At
Friday, September 01, 2006 11:03:22 PM,
Nancy Hollenkamp said…
Elena flew in late last night on Angel Flight and arrived at Lunken Airport. We cannot thank our pilot Ben Bartel who graciously gave up his time to fly Elena and her Papa, Pavel, to Cincinnati. We had an early morning appointment at Cincinnati Children's Hospital with an echocardiogram. Everyone was so gracious and kind to Elena and Pavel. Elena was such a trooper today. She laid still for over an hour while her echo was performed. Not too many kids could have done that. After her echo, we got to see Dr. Linda Cripe who was kind enough to squeeze us in for a visit today. Dr. Cripe had help from Elena to place the stethoscope on her chest so she could listen to her heart. Our next visit was from Channel 9 News to interview Pavel and video Elena. They have to have wonderful video of Elena playing with her stuffed doggy that we gave her. It played "Puppy Love" if you pressed his paw and Elena loved doing that. We were looking for where to take the batteries out - just teasing!!!Dr. Manning saw us next and he will be the surgeon for Elena's operation in November. He got to explain to Pavel how Elena's heart was constructed and how he is planning to fix her abnormalities. It was very interesting for me to listen to all of this since that is the same defect that Carly, our oldest daughter, was born with and repaired at 9 months of age. Carly is now 19 and it was great for Pavel to see how good Carly looks. Pavel says that gave him hope that Elena too can be fixed and live a long and productive life. After we left the hospital, we went to Ronald McDonald House to show Pavel and Elena where they will live while Elena's stay in the hospital and her recuperation time afterward. Channel 9 News followed us to Ronald McDonald and again got some great footage. Elena was a little ham with her beautiful smile! We were going to go to the Zoo but unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate with the rainy day that it was so Pavel and Elena went back to the Vernon Manor Hotel so that Elena could take a nap.
Vernon Manor was wonderful to Pavel and Elena also. They had a fruit basket waiting for them as well as chilled bottles of waters too. Their room was beautiful and helped to make them feel more welcome in Cincinnati.
While they were napping, I found out that the pilot, Ben, would not be able to fly them back tonight because of the weather so we booked them another night at the hotel and they will be flying out on Delta tomorrow. Thanks to our good friends, Gale and Laura Smith for their help in getting their flight arranged!!!We took some great pictures today at the hospital and throughout the day that I will post for you to see later. Thanks to everyone for your prayers for Pavel and Elena's safe trip and their return flight as well. Thanks also for everyone's support of the Aubrey Rose Foundation and for helping make the "Healing the World's Hearts" program possible! If you can dream it and believe in it, we can definitely achieve it!!!
Love,
Nancy Hollenkamp
