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Welcome to Colena's Corner of the Web. The music you are hearing is called "Doe Eyes" and that is what Colena was born with! "Doe Eyes" was the love theme to the movie "The Bridges of Madison County" and it is my love theme for Colena. There are no lyrics, it was written by Clint Eastwood who is a big Jazz lover like myself and the
lyrics, as
I put it, come right into your heart when you hear it. I think it is by far one of the most beautiful pieces I have heard and it reminds me of Colena all the time. I have it in my library and I play it during her bath each and everyday.
I just want the world to know this amazing little girl... Let us know you stopped by...please sign our guestbook. Thank you for visiting! |
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On November 24, 1999, I had a scheduled ultrasound to see why I was so late for delivery. On that day the ultrasound technician was extremely quiet and the testing took a long time. During the ultrasound, the tech discovered I was already in
labor
and she urged to me go to the hospital. I told her I had to take my two boys home first and then I would go straight there. Once at home, my doctor called and told me to immediately go to the hospital because the baby did not have any heart valves. This still rings in my ears. I went straight to our local hospital and was told not to move until the ambulance arrived to transport me to a neonatal unit for delivery. Once I arrived at Woman's College Hospital I delivered a beautiful baby girl - 8 pounds 15 ounces. I got to see her for only a second before they immediately began testing. The next day we transported her to Sick Children's Hospital and met with Dr. Jin Lee to see our options. The diagnosis? Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome or HLHS. We were faced with three very scary choices: Compassionate Care (do nothing and let Colena die), Heart Transplant (but there aren't enough donor hearts), and a 3 stage operation, called the Norwood Procedure, that would redirect
the blood through Colena's heart and make the right side of her heart do all the work (the success rate for these surgeries is now close to 80%). We chose the three phased surgical repair. Our surgeon, Dr. Van Arsdell, completed the Norwood (the first stage) when Colena was five days old. Colena had a rough ride through the Norwood but came home one month later. We were home one week and then she developed pneumonia that sent us back to the hospital for another month. She remained healthy until her Glenn (second stage) on June 5, 2000. We are currently waiting for news in each and every echo to see if Colena will be a candidate for the Fontan.
We
are
trying
her
on
a
beta-blocker
to
her
alleviate
the
stress
on
her
heart.
Colena
has
always
had
poor
heart
function
and
so
far
this
has
helped.
Her
next
echo
will
be
in
September
and
will
hopefully
show
some
improvement.
We
are
reminded
each
and
everyday
about
the
wonderful
people
in
our
lives.
We
have
had
the
best
surgeon,
Dr.
VanArsdell
and
the
best
nurses
at
Sick
Kids
in
Toronto.
At
home
we
have
also
been
fortunate
to
have a
great
cardiologist,
Dr.
Menon
and
his
staff
Sandra
and
Shanti.
In
addition
our
family
doctor,
Dr.
Watts,
Diane
and
Donna
who
have
always
been
there
for
us.
They
say
it
takes
a
village
to
raise
a
child
and
what
a
great
village
we
have!
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