The 16th of October
2005, thanks to the generosity of hundreds of persons, Bella arrived at
the Clinique Universitaire Saint Luc
of Bruxelles. While she was taken care of by the medical team,
Bella's parents were taken in charge by the Chaîne de l'espoir
foundation and by a very generous Romanian-Indian family living in
Antwerpen.
The surgery was
scheduled for the 20th of October 2005. The intervention was prepared
by the insertion, under general anesthesy, of two catheters, one in the
left leg's vein and another under the left aisle.
Catheters served to
insert cameras and the surgical material for the banding operation.
After this first step Bella was waken up and she could see her Mom and
Dad.
The main surgery
started in the afternoon and lasted for more than 4 hours. The purpose
of the banding was to prevent the lung continuing to be flooded by blod
coming from the malformed heart. Bella spent
the next three day in the intensive care section and four more days
under constant monitoring at Saint Luc.
She left the
hospital on the
28th of October but she had to be consulted every day for one more
week.
During this week
physicians have to decide whether a second intervention to enlarge the
a valve is necessary. If the flux of blood in the heart improves, Bella
might go home by the 5th of November and return to Saint Luc in January
2006, provided money for the pre-fontan intervention are raised.
