Support for Alley Jane Vargas
As most of you know, our daughter Alley, was admitted to Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital on Wednesday, April 19th. What we thought would be a routine sick doctor's visit, wasn't. Alley's pediatrician performed an x-ray, which showed that her heart was enlarged, and they advised us to bring her to the ER immediately. Upon arriving, doctors and nurses surrounded her and the poking and struggle seemed to be never ending. She was quickly moved from the ER to Pediatric ICU, where she was then sedated and intubated. The doctors here have performed ECHOs (heart ultrasound), x-rays, and labs on a daily basis. As of now, she is on 3 different sedatives, a diuretic, a medication to help her heart pump blood and oxygen better, she is being fed through a tube, as well as having a machine breathe for her. Doctors believe that Alley has, and was born with, a rare disease called Dilated Cardiomyopathy. Bascially, the muscles around her heart (mostly the left side), are not strong enough to function properly. Because of this, the rest of her body is having to work harder, and is and can, cause fluid to build up in other organs, as well as cause infections.
Our most recent update, was definitely not what we were hoping to hear. To sum up what we've been told: A normal heart pushes out roughly 60% of the blood it takes in. When we got here, Alley was pushing out only 30%, so half of what she needed to be pushing. Today, she's only pushing out 16% of the blood her heart is taking in. Right now, we are waiting to be transferred to Texas Children's Hospital, so Alley can have the right medical team and treatment, as she battles this disease.
As you can imagine, being here is difficult. We spend most of our days here, calming down our little girl, that cries without sound, and can't tell us when she's uncomfortable or in pain. She's so heavily medicated that all she can do is look at us. She can't smile, can't clap her hands, she can't be the happy baby that we all know she truly is. That alone is a pain that very few can relate to, and a pain we wish on no parent.
We are blessed to have the prayers and support from you all, as we embark this journey that will, God willing, lead to a remarkable recovery, but being here is also not something we anticipated, and with this GoFundMe account, we ask for nothing more but donations to help us get through this. Doctors believe that this will be a long term hospital stay, meaning at least a couple of months. Parking here is $20 every 24 hours, and because she is in the Pediatric ICU, we have to eat downstairs at the cafeteria, which if you haven't had any hospital stays, costs about $12 for a cheap meal. With the severity of her condition, both of us are limited to the amount of time we can put into our own jobs. Doctors have asked us to be here at all times just in case they have any updates or concerns. With that being said, anything will help. We are trying our best to keep everyone updated with how she is doing. Thank you all so much for your love, prayers and donations, and have a blessed day.
