After receiving the devasting news from Dr. Fox, he is a smart dude who realizes that Summerlin Hospital can not help Emerson.
He sends us to Sunrise Medical which has a top heart crew for the children’s hospital there. Andrea and Em take an ambulance. I follow in my car. We wait for the doctor to come and do an echo. The man that comes is named Dr. Mayman. Before he even begins, he gives us both a hug. I like him already. He reads the machine, and leaves the room saying he needs to “expedite things”. I know in my heart this isn’t good. He comes back and tells us she has a room in the PICU and for us to follow him into the quiet room to talk. No good conversations ever happen in the quiet room.
He is honest but also loving with us. He tells us what is happening (left side of heart is bigger and not pumping as well), and what could be potential fixes. The biggest thing is that he can already tell she will probably need a heart transplant and that he wants to get on places to send her, because Sunrise can not do that as well. This is about 11 am.
Sunrise does everything it can to give her medications and see what they can do. Her heart rate is high. The heart machine would go off every time her heart rate went above 180, which happened often. You could tell she was laboring to breathe.
Dr. Mayman comes back in the evening to tell us he got her a room at Loma Linda Hospital, and that a team is coming to life flight her over as we are speaking. The reason for the urgency is because if something goes wrong, Loma Linda has the capabilities to help her; much more than Sunrise could. So, Andrea stays with Em. I drive out with two of our close friends. And my mom and sister drive out from San Diego. They told us that they would would get her about 9 pm. And so, what I am finding out about hospitals is that they are always later than they say. I can not thank Dr. Mayman and the team at Sunrise enough. They did the best that they could for Emerson, and were exceptional people to talk and help us. I already miss Dr. Mayman’s hugs.
My mom and sister get to Loma Linda about 10 pm. I arrive about 12 pm. Emerson and Andrea get to the hospital about 2 am. They settle her and we are able to visit. We head back to our hotel room at about 4 am. Emotionally and physically exhausted, tear-ridden, we cling to hope that our baby is going to be okay.
Monday. September 24th. The longest, most emotional, most stressful day of my life.
Your honesty is incredible. You are already making a difference in other people’s lives with your story.
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