Please Daven for Avigayil Bas Rivka Batya.

Please Daven for Avigayil Bas Rivka Batya.

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Take a Moment to Breathe

Sha'are Zedek just opened a new children's hospital. It is AMAZING!! (More on this later) Today they are asking for our help to add equipment.

I want you to try something. Hold your breath. Keep holding. Say for 60 seconds. Now let go and feel your lungs fill up again. It's a relief right? Every day you breath over 20,000 times. And you do it without thinking. That is, until you can't do it.

The scariest thing is the world is not death. It's the fear that your child might die in front of you. Every breath is a struggle for Avigayil. Every breath is a gift. For her entire life she has been dependent on a Vapotherm machine. It is her literal life line. She used the hospital's machines and at home she uses a home version of the machine. Without the Vapotherm, Avigayil would not be able to breathe her 20,000 breaths. She is not the only one.

Sha'are Zedek is running a campaign to raise money to buy a new vapotherm. Below is the link and flier for the Campaign. I urge all of you to take a minute to read the information. If you can help, even with just a few shekels (or dollars) please consider it. Please also pass this on to anyone who might help. I can think of few things as worthy of tzadaka as helping a child breath.

http://www.give2gether.com/projects/Shaare-Zedek-Medical-Center-Jerusalem-Breathe/


PS. See if you can spot Avigayil in the video! 

The Story

B"H Avigayil is recovering nicely and in general back to herself. There is a part of the story that I did not share and, in fact, didn't even know part of, until she was discharged. Avigayil was saved from surgery at literally the last possible moment.  

Once the test confirmed that Avigayil's stomach was not where is should have been, the usual thing to do was race into emergency surgery. The problem is that Avigayil is an anesthesia risk. This means that there are real and serious risks in giving her general anesthesia (as the last time showed with her 2 week intensive care stay). In Avigayil's case surgery should be avoided whenever possible. On the way to surgery, the surgeon had an idea. It had never been tried before, but it was worth a shot. 

They took Avigayil to the angio lab. The plan was to use the guided imagery placed a wire through the whole from the PEG and tried to pull her stomach back into place. After several attempts it was still not working. There is a limited amount of time that the PEG can be out. Finally the surgeon called the OR and told them to prep a room for her they where going to try one last time and then head to the OR. Everyone was getting ready. Then, SUCCESS!! Everything slipped into place and they were able to complete the procedure. 

The skill of everyone involved and they willingness to think outside of the box and try something new is what saved her. It saved her from surgery and from all of the likely complications she almost certainly would have had. 

Thank you Doctors. 
Thank you Sha'arie Zedek. 
Thank you Hashem.