Elena's surgery was today!  Please say a prayer for Elena's restful recovery.

It was a long day but a very rewarding one!!!I arrived at the Ronald McDonald House at 6:15am to the smiles of Elena and her family.  We had to be at the hospital at 6:30am so we made it there in plenty of time.  It was cold, dark, and the beginning of a very long day for Elena and her family.

We were ushered into a room in the same day surgery area at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.  Sean, our cameraman for Channel 9 News, met us in our room so that he could shoot some footage of Elena playing and being a "normal" child before her life-saving open-heart surgery was started.  Elena and her brother Sasha were playing with some toys provided by her nurse, Beverly.

After having some time to play and after getting her preliminary measurements taken, saw the surgeon, Dr. Manning and a lot of other key medical personnel who would be working on Elena, she was given some "Happy" juice to relax her.  That's when Sean got some beautiful pictures of Elena relaxing and smiling.   She was quite the trooper!!!

It was finally time for Elena to go to the operating room so we all got to walk her to her surgical destination and kiss her good luck as her anesthiologist carried her into the O.R.   Now the waiting game began at just 7:20 in the morning!

I was so glad to have Betsy as our nurse practioner not only for Elena's parents but for me as well.  Betsy knows our Foundation very well and it was great to be working with a someone who knows what we are trying to accomplish with helping families such as Elena's.  Betsy gave us the first update stating that they had gotten all of Elena's lines in and they were ready to start her operation.  This normally takes close to an hour or more just to get to this point.  The next update was that the incision had been made and that her shunt was removed, patch was put over the hole in her heart and things looked good with her valve.  The next time Betsy talked with us was that they had taken Elena off of the bypass machine because things looked good.  The bypass machine does the work for the heart so that it can be operated on.  After doing some measuring, Dr. Manning did not like the pressures that were showing so Betsy let us know that Elena was being put on bypass a 2nd time so that he could open up her valve to make it bigger and put a patch over it so as to enlarge this opening. 

After this we figured it would take some time but the time seemed to be dragging by so slowly even though the clock was ticking, time for me was going by too fast because we hadn't received an update in awhile.  I thought to myself this isn't good and I was really getting concerned because we hadn't heard anything.

Finally Betsy came out to let us know that Elena had to be put on the bypass for a 3rd time and finally a 4th time to make sure her repair was right for her.  The whole time Betsy said that Elena was stable while being operated on which is good but 4 times is quite the number of times to be on bypass.

Betsy suggested we go get something to eat because it was after 2pm and we were all getting pretty hungry and so we went to the cafeteria for a bite to eat.  A few short minutes after coming up from the cafeteria to the waiting area, Betsy came back to see us and said that Dr. Manning was wrapping up things and he would see us shortly.  It was a few short minutes later that we were being paged to hear the results from the surgeon himself. 

Sean, from Channel 9 News, was wonderful enough to stick around with us the whole time so that he would record Dr. Manning talking with Elena's family and hearing the good news that she was fixed even though it took longer than what any of us estimated, she was repaired.  Sometimes with these heart kids, they don't read the book of what is standard - a lot of times they have their agenda and when they decide to turn the corner for the better, they do and we as parents and ones praying for them, just have to be patient!  And sometimes that's very, very hard to do!!!

After Dr. Manning talked with us, we moved up to the 6th floor Cardiac ICU waiting area.  I suggested to Pavel and Jennifer to take a break for a little bit since they couldn't see Elena for about another hour so that the CICU staff could get her stablelized in her own room so they took Sasha for a walk outside.  I was sitting with Joi who came up to visit us while we were waiting.  Joi has Sara who also has had a Tetralogy of Fallot repair like Elena was having.  (You can see Joi and Sara on our video on the home page of our website.) 

Finally it was time for Pavel, Jennifer and Sasha to see Elena.  Child Life specialists came to talk with them first to let Sasha know what his sister was going to look like.  They took a Polaroid picture so he could see her first in a picture before actually seeing her in person to lesson the shock.  For those of you who have never experienced a post-op heart patient, and a child at that, it can be quite scary! 

After coming out from seeing Elena, her parents thought she looked good and so did I after being able to see her.  The first 48 hours can be quite trying especially after getting her heart messed with as much as she did.  I ask that you continue to pray for Elena and her family as it will be quite the challenge with having a very active brother who is not allowed in the CICU and with juggling spending time between the children.  My Mom and Dad have offered to have Sasha come to play with my nephews, their grandchildren and Joi has offered as well. We'll just play this by ear to see how things go.

So for now, it was a very long day, but such a rewarding one as well!  The game plan for the rest of the night is to keep Elena intubated so that the ventilator is doing the work for her and let her rest.  She's had a rough, rough day and she needs her just lay low and rest.  Tomorrow the doctors and nurses and therapists will see how she is doing and if she is ready, they will extubate her.  Getting her off of the ventilator will allow her to breath on her own and start the process of recovery!

I ask you again, to please, if you could think of them, say a prayer for them if this is appropriate for you to do and lastly, if you have not done this already, please think about sending Elena and her family a card and you can send it to:

Ronald McDonald House
c/o The Cherkasov Family, Room 20
350 Erkenbrecher Avenue
Cincinnati, OH  45229

Thank you to those who have already sent them a card - the cards that they have received already has really brightened their days!!!  It's amazing what joy these cards can bring to lift their spirits.  It's always hard being away from home but then when you add a holiday into the picture, it can be even more stressful so thank you in advance for taking a few minutes of your time to jot a few words down such as "I'm thinking of you!" on a piece of paper - it's not necessary to run to the store to buy a card, a single piece of notepaper is fine - it's the jesture of good will that will mean the most.   Please feel free to tell them your connection with our Foundation if you'd like as well.  Sometimes it's nice to put the connections together.

We have shared with Jennifer and Pavel that we have some of the most wonderful people believing in what we are trying to accomplish with Aubrey's Foundation and during this Thanksgiving season, we want to recognize how blessed we really are!!! 

November 22, 2006Carol Williams "Healthy Living" Segment 
Carol Williams with Channel 9 News will be doing a story on Elena and all of the wonderful footage that Sean has videoed of Elena and her family's journey with coming here from Russia for her open-heart surgery.  This will air at the 5pm news slot.  We want to thank Channel 9 News producer, Stephanie, as well for producing this segment, coming to the airport with Sean to meet Elena and her family and for believing in our "Healing the World's Hearts" program.  We're hoping that Carol Williams along with Stephanie and Sean can raise awareness of our organization's mission and programs so that we can continue to bring many children from the United States and from around the world to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for much needed life-saving open-heart surgeries.

There will also be a follow-up story the following Wednesday, November 29 during the 5pm news to give everyone an update on Elena and her condition after surgery.  Hopefully we will have some great coverage of Elena playing again and being a "normal" child.

Great news - Elena was released from the hospital yesterday!  

Six short days and Elena was released from the hospital!!Afer Elena's surgery, she stayed on the ventilator until the next morning so that she could rest.  Most of that day she slept off and on and was mostly out of it.  She got moved to the step-down unit on Wednesday and Thanksgiving was a resting day.  On Friday she got to go to the playroom with her brother and Saturday, she was released to the Ronald McDonald House.  Pretty amazing for little but might girl!!!

Elena's parents and brother got to celebrate Thanksgiving with our family and friends with the traditional Thanksgiving day fare and then we got to celebrate Elena's release with a home cooked meal by Elena's Dad, Pavel.  He made homemade lasagna that was delicious!!!

It has been wonderful to be able to make new friends in Russia with Elena's family and we hope to be able to collaborate with them when they return to Russia with their work with orphanages.  Hopefuly through them, we can bring other Russian children to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for needed open-heart surgeries much like Elena has experienced.

Jennifer and Pavel are wonderful people who truly appreciate what Aubrey's Foundation is doing in funding Elena's surgery.  What they don't know is how rewarding this has been for us in being able to help get Elena's heart fixed.  We have truly enjoyed their company and have made new life-long friends.

Thank you to everyone for your unending support!We would like to thank each and everyone of your for your cards that you sent to the Cherkasov's, for your prayers, for your time in reading updates on Elena and for just thinking of them.  This all means so much.  Isn't it amazing how a little girl just three years old can bring a community, a state, and countries together - it's pretty amazing!!!

Thank you also to the staff at Cincinnati Children's Hospital for giving wonderful care to Elena and her family.  All of you who have worked with Elena have done an amazing job.  We also want to say that we truly appreciate Children's working with Aubrey's Foundation in coordinating with us to make this surgery possible.

We are so blessed this Thanksgiving season - Thank you again for sharing in our blessings!

November 29, 2006Carol Williams "Healthy Living" Segment 
The 2nd half to Carol Williams "Healthy Living" segment will air this Wednesday at the 5pm timeslot.  Producer, Stephanie Edmunds and cameraman, Sean Dunster, did an outstanding job of filming Elena and her family.  On the 2nd half, Sean went into the operating room while Dr. Manning was operating on Elena.  It should be a fascinating story much like the first half was.

We would like to thank Channel 9 News again for raising awareness of our organization's mission and programs so that we can continue to bring many children from the United States and from around the world to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for much needed life-saving open-heart surgeries.