Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Here's what has happened so far...

Thank you all so much for the outpouring of love and support. It has been a roller-coaster ride for the past day and a half. Our plan is to update this every so often because we have limited cell coverage here in the hospital and we have had little time to go outside and make calls and send texts. Also give us something to do while we anxiously wait around.

Vittoria was born with Marfan Syndrome. It is a connective tissue disorder tha causes a lot of problems for those affected with it. Here is a link to the National Marfan Foundation for those that would like to know a little more about it. www.marfan.org

Our little angel exhibits most of the symptoms of Marfan and has been through a lot in her young life. She has had heart surgery as a toddler and has had the VEPTR (rods in her back) for many years.

Yesterday's heart surgery was to be her 16th surgery and we are trying to decide if we count this as just the 16th or the 16th, 17th and 18th. Everything went well in the surgery until it was time to finish up. That is when things turned a little scary. She basically crashed and they had to go back in and change a few things. The 7 hour surgery turned into around 12.

Things were somewhat stable but started to slowly deteriorate through the night. She had a Heart Cath this morning and found that the a Coronary Artery was partially blocked and they put a stint in and got the flow going. Luckily the muscle was not dead. Once that was fixed a new leak surfaced. She then was opened up again to find that.

Now she is back in the ICU on an ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation - like a heart/lung machine). We will let her rest and recover for a few days and let the machine do all of the work. The hope is that the heart will heal and recover. It is the only option left.

Please continue to pray for our little princess.

16 comments:

  1. Great job, Tori! This is exactly what Julie and I were talking about. Call if you need beds. Or some Gwen therapy. We have lots of inventory to go around! 801.712.4249 my cell

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  2. I only got it started. The rest is James and Jana.

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  3. I just saw her and her color is pretty good. WHat a sweetheart. We Love you Vittoria, Giacomo, Val and James .

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  4. Thank you for the blog. We are thinking about and praying for Vittoria constantly. I love the collection of pictures of Vittoria as the blog header. She is so beautiful. We love you guys.

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  5. Vittoria and you all are in my prayers and thank you for the blog, I have been wondering all day how she has been doing.

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  6. Brandon said...
    While we are waiting, please share some Vittoria stories like the time she flipped the Bishop's ear during the Primary Program. We love her and we can't imagine what you guys must be going through. Hang in there.

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  7. We love you. We will keep you in our prayers

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  8. Our continued love, thoughts and prayers pour out to all of you! PLEASE let us know what we can do for any of you! I would love to help with kids so that you can be at the hospital! you just let phil or i know! love you all to pieces :)

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  9. Our thoughts and prayers are with her, and your entire family! Please let us know if there is any thing we can do to help!

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  10. Our thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family. if you need anything let us know...

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  11. We are praying for you and your family! Don't hesitate to call if we can do anything for you. We are thinking of you and what is happening so this blog will be a great way for us to keep up to date! We love you guys!

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  12. Our thoughts and prayers are with Vittoria and your family. If there is anything we can do please let us know. We love you guys. Dylan said to tell you that Vittoria is in his prayers and so is your family. Love ya, Dorrell, Michele, Dylan & Baylee

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  13. James and Val,
    It was really good to see you both today, although I wish it had been under other, happier circumstances. Our hearts go out to you during this most difficult time and you've been in our thoughts and prayers ever since we found out. We wish so much that there was something more we could do or say to help out. We'll probably come back Sunday for another visit. Try to get some sleep whenever you can and continue to trust in and rely on the Lord. He hears your pleas and love your little family. We love you guys too - hang in there!
    Rod, Lora and girls

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  14. 12 years in the emergency medical field, does not prepare even the most hard hearted.

    I went to PCH to support Vittoria and her family and it end up being me that needed the hugs and had tears streaming down my face.

    The strength in Vittoria is far beyond anything we can imagine.

    Please, remember prayer is the simplest yet most powerful tool we have to support Vittoria. Pray for her every moment of every day. Pester the Lord until he send this giant among children home to live with her parents and brother.

    Rod Wirthin

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  15. Hey guys, we just want you to know you are all in our thoughts and prayers! I put Vittoria's name in the Vernal Temple as well! She is a beautiful and strong little girl!!!
    We love you! Misti, Seth,
    Jackson, Easton, and Brynli Taylor

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