Facts of Life
There is hope, and there is a nightmare:
A fireman rushes to save the lives of children trapped in a burning building.
An EMT works to rescue children who have been swept away during a flood.
A social worker struggles each night with street kid - drug addicts to get them safe shelter.
And a heart surgeon arrives in a foreign land to work with colleagues to give families and children one last glimmer of hope.
In the nightmare, as in real life, sometimes there isn’t a happy ending.
For heroes like the Romanian and American medical teams working side by side in Bucharest, the nightmare became a reality Sunday afternoon. The team recognized that some of the patients were presenting with very extreme medical needs. Most would die without care. Some may die even after the best possible care. These heroes did not waiver, but chose to give hope - a chance for healing. Sunday, they came face to face with the nightmare as Rebecca’s heart refused to restart after going into a spontaneous respiratory and then cardiac arrest.
She died after all attempts to revive her failed. Her life and death touched every member of the team from both nations. Each caregiver, in their own way, grieved and reacted Sunday. Over meals, and in hallway discussions, they reviewed their work, and renewed their commitment.
Monday morning, the team got into the cars for their ride to the hospital. The children, and their mother’s are waiting. The work continues. . .
Three cases were scheduled for surgery today and Dr. Russo is working under a earlier deadline today as he is scheduled to present one of his research papers to the assembled members of the Romanian Cardiology profession at their monthly meeting at the hospital where Flight for Life is working.
The second case today was an add on case. One of the patient’s conditions has worsened and Dr. Russo has decided to operate and do a short term fix, and then the Romanian doctors will follow up with additional surgery later. However, once in surgery, Russon determined it was possible to do the entire fix necessary and perrformed all the work. She is in ICU recovering.
Children who are doing better are resting on the ward ready to go home.; In the United States, they may go home in a day or so, here in Romania, they will stay in hospital for a few weeks so they can be followed closely.
And as a reminder of the ever present urgent need, the hallways of the hospital Clinic Fundeni filled with parents and children from the nearby region who learned of the exchange through the local newspaper and television coverage and arrived today with their medical records in hand, hoping for the Gift of Life.
