"We Love Andrea" was created to update Andrea's friends as she went through a difficult journey. After her second heart transplant when her pulse began to speed up she was given a pacemaker, then a Heart Mate II or LVAD. She was in the Stollery Children's Hospital, then the Mazankowski heart unit in Edmonton, Alberta for 7 months. However, she peacefully died on May 11, 2011 when the rest of her heart and other organs could handle the strain no longer. If you come to this blog, pray for her family and friends, remember to tell your friends you love them, then sign your organ donor card.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Walked 35 Feet Between the Bars

Good Evening
 
Today was another good one for Andrea.  We went down to the physiotherapy gym for her to use the parallel bars, I pushed the wheelchair between them and she walked between the bars from one end nearly to the other end 3 times, a total of 35 feet, with very little assistance from the physiotherapist at all.  If she is feeling this good on Monday she will start Andrea out with a walker and see how she does.  In the afternoon she was up in the dialysis clinic again.  As she becomes more mobile and activity increases, it becomes more of a balancing act to remove the correct amount of fluid.  This is especially true in her case because of the pump, it can run a little low on the intake side from a lack of volume, meanwhile it maintains a constant speed and circulation is the same as if she would be walking around or excercising.  Andrea is the first patient with a VAD to go up there for dialysis, so it is a bit of a learning curve for all involved, extra training was needed etc, hopefully things will work a bit better in the future.  We hope to have her here in the RMH tomorrow and overnight till Sunday night.  I think we are more prepared now and she is stronger too, maybe the weather will warm up so we can go out a bit.  Now it is time for bed.
 
 Goodnight, Maynard

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