Day 2 in 23B kids Heart ward at Starship : Cherish is over sitting in her bed and being wheeled around. She has 2 leaky heart valves the Right Mitral valve and the Aorta. Both valves need to be replaced and surgery will take place once her blood tests show that her heart is not as stressed as it is now. She has penicillin tablets 2x per day and she is on complete bed rest. I think thats a teen agers dream come true but not for Cherish, she is over it and wants to get up and simply walk. The need for the Rheumatic Fever information to be out in the community is vital and not just with the community members and whanau but for the doctors who look after us to also be aware and to order the throat swabs as routine until we see a decline. Once the kids suffer the attacks of Rheumatic Fever they end up with Rheumatic Heart Disease and if the heart valves are damaged seriously like Cherish, they will need their heart valve/s replaced with surgery. Open heart surgery is dangerous and necessary. We wait for her surgery date which unfortunately we have come to learn, is inevitable. Stupid to think that a simple throat infection and a swab at the local doctors and a 10 day course of antibiotics could have saved her heart.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Oct 2013 20:21:12 +0000
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