The Children's Heart Project

Someday I hope I can live in, or at least near, a bigger city that has a hospital that participates in the Children's Heart Project, like Peoria. Last year when Olivia was is the hospital we learned of this project. I've always kept it in my heart and in my mind. It's always completely amazed me. You may have heard of the organization Samaritan's Purse (http://www.samaritinspurse.org/). It's a Christian mission organization that helps the poor, sick, and hurting in less fortunate countries. For example, you can donate money to buy a goat for a family, or donate money to buy medication for HIV/AIDS patients, the list goes on. Anyway, the Children's Heart Project brings heart kids from countries that don't have the technology and expertise to perform needed operations. Last year during one of our admissions we saw at least 3 kids of different ages come through from the Heart Project. There is a little guy next door to us right now from Kosovo who had his heart fixed. Usually the mom and one other person travels with their child and stays with a volunteer family during the surgery and after discharge until they get the okay to go home. There is usually a translator that also stays with the family to help with communication barriers. The doctors and surgeons donate their time and expertise to do the operation and follow-up care. The sponsoring family donates their time to help with accommodations, travel to and from the hospital, and to support the visiting family. Last time I checked, if you had 100 people donate a mere $22.00 you could bring a child here and potentially save, or at least, extend a child's life. The $2200.00 usually covers the cost of their round-trip flight and I believe the rest is covered by sponsoring churches, families, and doctors. Can you imagine how good that must feel? Maybe it will work out that someday we can be one of those amazing families that can sponsor a heart kid from another country. We'll try to get Olivia all taken care of before we venture down that road. Anyway, check out the website.
So, Olivia is doing well. It's just a matter of tweaking here and there to keep her stable. One of the cardiologist's popped in this morning and said he plans to bring a really strong case into cath conference on Monday regarding Olivia. He really thinks they should schedule her as soon as possible. He keeps seeing more red flags with her. She is not able to wean off of her epi drip whatsoever, which is another reason he believes she needs to be repaired ASAP.
So far, all of her cultures have come back as negative, so the one positive culture was most likely a contaminant. She's had a fever here and there, but most likely that is just her stress response. They continue to send cultures, so we need lots of prayers that she stays infection free so she is able to go to surgery with no hold-ups! Monday can't get here soon enough!