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"Gino was born in Spain in 1981.
He was born with a congenital heart defect called Truncus Arteriosus. He
was beautiful...
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| No one in Spain could tell me what was wrong with him. We were in a
military hospital that didn't have the type of sophisticated equipment
that the hospitals in the United States had. The doctors were afraid to
let me take him home because his heart was so erratic. So they told me
I was sick, until they could figure it out. Finally, they came to me with
the truth and told me that he had "maybe" a heart murmur. They wanted us
to go off to Germany and have it checked.
We went to Frankfurt and they weren't sure what was wrong with him,
except that it was a murmur. They sent us to Lanstahl, Germany, to have
a cardiocatheterization done. After they found out what was wrong, and
talked to Bethesda MD they agreed that he HAD to go to Bethesda to be overseen
by my really great doctors stateside. The doctors there would explain what
was wrong and what needed to be done. |
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After we arrived there, they did thousands of tests and explained to
us what Truncus Arteriosus was. They explained that his pulmonary artery
was attached to his aorta and that the good blood in his body was mixing
with the already oxygenated blood and that they needed to create two more
chambers and input a valve in his heart. They didn't want to do this because
he was so young and his heart needed to get a little bigger, so they put
him on Digoxin and Lasix. They told us to go on to Norfolk, our next duty
station, and let him grow a little.
When he was two, a doctor in Norfolk, Virginia, had noted that he was
in heart failure because of his cyanosis. We were referred to a couple
of the best heart surgeons in the Tidewater area. They did the surgery,
and he was pink! I was thrilled. They input a Bjork-Shilley valve in his
heart. He ticked, but he was happy. He hardly had any leg muscles, and
he couldn't walk. His eyes seemed a little large to me, and the doctor
in Norfolk wanted to find out what it could be, why his eyes were wide
and separated. They wanted to do a study on him. I could not let this happen,
he had too much going on to him to let them probe around on him. |
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| One day I went into his room and saw these little blue marks on his
body. I was scared to death. I rushed him to the hospital, but by the time
we arrived, he was partially brain dead. I hated life and wanted to know
why "GOD" would do this to me? My husband told me that God didn't do this
to me, that this was between god and Gino. He also told me that Gino was
an angel... I couldn't believe this. I thought all children were angels.
One day some ladies from a local church came and explained to me how
lucky I was to be given an angel. They said that there was only a few special
people that were given angels in this world, and I was one. After this
I wanted to get involved with a group called Mended Hearts to see if I
could help people with my story. I didn't want to scare people, I didn't
want them to think that their children might die if they have heart surgery.
Gino possibly died of a malfunction in the valve - no one knows. All they
know was that he had an embolism to his brain. I always think of him, but
I am so comforted to know that someday we may all be together again. Gino
didn't die. Gino is in my heart. |
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| There is life after death. Dave and I now have 3 children,
all fantastic and healthy. We are very happy and doing well. People have
to realize that they can't just stop living because they lose someone they
love very much. I had a second cousin that lost her baby and wanted to
stop believing in ANYTHING or ANYONE. Life goes on and the one that you
lose wouldn't want you to cry. I also think that the people today should
be so thankful for what they have in the way of technology. We weren't
so lucky in 1983. We thought technology was great then, but nothing like
what they can do today!" |
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