needs to be around as few people as possible to keep the amount of germs down. I think we've all been holding our breath this week as we wait for this time, so it's a great feeling to be able to exhale and know that he made it to the hospital for surgery!
These pictures were taken this afternoon before Elizabeth, Katrina, and Baby D. headed to the hospital:
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