Judith Anabel Cruz

It is with great sorrow that I tell you that Judith passed away this morning. Please keep this sweet family in your prayers.

Judith needs our prayers!

I wish I had some good news to tell but unfortunately that is not the case. First I'll let you know that Edwin was readmitted to the hospital...he had a large chylous effusion and needed a chest tube but is doing much better now.

On Wed before Lori left the doctors had stated Judith on dialysis. On Thursday they were able to wean her vent some, she was having more purposeful movements and making some improvements. However, on Friday she took a turn for the worse. Her coags are all messed up and she required lots of blood products (platelets and FFP). She is now on higher vent settings and 100% oxygen and her pressures on the vent were really high. Her liver enzymes are incredibly elevated and her creatinine is high again. They also said she was less responsive and probably septic. For those of you who have informed me my blogs have too much medical terminology...the ventilator is doing all of the work for her, she is in renal failure, her liver isn't functioning well, she probably has an infection and we aren't sure of her neurological status.

If I get more info I'll post it. Thanks for your prayers.

Judith update

Not much has changed with Judith. They are still unable to get her off of the ventilator. She still has the PD catheter in but they haven't had to start dialysis yet. Thankfully she continues to have more purposeful movements. Please keep this sweet baby in your prayers.

So hard to say goodbye

Sunday was our last day at the hospital. We sent Liana, Andrea and Edwin to the floor to be in the care of the Honduran nurses along with Dennis. The four of them are doing well and should only need another day or two in the hospital before heading to the Barnabas House. Sunday was a very busy day for Judith. Her kidneys are still not functioning well so we placed a peritoneal dialysis catheter. Lori arranged for a Honduran pediatric surgeon to come and place the catheter. He was very nice and we are so grateful that he took the time to help us out. After Judith woke up from the sedation she received during the procedure we removed the breathing tube. We bring all the IV pumps and monitors with us so once the breathing tube was out I had to change out all of her meds so they could run on the Honduran pumps and put her on their monitor. I was concerned about how her blood pressure would tolerate changing her meds over but things went remarkably well. After that came trying to explain to the Honduran nurses how to take care of her. They don't take care of congenital heart defects and they hardly take care of children. I know that the are some of the best nurses in Honduras and they are wonderful people, we love them, but they truely aren't trained to take care of Judith and the issues she has. I broke down as I kissed Judith goodbye...I never knew leaving would be so hard. Her grandmother and I held each other tight as we said goodbye. We speak two different languages but it was like we knew exactly what the other was saying.

Yesterday we flew home. Such a long day on a plane for hours. I was so excited about getting home but so sad about leaving. Once I got home I got an update on Judith. She had some respiratory distress overnight and her oxygen sats were low so Monday morning they reintubated her and she is back on the ventilator. There was also some issues about where she was going to stay (Cemesa or the public hospital) and who is going to pay for her care.

Lori stayed in Honduras for a couple extra days to work out some details of Judith's care and I just got another update. She is still on the ventilator...they are hoping to get her off in the next day or two. Her renal function is slightly improved so they haven't had to start dialysis yet. She is still on a little bit of dopamine and hopefully they will be able to wean it off soon. With each day she seems to be moving more and making more purposeful movements. They were finally able to get her on TPN (IV nutrition) since she has not been able to eat and hopefully having better nutrition will give her more strength to recover faster.

It breaks my heart that we had to leave her. I wish so much that I could have stayed there until she was able to go home. I will continue to post updates on here as I get them. Thanks for all of your prayers they were very much felt and appreciated.

Final two surgeries completed!

Two more surgeries were completed today. Liana a 7 month old PDA and Andrea a 6 year old coarctation. Bothe girls are doing well and look great. Edwin is still in the ICU. He looks like he is beginning to feel better but is still not well enough to go to the floor. Judith needed another chetst tube this morning due to a lot of blood building up in her chest. This is one of the reasons we left her breathing tube in today. Another reason is that she may need a peritoneal dialysis catheter put in tomorrow if her kidneys don't start working properly. PD catheters are fairly common at home but not really something we do when we come down to Honduras. We are hoping her renal failure will improve over night so keep her in your prayers. It's still not obvious how much she was effected by the stroke hopefully it will be minimal. She does seem to be moving and responding more today so that is a good sign. We leave on Monday morning and it's going to be so hard to leave her.

We started packing today and quite a few team members have already left and another group leave tomorrow. Please keep everyone in your prayers as they travel.

Thank you for all the prayers!

Thank you to everyone who has prayed for Judith. This morning when I got to the ICU she had started moving and opening her eyes. However, he blood pressure was low so we had to start more meds to get it up. She is still very sick but we were able to decrease those meds a little bit before I left today. We did a CT of her head and found that she did have a stroke. Right now we do not know what kind of impact this will have on her, we are hoping it will be very minimal, but we will have to wait and see. She is very sick and has a long road ahead of her but we are hoping to take her off the ventilator tomorrow. Her family is amazing. Her mother died when she was just 1 so her father and grandmother are raising her. They have such a strong faith that is amazing and so rare. Every time I talk to them the remind me that it's all in God's hands and they are trusting him. They are such sweet people and so grateful for everything we have done.

Three more surgeries completed today! Three sweet boys had their hearts repaired today...7 year old Delvin, 16 year old Manuel and 8 year old Junior. Other than a little vomitting they are all doing very well and will probably go to the floor tomorrow.

Edwin the last surgery from yesterday is still in the ICU. He needed a little more time to recover before heading to the floor. He seemed to feel so bad today so hopefully he can get some rest tonight and have a better day tomorrow.

We had a wonderful surprise today...Angel, the sweet baby we took care of at the end of the week last year came to see us. Shortly after we left last year she went to New York and had his heart repaired. He looks amazing and of course so very cute!

Caths are done and we have two final surgeries scheduled for tomorrow. Please continue to pray for us as we are all exhausted. Also pray for a speedy recovery for these kiddos...it's so much easier leaving when we know they are all doing well.

WE NEED YOUR PRAYERS!!!

We need your prayers more than ever. Judith, sweet 2 year old little girl, went into the OR early this morning for a TET repair. After the surgery was complete and she was still in the OR she arrested and had to go back on bypass to allow the heart time to rest so she didn't make it into the ICU until about 7pm this evening. She is now in the ICU on the ventilator and her vital signs are stable but she hasn't moved or woken up at all. Things are not looking good and we need lots of prayers...we need a miracle. Please pray for this precious baby and her family.

All our surgeries from yesterday are now on the floor and doing well. Many of our kids are out of the hospital and at the Barnabas House recovering before they go home. A 4 year old little boy named Raul was supposed to have an ASD closure today but he is sick so we had to cancel the surgery. Fortunately he should be healthy enough to wait until next year for surgery. Suamy was the first case out today, he is an 11 year old ASD. Edwin, a 1 year old, had a TET repair today and seems to be doing well. Dennis is still in the ICU but is doing well and should be able to go to the floor tomorrow.

While I was waiting for the surgery kids to get to the ICU I had some free time to go play with all the kiddos who were waiting for caths and ECHOs. The were so cute and had a blast with stickers. They thought stickers were the greatest things ever and had them from head to toe! They were some of the sweetest, cutest kids and I just wanted to bring them home with me!!!

5 More Surgeries!!!

Well, Dennis had a very rough night last night but as we were leaving for the evening they were extubating him!!! Please pray he has a better night tonight. The other children that were operated on yesterday all went to the floor today and are doing very well.

Today five more children had heart surgery and all are well! First out of the OR was Ramon, a 15 year old who had an ASD repair. Edurado was out next, he is our sweet 13 month old who had a TET repair. A few hours later 5 year old Mable, our second ASD of the day, arrived and shortly after Thania, a 2 1/2 year old VSD arrived. We added a fifth surgery today which made things really busy. Claressy is a 7 year old with a PDA. They were unable to close her PDA in the cath lab so we operated on her today and she is doing well.

Lots more caths were done today as well. I still haven't figured out the total number completed this week but I know it's alot...when I do find out I'll let you know.

Thanks for all of your prayers...this wouldn't be possible without them!!!

More Pics

A few more pics for you to enjoy!

Surgery Day 2

What a busy busy day. The day started by pulling art lines and central lines on Astrid and Madeline and sending them to the floor. Later in the afternoon Arnold made his way to the floor and then after lots of negotiating Steven made it to the floor. Dr. Stromberg considered leaving Steven in the ICU since he had be the sickest of the four and we had extra beds but Steven was mad at him for letting everyone else go and bargained with him so that he could go as well.

Four more surgeries were done today. Anny (ASD), Nayeli (PAPVR), Dennis (ASD, VSD, PAH) and Jennifer (TOF). Anny and Nayeli came out first and did very well. Dennis and Jennifer both arrived within a few minutes of each other and kept us very busy. Jennifer is settled and doing well but Dennis is still very very sick. All of our patients have come back extubated except for Dennis. He is still on the ventilator, sedated, paralyzed and having some arrhythmias. Dennis seems to be doing a little better than we he first came back from surgery but he is still very sick. Please keep all of these children in your prayers.

First 4 surgeries completed!!!

Thanks for all your prayers...our bypass machine was repaired and we were able to run two ORs today. The first four surgeries are all in the ICU and doing well!!! Astrid was our first surgery of the year. She is 5 years old and had an ASD closure. She was awake, watching cartoons and playing with stickers and her stuffed turtle when we left for the night. Steven was our second surgery. He is 8 years old and had a TET repair. He is very very smart...he called Dr. Stromberg to his bedside and asked him if it was normal to have this much bleeding after surgery and then proceeded to negotiate with Dan on what time we would let him have something to drink. Next out of the OR was another 5 year old with an ASD repair named Madeline. She was awake and stable when we left but not happy with us because we wouldn't let her eat. Shortly after Madeline our last surgery of the day arrived. Arnold is an 22 month old with TOF and he is super cute!!! It was a great first day of surgery and tomorrow will be busy, busy, busy!!! I don't know the exact number but along with the four surgeries was have also completed many caths. Since our cath doctor was able to make it 3 other interventional cardiologist have taken his place. Tomorrow the second one leaves as the third one arrives. Please keep them in your prayers as they travel and pray that the transition is smooth and no flights get cancelled!

Now for a bit of sad news. Today a sweet 26 day old baby boy named Damion was brought to us by his mother and grandmother. They had heard the Cardiac Surgery Team was in town and they brought this precious little boy to us to see if there was anything we could do for him. Unfortunately he has a very complex heart defect that we are unable to repair here in Honduras. Lori and others are working to see if there is anyway we can get him to the states but it doesn't look good. If this baby doesn't have surgery soon he will not live. Please keep this family in your prayers.

A few more pics...

I thought you'd enjoy a few more pics. Until I can figure out how to post more pics on here you are all welcome to visit my myspace or facebook...all the pics should be on there at some point this week.