I'M A GRANDPA AGAIN!

[bitzerguy]

Held breath released!! Sending more prayers and positive vibes from here.

[rickenbrother]

Glad the news is good so far and I hope it stays all good! Positive thoughts prayers, and good wishes continue from Diane and I!

[collin]

Wow.

Late to the news here (beyond congrats for the new Grandaughter!). Scary situation, i'm sure -- glad to hear that things are going positive again, and my thoughts are with your family right now. That is an unbelievably tough situation to go through this week, after the immense joy of a new birth.

Plenty to be grateful for, though--glad she's doing alright now.

[jingle_jangle]

Here's the latest on Madeleine's progress. This is from an email from my daughter, Andrea and her husband, Cris. The italics are mine, particularly apt since I am so accustomed to viewing this type of situation from an American point of view, "how are they going to pay for this, and how can we help?":

"On Thursday, as explained, Madeleine went through a very
aggressive surgery to allow her to wait for heart transplant with a
decent amount of certainty over the coming months.

As we told you, post surgery was the critical time. Although the
evolution of Madeleine after the surgery was not bad, it was not ideal.
Her organs, mainly her heart and kidneys were working overtime which was
problematic and could create more problems in the near future. With that
in mind, the doctors decided to go to the next stage which was to put
her on ECMO. This is a machine (there are only 3 for infants in Spain)
which acts as an external heart and in this case also as external
kidneys. The objective is to let her heart and kidneys rest for a while,
let some of the medicines drain (she was taking lots of medicines to
help her post surgery), and then try to put her body back on those
processes in the early part of the week. Until then there should not be
much of a change.

Hearing your messages and voice of hope
and support is very important for us on those low moments. Also
Madeleine will be very impressed when years from now she reads all the
love and friendship in the messages that all of you passed to her.

While we are sorry to be so far away from all of you and your support, I
feel very fortunate that Madeleine was born in a country with such a
good health care system. Since we transferred her to her current
hospital, we haven't had to worry a minute about how we were going to
pay for it. She has her own nurse 24/7, the best doctors in Spain, and
the best technology available, and we haven't had to fill out one
hospital billing form or make one phone call to an insurance company. I
don't know how parents in the US could handle all that at a moment like
this. "

[egosheep]

Thanks for the update, Paul. We will keep the good thoughts flowing.

It's amazing to hear about the care they are getting in Spain. Going through a situation like this would give many people a different perspective, I'd imagine.

[johnthebassist]

Congratulations, Paul!!! I hope you are able to meet very soon!!

John

[wmthor]

Paul, my thoughts and prayers are with Madeleine.

[johnallg]

Still a pretty long road ahead, but it sounds like little Madeline is a trouper. Thoughts are with you all, Paul.

[tristanbacker]

Paul all my prayers for Madeline and your family. As you say here in Spain the medical assistance is free whenever you or your parents (if you are -18 years) have the medical card call SIP. You can obten that card if you are legal resident in Spain (normally you are resident with a work contract). It's diffent if you are from European Comunity (like UK, France, Germany etc). The british pensioners comes to my county (Alicante) to live and they can obten the medical card automatic without work contract. Always in my county therea are doctors and nurseys that speak english for the british people. Paul feel free to ask me anything.

[electrofaro]

Paul, great to hear things are moving forward for Madeleine. I'm hoping for more good news to follow!

Bills or no bills, it's good to read the medics seem to be doing all they can do for the little one, which is what matters most at current.

[jingle_jangle]

Update yesterday on Madeleine!

She's still on a heart-kidney machine, but is breathing on her own. She will remain on the machine until a donor is found. Fortunately, she has a very common blood type. She's getting stronger and is losing fluids (which is a good thing; these were a byproduct of her initial surgery).

She was put onto the heart donor list on the 26th, so it's right now just a waiting game.

[scotty]

Im sending you and your family all my very best wishes Paul.

[johnallg]

Me too. Thanks for the update, Paul. With my first grandchild (also a granddaughter) coming in June, I can only imagine your family's concern.

[egosheep]

Best wishes and good vibes going to Madeleine, Paul.

[gibsonlp]

I just read the updates and I am shocked!!!
OMG, Paul - I hope you and your family are holding up, this is not easy.
So far Madeleine seems like a tough little girl, I am praying for her.

I am glad to hear that Spain offers high quality healthcare for free, at least it takes these concerns our of the equation.

Good luck!