More pictures

It has been requested that I show pictures of the family.
Here you go!

Heart Cath finally scheduled

It is scheduled for January 13 at 9 am in New Orleans. We have to be there at 7 am so we will most probably leave the night before.
Please keep Drew in your prayers, thank you.

Some more cute pictures

Happy Birthday to me!!

Drew rolled completely over today for the first time, happy birthday to me. That was a great present!
Then she fell asleep. LOL!
We had a great christmas, lots of toys for both girls.
Her next surgery is approaching pretty quick, January 23. I am getting quite nervous but it will be a relief once it is all over with.

Have a Great New Years!

Weekly appt. update

Drew saw Dr. Bares (pedi) on thursday. She gained 1 1/2 pounds since her last visit there 2 weeks before. :O
She is doing great! Rylie had a little cold and it was quite hard to keep her away from her baby sister.
All is well and we are awaiting Christmas. We are so blessed to have our baby girl home for Christmas.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!

Weekly Appointment

Drew had her appt. today with the pediatric cardiolgist.
She checked out good. She lost a liitle bit of weight but not much.
Thanks for checking in on Drew.
Have a Happy Holiday!!!!

She is growing too fast

I put Drew in her jumper and she loved it. She is also her way to rolling onto her tummy.
She has an appointment the the Pediatric Cardiologist on Friday. I will update more then. Hopefully she has gained some more weight.

The heart cath will most probably the first week in January.

Address Request

I am sending out Christmas Cards and I don't have everyone's address. Could you please email me your address if you would like a christmas card with a pic of the girls.
brandy@compfx.com

Drew update:
She is doing great! She lost a little bit of weight but that may have been because it was a different doctors scale. Drew goes back on Friday to her Pediatric cardiolgist. We will see what she has to say. We still have not scheduled her heart cath. Dr. Bob wants to do it in January closer to her surgery.

Have a great holiday season.

Drew's first follow-up visit

We met with the new Pediatric Cardiologist on Friday, Dr. Dalal. She is very nice, although I was there for 3 hours. She did an echo (u/s), and EKG and also made me go and get updated xrays of her chest. Hopefully all of her other appointments don't take that long.
Drew has gained 1 pound in 2 weeks, which is great. She said she looked good and she would see in in a few weeks. We go to the pedi on thursday for another check up. I think just to make sure she is gaining properly.
Drew is such a great baby. She is still sleeping completely through the night and has laughed out loud for us on occasion.
We still have not made the appointment for the heart cath yet, just waiting on them to give us a call.

2nd major surgery scheduled

I talked to the surgeons yesterday and they have Drew scheduled to repair her VSD (hole in her heart). It is set for January 23, 2006. It is not set in stone. We have to go and get a heart cath done in New Orleans sometime in December. It is an in and out procedure so no staying overnight. YAY!!! SO, if the heart cath presents no more problems and she gains the weight she needs to then we will keep the surgery date.

Drew is adjusting great!

This pic was on the way home from New Orleans.



I asked Rylie to please put Drew's socks in her room and this is where I found them a few minutes later.






















Drew stares at Rylie all day long, she loves her big sis.
She sleeps ALL night long and is pretty laid back like Rylie was at her age.

WE ARE HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Drew was released from the hospital yesterday!
The two docotrs came in yesterday and asked Steve and I when we would like to go home and we looked at each other and both said NOW at the same time. LOL
We wasted no time and got out of there before they had a chance to change their minds. :)
The clot is still there but they are not concerned about it at all. It will be removed when she has her next surgery at the beginning of next year. We have about 2 months of being at home and then we have to head back to New Orleans. Oh well we will enjoy every second of her being at home till then.
Thank you to everyone for all of your prayers and support which got us where we are today. We love you all Thank you!

G-Tube

Drew had surgery yesterday.... Everything went well. She was in some pain last night and throughout the day. They will try to feed her tomorrow and hopefully give us an indication when we can go home.

We look forward to enjoying out little miracle at home for the holidays before we go through her final surgery early next year.

Thanks for your prayers and support...We will keep you posted.

surgery cancelled

Well only until monday.
This past monday we gave the doctors the go ahead to do the surgery for the g tube.
Well since she was on asprin they could not do it till yesterday. They came to get her and shortly after that they told us that there was a scheduling problem and we would have to wait till tomorrow.
We wake up this morning at around 7 to get ready for her surgery. At 8:30 we still had not heard anything. Mind you they stopped her feedings at 1 am this morning so she was not a happy camper. Well the nurse calls surgery and they said she wasn't on the schedule till 3 pm. Umm.....Hello people she has not eaten since 1 am. So they decided to feed her at 9. We waited all day again she was starving come 3 o'clock. The doctor comes in at 4 pm and says they can't do the surgery today b/c surgery is backed up. I almost hit the roof! The only reason we are still here is to get that surgery. The surgery is for Monday now b/c they don't do them on weekends. The doctor mentioned maybe tomorrow if they can get the staff here but that probably won't happen.
Sorry for the vent but I am just so frustrated and ready to move on.

We moved

Drew was moved to pediatrics on the 6th floor. She is no longer hooked up to monitors, which is a good thing but made for a very restless night for Steve and I. LOL She has her own room where Steve and I can stay with her 24/7.
She is still not eating very much at all, only around 10 cc's each time.
On Monday the doctors are going to take the next step which is probably going to be inserting a g-tube. That way we can go home alot sooner. They said if she was close to taking in all of her feedings they would let us go home with the tube in her nose. Since she is not we will have to have the surgery done to get a g tube put in. We keep battling in ours minds on if this is the right decision or not. I hate to put her through another surgery (very minor surgery) but it may just have to be done.
Please keep her in your prayers and pray that we make the right decision.

Video Swallow Study (VSS)

What is a video swallow study?
A video swallow study uses X-rays to take pictures of your child's throat while he / she is eating and drinking. It lets the doctor and therapist take a careful look at how your child swallows.

Before the test
Before you come to the hospital, explain to your child what will happen. For young children, use simple words and explain what will happen, only shortly before the test.
Your child may not eat or drink anything for 4 hours before the test, including gum, mints or candy. If your child receives tube feedings, they should be stopped 4 hours prior to the test.
Remember to bring your child's eating utensils and favorite food / beverage choices. Please bring a food or drink your child has trouble swallowing.

During the test

Your child will be put into a special chair that will adjust to a similar position he / she normally eats or drinks in at home (i.e., sitting, lying). Your child's food will be mixed with a strawberry or fruit-flavored liquid called barium. It is necessary to mix the barium with the food or liquid so that it will highlight your child's throat on the X-rays.
A parent or family member may be asked to feed your child the barium-prepared items so that your child is more comfortable during the test. A therapist will be there during the test. The therapist may ask your child to change position or to try different textured foods / liquids to help find the safest and best way for your child to eat.
This test does not hurt, but your child may dislike the taste of the food or liquid. You are encouraged to stay with your child during the test. Children are often more cooperative and less apprehensive when a loved one is with them. If you are pregnant, you will have to leave the room during the pictures. It is helpful to have another caregiver watch the child's siblings so you can be with your child.
The test usually takes about 30-45 minutes.
It is possible that during the procedure your child may experience some discomfort. Please tell the doctor, nurse or technologist if pain occurs so it can be evaluated.

After the test
When all the X-ray pictures are taken, the radiologist and the therapist may review the tape with you, if time allows. The technologist or therapist will tell you when you may leave. Your child may return to normal daily activities. A written report of the results will be available to your child's doctor within 24 hours. He / she will contact you about the results.
It is possible that your child's stool may appear to be whitish in color for 24-48 hours after the test due to the barium that he / she has swallowed. Whitish stool is not cause for concern. Encouraging your child to drink fluids will allow his / her stool to return to normal within a short time.

Quick Update

Drew has been slowing down on her eatings during the past few days. She is having a "swallowing study" perfomed today to see if she has problems swallowing or reflux issues.

Drew was able to eat!

Drew ate 25 cc's on her first try yesterday... She ate 65 cc's today. She is slowly working her way up...

Coming Home Soon!

We are back in New Orleans at Childrens Hospital, Drew is doing great.

We met with the surgeons and cardiologists this morning and they are all in agreement with Drew's future plans. They want to get her off antiboditics immediatly and take another blood culture in a few days. They would like to wait to perform surgery to close her VSD in a couple months allowing her to get bigger and stronger.

They are not concerned at all about the clot in her heart. It is attatched well to the wall of her heart, they feel there is a small chance that it would dislodge.

We are meeting with a Occupational Theraopist tomorrow to try to get Drew to start feeding.

Once her blood cultures come back negative for infection and she re-learns how to feed, we will be coming home.

Thank you for all your prayers and support...
Please pray Drew starts to feed without any complications..

Back to New Orleans

Drew is being transported back to New Orleans tomorrow.
She will be at Children's Hospital in New Orleans, close to the zoo. We will be doing a consult with Dr. Bob before anything is set in stone. He was Drew's doctor at Tulane. He is going to consult with the surgeon and see if Drew can go through another surgery.
The clot in her heart is still there and the docotr here wants it removed. There is a bit of arguement as to wether or not the clot needs to be removed. The VSD is still in a tricky spot and Dr. Bob does not want the surgery to be done on the clot if the can't do the VSD surgery. So either both surgery's will be done or none at all.
Steve and I will be staying at the hospital in an empty hospital room being there are no hotels readily available.
Please keep us in your prayers.
We will update when we can. I am not sure if we will be able to get internet access.

Video of Rylie and Drew

Just click below

Video of Rylie & Drew

nothing

No new updates as of yet. They are supossed to do an ecocardiogram (ultrasound) today on her heart to see if the clot has changed.
I will update later when we get the results.

pictures!

I have come to the realization that I may never get a good picture with 2 kids. Someone is always moving.

Getting bigger

Drew now weighs 9 pounds 10 ounces!!!
She is starting to coo more and smile lots. She is sooooo adorable! She is such a happy baby.
Hopefully this week the doctor says that we can start trying to feed her out of a bottle. Her respiratory rate has gone down considerably. It used to be in the 80's and it is now in the 50's and even in the 40's and 30's at times.
So please pray the dcotor gives the go ahead on her feedings.

SAD :(

I don't even know where to start.
The doctor came and told us Monday that Drew was going to be coming home Thursday. This is exciting news right????
Well I slept there Monday night and learned how to use all of her equipment and how to give her meds and all. The doctor comes back yesterday and says that there has been a change of plans. He talked to the Infectious Disease doctor and she said Drew needs to have surgery to have the clot in her heart removed. Which was a big shock to us b/c the cardiologist never seemed worried about it, but that is a whole other story. So…. her doctor said they are not going to do an open heart surgery just for that that they might as well repair her hole in her heart too. I am okay with that, what I am not okay with is he wants to send us back to New Orleans. I do NOT want to go back there at all. We would be going to Children’s hospital which was not affected by the hurricane but still. He said they will have Children’s setup to do pediatric surgery in a few weeks. I can’t send my baby girl there. We are going to talk to the doctor about it and express how we feel and see if we can go somewhere else. He wants us to go to NO because that is where this “great” surgeon will be.
We will be camping out at women’s for the next month and then off to surgery and staying at that hospital for recovery for another month after that.
Could you all pray that this clot just dissolves so Drew doesn’t have to go through all of this.
The surgery for the whole in her heart can wait for a while as long as that clot dissolves.

Picture Overload

Drew's haircut

I finally am getting a chance to show off some pictures. I cut Drew's hair 2 weeks ago. The buzz cut the ER gave her was driving me nuts. I just cut off the rooster thingy she had going on on the top of her head. LOL!

Before:


After:

Almost there

Drew is almost 9 pounds. The nurse weighed her last night and she is now 8 pounds 15 ounces. The doc predicted that at 9 pounds the PA band should start working much better. Let's hope and pray that is true. Her respiratory rate is getting better little by little.
She is getting better with her days and nights. She stays awake for most of the day with short naps in between and goes to bed at around midnight. She is such a sweetheart. And she knows exactly what she wants. She has to have someone in the room with her at all times. I could be sitting in the room where she can not see me and right after I walk out she starts crying. She does it to the nurses too. LOL She is also now addicted to her mobile, she stares it down till we turn it on.
Thank you for continuing to pray for our baby girl. We love you all!

Thursday

Drew is doing good. She is staying at a steady 8 pounds 8 ounces and is really starting to fill out.

She had a MRI done yesterday and we got the results today. They found a small infart on the right side of her brain which mean she possibly had a small stroke the night we took her to the ER. They are not too worried about it because she has shown no signs of developmental delays. We will wait until she is older to follow up with a neurologist.

She tried rolling over today and is smiling alot. She still sleeps all day long and is awake most of the night, we will have to figure that one out soon before she comes home. Her respiratory rate is going down finally, showing she is on the right path. I will start posting pictures as soon as Steve shows me how. Haha!

Update

Sorry it took a while to give an update. Steve stayed with Drew during the hurricane. They lost power but had generators so everything kicked back on right away. Rylie and I stayed at my parents where the electricity went out at 2 am. Steve called us at 9 am and said that we had electricity at our house so we all packed up and headed to my house for a/c. Everyone is fine but a few family members of ours who lived where the hurricane hit have lost everything. :(
We have been trying to help them out the past couple of days.

I was finally able to go and see Drew yesterday. We bought her a bouncy seat and she was in heaven. My little sweet pea needed something else to do besides just lay there.
Dr Guietrez said he is going to do an MRI on her this week maybe tomorrow to check to make sure all of her brain function is okay due to the hard hit she took the night we brought her to the ER.
We did find out a few things about the night in the Er that we were never told until recently. The doctor told us she was "null of life" after they got an IV run in her and the breathing machine was the only reason she was alive. All of her numbers were so low that it was basically impossible for her to be alive. Thank you God for letting us keep our baby girl. She is a complete miracle.
Drew still has a bit of a road ahead of her so please keep her in your prayers.
The doctor said we will discuss things again when she reaches 9 pounds. Her weight is still up and down but she is almost there.

2 Hurricanes and she is only 6 weeks old

Drew is doing good. She slept most of the day yesterday.
I have to stay away from the hospital because I am sick with a head cold. I am not taking any chances on getting her sick. The nurses told us that Steve, Rylie, and I could all stay at the hospital if wanted to. If Rylie and I can stay in a seperate room then we might go and Steve would stay in Drew's room.
The hospital Drew is at has no plans to evacuate at this moment. The are working on figuring out an evacuation plan if need be but this time Drew would be on the bottom of the list because there are alot more babies in NICU sicker than her. We are just praying the hurricane doesn't turn to the right.

Update

Drew had surgery yesterday, everything went well. She now has a PIC line for future use. Now we don't have to worry about her loosing any more IV's.

She is doing really well. We are letting the antibodics finish their course. When her blood cultures come back negative for infection and she starts feeding better, she should be able to go home. (2-4 Weeks)

We will perform her final surgery once she get's a little stonger, giving this recent trama some time...(3-8 Months)

Picture

She is a pin cushion

My poor little Drew has turned into a pin cushion. :( They tried all last night to get a new iv line on Drew. Her little veins keep rolling over. They have now decided to do a central line which lasts longer than the previous lines which only last a few days because her veins keep blowing. They called the nurse who was certified in doing pic lines (central lines). She finally came around 3:30 today and tried 2 times while little Drew was screaming her head off. The whole process lasted 30 minutes and she could not get her vein. They decided to give her something to sedate her. Well, she threw that up but she still got enough to knock her out. They tried again, still nothing.
I just called there and the nurse said they were going to try again in an hour. Please pray that it works because if not she will have to have a surgery to get the line put in. And even then they won't be able to do that until Wednesday. They said the next step will be to shave her head and try and get a line there. Her hair finally just starting growing longer.
And just to top everything off now they have a potential hurricane headed our way.

Saturday Update

Well we got the wrong info. The clot is still there but the doctor is not too worried about it as long as it is not growing.
They were going to take her off of one of the antibiotics but her cutures came back with bacteria still growing. So they are going to do some more bloodwork.
The doctor told us today that she may have to have surgery in the next few weeks if she does not grow into that band on her artery. So right now we just need prayer that she starts gaining alot more weight.

Update

Drew is doing awesome; they removed her heart line with no complications. There also are no signs of a blood clot, and all her blood cultures came back negative for infection. She currently weights 8.5lbs. and her heart rate is dropping little by little each day. God is faithful to his Word, He has made Drew very strong… every obstacle that Drew faces, she overcomes. Thank you for your support & prayers...

Psalm 91

Psalm 91 - The Message
You who sit down in the High God's presence, spend the night in Shaddai's shadow, Say this: "GOD, you're my refuge. I trust in you and I'm safe!" That's right--He rescues you from hidden traps, shields you from deadly hazards. His huge outstretched arms protect you-- under them you're perfectly safe; his arms fend off all harm. Fear nothing--not wild wolves in the night, not flying arrows in the day, Not disease that prowls through the darkness, not disaster that erupts at high noon. Even though others succumb all around, drop like flies right and left, no harm will even graze you. You'll stand untouched, watch it all from a distance, watch the wicked turn into corpses. Yes, because GOD's your refuge, the High God your very own home, Evil can't get close to you, harm can't get through the door. He ordered his angels to guard you wherever you go. If you stumble, they'll catch you; their job is to keep you from falling. You'll walk unharmed among lions and snakes, and kick young lions and serpents from the path. "If you'll hold on to me for dear life," says GOD, "I'll get you out of any trouble. I'll give you the best of care if you'll only get to know and trust me. Call me and I'll answer, be at your side in bad times; I'll rescue you, then throw you a party. I'll give you a long life, give you a long drink of salvation!" A Sabbath song

Wednesday Update

Drew is having her heart line pulled out today; the doctor doesn't seem to be concerned about the clot or infection around the line.

She lost a little bit of weight overnight and is still breathing fast, Drew is strong and will gain the weight required… It just takes time.

Thank you for all the prayers and support…

Tuesday Update

Drew is going good! She has gained 7oz. in the past 24 hours.

Steve as a baby!

Drew is doing good, she gained 1 oz today...
Everyone is trying to decide who she looks like, so here is a picture of me as a baby. Please ignore the bedspread & outfit... Sorry Mom!

I will upload a picture of Brandy as soon I find one...

Sunday Update

Drew is looking good, she now has a full size crib in her hospital room! She is full of smiles and told me she is ready to come home! I spoke to Dr. Gutierrez this morning; all Drew's blood cultures came back negative for infection. They are keeping her on antibiotics for the next 3 weeks to make sure nothing comes back. Right now she needs to grow into the pulmonary band on her heart. If she doesn't gain weight she may have to have an additional surgery to adjust the banding. Let’s pray that she tolerates her feeds and gains some weight to allow the pulmanory band to do it's job...

Drew Schaaf

Friday Update

We were called to the hospital this morning. Drew is having some heart failure. They think the pulmonary band is to loose and want her to grow into it. She also has an infection in her heart (Endocarditis). They are giving her some antibotics and keeping a close eye on her. Please keep her in your prayers... Thank you for all the support

Tuesday Update

Drew is doing well, she is so sweet. I was able to hold her tonight; she kept looking me up and down the whole time.

Dr. Gutierrez, her cardiologist called and said she had a urinary track infection. He also mentioned that she has a small clot at the end of the catheter in her heart. He is worried about it enlarging or dislodging into her lungs. We are praying it will dissolve and not create any complications.

Brandy and I want to express our gratitude for everyone’s prayers and support. Thank you for helping us in providing food, furniture, clothing and shelter to our new friends from Tulane.

• Charlotte, Drew's nurse at Tulane found an apartment and moved in today.
• Baby Jackson's mom found a job and a place to live.
• The other doctors and nurses have found refuge with family and friends, and a few have purchased homes in the area.

Thanks again for pulling together and lending a hand.

Steve & Brandy Schaaf
215 Belle Maison Dr.
Lafayette, LA 70506

I’d rather 1% of 100 people’s effort than 100% of my own.
J. Paul Getty

Drew Schaaf

Monday update

She is now off of oxygen too. So no more tubes anywhere on her face. YAY!!!!
We went to see her today for a bit and she was sleeping so we did not stay that long because she needed to rest and get better and any little noise we made irritated her and woke her up. But she is doing good. The next hurdle we have to face is getting her to eat out of a bottle. If she does not do well with the bottle they will have to put a "button" on her which is a tube from her stomach and I will have to feed her through that. So please pray that she starts to eat on her own and can be released out of the hospital with a perfect bill of health.
The doctor told us today that she will remain in the hospital for at least another 8 days. So we will be working on her feedings for the next 8 days.
Drew looks absolutely great and so beautiful.
Thank you to everyone for all of your support.

Tulane doctor recounts chaos

Tulane doctor recounts chaos, uncertainty, eventual escape
By NED RANDOLPHnrandolph@theadvocate.com

Advocate business writer Tulane surgeon David Yu reported to work last Sunday with a pair of "scrubs" and a couple of changes of clothes. As most New Orleanians, he expected to be home in a few days.
Katrina developed into the most destructive hurricane to strike the United States, sending 135 mph winds pounding against the walls of Tulane University Hospital and Clinic where Yu spent most of the week.
His is one story of the thousands of people stranded in the chaos of what was once New Orleans.
When he went to bed Monday night, New Orleans was intact.
Five days later, the second-year resident had lost his house, was shot at while in a National Guard truck, and declined an airlift out of New Orleans to stay with his patients.
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Monday
The winds had knocked the power out, but Tulane Hospital was open, humming along on diesel generators.
The streets were dry, and some staff went home. The 150 patients and 300 to 400 staff members were safe, Yu said.
The Monday night breach of the 17th Street Canal changed the character of the storm and New Orleans forever.
"We woke up Tuesday morning, and the water was there," Yu said Saturday. "We lost generator power when the water rose."
The hospital's parent company, Columbia/HCA, ordered -- at it's own expense -- an airlift to remove the patients.
The critically-ill were lifted from the hospital's garage rooftop, as the streets filled with stranded people.
New Orleans residents waded through cruddy, waist-deep water, carrying belongings over their heads and looking for higher ground.
"There were thousands of people on the I-10 ramp on Tuesday and Wednesday, just standing out on the highway, waiting for someone to come get them," he said.
The hospital's emergency phones and lobby pay phones offered sporadic contact with Charity Hospital down the street. No one could reach University Hospital.
"We had no idea what was going on. We heard University had already evacuated," he said.
Tuesday night
In the darkness, nothing seemed to move. "It was surreal."
With only hand-held flashlights in the uncertain darkness, the staff and family members waited.
"Other than Tulane getting people out by private means, we didn't see any evacuation effort," he said.
Yu knew people were at the Superdome from pictures before the storm, but he couldn't see them. And then there were rumors of unrest.
That night, the airlift resumed.
Wednesday morning
"Every day from Wednesday to Friday, I don't know if it was rumors, but we were being told specifically that the Army was coming," he said.
On Wednesday night, they could see bus headlights on the interstate.
"We couldn't do anything after dark because of security," he said. "You could hear gunshots."
Yu and his colleagues were armed only with stethoscopes.
"Every morning I woke up expecting to see the Army in the streets. But no one came."
A National Guard unit on the ground was securing the Dome and "helping where they could," Yu said.
Critical patients were moved from Charity to the Tulane airlift.
"They told us Charity had 200 to 300 patients and almost 1,000 people. They hadn't had any central power or running water since the hurricane hit Monday morning," he said. "They were getting along with just a few generators hooked up to important equipment."
Even when Tulane airlifted away its staff members, Yu stayed behind with some others. They took all of Tulane's food and medicine to Charity by truck.
"Charity was in worse shape. They had much more critical injuries and more people … and less security," he said.
The place stunk of human waste. A stairwell was being used to store bodies after the basement morgue flooded, he said.
Department of Wildlife and Fisheries airboats started arriving with news of people stranded throughout the city.
By airboat, Yu delivered a Nextel two-way radio to the University Hospital surgery staff, where he saw the conditions were even worse than at Charity.
"They had the most patients and people. There were 300 to 400 patients and 1,100 staff and family members," he said.
"The building is much more closed in; it was hotter. The stench was worse," he said. "And they were surrounded by 10 to 12 feet of water because they're in a lower area."
Smoke from a fire filled the air.
"Fortunately, we didn't know the full devastation of the city," he said.
Thursday night
Another night and the worst for many. Mayor Ray Nagin gave a scathing interview on WWL-TV about the inadequate response by the federal government to save his city.
The president held a news conference, and reinforcements arrived.
Boats were landing at University Hospital, and helicopters touched down on its rooftop. "By 1 p.m. or 2 p.m. on Friday we got a call from University that they were clear," he said. "Eleven-hundred people had been evacuated in a half day."
Then the Army turned to Charity. Yu and other doctors carried patients on makeshift stretchers, tabletops and cubicle walls down the building's stairs, and loaded them onto air boats and trucks bound for the Tulane helipad.
Two at a time, patients were loaded onto a pickup truck, driven to the rooftop and loaded onto helicopters.
"They wanted four patients at a time, but we couldn't load them fast enough," he said.
At 6 p.m., Yu and the remaining staff were loaded unto boats and taken to buses. That's when he saw the crowds at the Convention Center.
"We knew there were large groups of people at the Dome and Convention Center … but going over the Crescent City Connection, I saw the crowd," he said. "It was unbelievable. Literally the length of the center, five or six blocks, there were just thousands of people."
Yu arrived in Baton Rouge Friday night and took his first shower in a week. Back in civilization, the Tulane college and medical school graduate joined a growing diaspora of displaced New Orleanians.
"I think I saw the best in people, certainly at the hospitals," he said. "Everyone at the hospitals and staff and family members there were concerned about someone. We were all in the same boat."

Her Breathing Tube is Out!

Drew was throwing up all last night because she was gagging on her breathing tube. So they either needed to sedate her again or take it out. Obviously the choice was to take it out. Her numbers are all good right now.
We could not see her all morning because any noise aggrivated her and she was moving around to much so we had to stay away. The nurse called around noon and said they took her tube out so Steve and I rushed to the hospital. So was so sweet. Just looking around at us and not fussing or irritated at all. I can't wait to be able to take my sweet baby girl home with us one day.

Our next hurdle will be getting her to eat out of a bottle. She has had a feeding tube this whole time so she may have forgot how to suck, swallow and breath all at the same time.

Please comtinue to keep Drew in your prayers.
Thank you!

More help needed

First of all Drew is doing good.

I have a few more needs to add to Steve's list.
The other family that has a baby in PICU has lost everything. We are asking any of you to try and go through your closets and donate clothes. Baby Jackson (above) may be released from the hospital soon so he needs clothes, diapers and baby essentials. We have recieved a crib for baby Jackson. Thank you Patty and all of her coworkers at Oilfield International for donating all the stuff for this family.
I am just going to give the sizes I know of and we can go from there.
Womens size 6 and 7/8 and shirts size medium.
Mens size 32/32 and shirts size medium.
Baby clothes sizes 0-3 and 3-6 months.
I will get more clothes sizes today from some other families and update later.
THANK YOU!!!!

Friday Update

Dear Family and Friends,

I am sorry I haven’t called everyone and updated you on our survival story. I promise we will update you soon. It is nothing short of miraculous the way God removed us from harms way.

Thank you for your support during this time of need. Our entire family is overwhelmed by the contributions of compassion that have been bestowed upon us by our family and friends.

Everyone is asking us what they can do to help…
Here is my list of problems to solve... Please help in any way you can.

I need to find an apartment for our nurse from Tulane. She has a 3 year old daughter and is taking a job at women’s and children’s hospital. I need to book an apartment before everything is taken up in the Lafayette area. Please work your connections and try to find something for her. Even if you can only call around for me and put it on hold with my credit information.

I also need to find a place for a family from New Orleans to stay. They have a son that is in the same condition as Drew except they have no friends and family supporting them. I need to find temporary shelter for them and their family.

We are waiting to hear from the staff at Tulane. A number of employees that have helped take care of Drew will be in this area soon and be in need a place of shelter until they can get back on their feet. Please let us know of any possible solutions.

For those requesting banking information, you can use the paypal link to support our efforts in helping these families. You can also deposit funds into BANKONE Account 7101336717.

Thanks again
Steve Schaaf

Thursday

Sorry that no update was given yesterday. Things are a bit crazy.
Drew is still doing good. They are now going to try and dehydrate her to get all the fluid off of her lungs because they will not dry up they are still too wet. Which means if she stays wet the breathing tube stays in. They need to be able to suction her out and the only way to do that is through the breathing tube. They did start her back on breastmilk yesterday and will keep her on it so she can get some nutrition while in the process of being dehydrated. I will try and get another update in tonight after we visit her today.

A Special Thanks

Brandy and I would like to extend our gratitude to Acadian Ambulance for their fast thinking, professionalism, strength and wisdom in rescuing Drew from harms way.


We would also like to extend our gratitude to Air Logistics for delivering generators to Tulane and bringing us home to safety.

Critical-needs babies arrive from N.O. without parents

Women's & Children's Hospital became one of many area hospitals Wednesday to be inundated with new patients from New Orleans, mostly neo-natal babies.
Angela Jacks, spokeswoman for Women's & Children's Hospital, said there were anywhere from 16 to 20 babies who had been transported from Tulane, their sister hospital.
Jacks could not give an exact number of how many babies they were treating, because the number keeps fluctuating.
"We're taking the most critical babies," she said, of those who could not survive the longer trips to hospitals farther away. For those who can, she said, they are assessed and then are sent elsewhere.
Many of those babies came alone; their parents and caretakers are still trapped elsewhere.
"We have some that are here; we have some that are on their way. We have some that are still stranded in New Orleans," she said.
Early Wednesday, Jacks said there were still parents who had not been tracked down. Later that day, she said their families had been contacted.
Along with those parents, there are others who are making cold calls in the hopes their loved ones have ended up there.
A woman from Cleveland, Ohio, called after she heard that her mother had been transported to a hospital within the city.
These types of calls have become common place, she said.
"We try to network with the other hospitals and try to find their family members," she said. "We can't find everybody, but we try. We do our best."
She said they've also received calls from nurses who have now become separated from their former patients.
"To be a nurse, you have to have such a good, caring heart. Just because they're letting go of the baby doesn't mean they're still not holding on to them," she said.
She said that obviously, "Right now, the hospitals' main concern is the care of the patients and getting them to a facility that can take care of them."
Jason Brown
jbrown@theadvertiser.com
The Daily Advertiser

We are fine!

We got home last night about 7:30.
Drew was flown to Women's and Childrens here in Lafayette.
Steve and I got on a cargo helicopter that was just making a supply drop at Tulane. We flew to Berwick where the helicopter base was. That was as far as they could get us. But FDF has a plant there and one of the cleaning service supervisors John drove us back home. THANK YOU John!
We are very happy to be out of all that mess and craziness. We went to see Drew last night and she is doing good. They mentioned taking her breathing tube out but I am not getting my hopes up anymore till I actually see it out.
The water was completely around the hospital at 6 feet. So there was no way we could even get out of the parking garage. Thank you to everyone who was trying to find a way to get us out of New Orleans.
Sorry this is still another short update but we are headed back out to the hospital.
Oh and Karen if you can read this please head to lafayette with all the other nurses who want to come this way. We have places for all of you to stay here. Just call Charolette's cell phone and leave a message and we will get back to you.
Charolette is staying here at our house.
For our friends and family, Charolette was Drew's nurse at Tulane and she flew in the helicopter to be with Drew for the ride.
THANK YOU everyone for all of your support and prayers.

Nurse, patients forced to flee

Life has changed for 28-year-old Megan Combs who, as a pediatric nurse for Tulane University Hospital, awoke at 5 a.m. Tuesday to the sight of rising water and an immediate notice that all the patients had to go.
Combs, who lives in Covington, was at Lafayette Regional Airport on Tuesday evening after being airlifted with two of her infant patients and another nurse from the hospital.
The hospital had operated through the storm by moving patients to higher floors and consolidating units, but Tuesday one of the main generators was in danger of going out. That would mean imminent death for some patients.
There were four daytime and four nighttime nurses in her unit to oversee five children. All of the children had been evacuated Tuesday.
Patients were evacuated first, then the hospital employees who could fit on the helicopters.
"Basically, it was if you could convince them to take you, you got out. If not, you stayed," she said. "There are several of our people still there. No water. No air conditioning."
Combs said the mood was controlled chaos.
"Some people were panicking," but most, she said, were very calm and knew what they had to do.
"Everyone just wanted to get out of there. No one wanted to stay," she said.
After the storm, she, along with many of her co-workers, had walked out of the front of the hospital to survey the damage. They talked about getting into their cars Monday night and going to their homes only to wake up Tuesday to find that "water was about 5 to 6 feet deep and circled the hospital."
As the helicopters lifted up to head for Alexandria, below her she could see the extent of the damage, "a lot of water, a lot of people. A lot of people on the streets are standing on overpasses that weren't flooding - just nowhere to go, wading through the water."
In her 28 years, all of which have been spent in the New Orleans area, she said she had never seen anything like it.
As for her family, she planned to meet a cousin in Baton Rouge. She was waiting for a helicopter to take her Tuesday afternoon. Her parents, grandparents and brother, however, were still in the New Orleans area. They had planned to ride out the storm at her home in Covington. She has been unable to contact them since the storm hit.
She, along with many others, has no idea what the future now holds.
"I feel like I'm in a dream. I can't even imagine what the next couple of months are going to be like."

Jason Brown
jbrown@theadvertiser.com
The Daily Advertiser

Acadian transports patients from N.O.

In the next four days, as many as 2,000 patients will be transferred from New Orleans to hospitals across the state as part of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, said Richard Zuschlag, CEO of Acadian Ambulance.
"Charity Hospital seemed to be in the worse situation because they had the oldest building and the worst damage," he said. "We had planned on using National Guard trucks to evacuate Charity, but a couple of those got bogged down. They're now using boats to get patients out of Charity out to the Causeway."
About 50 ambulances left Tuesday to begin the patient evacuation, he said.
Air ambulances transported 25 neo-natal infants from Tulane University Hospital and transported them to New Iberia, Lafayette and Alexandria, he said.
Two critical babies from New Orleans were flown to Women's & Children's' and then onto Rapides General in Alexandria with a final destination to a children's hospital in Little Rock, Ark.
Another group of medics along with Dr. Ross Judice, Acadian's medical director, were deployed to the Superdome to triage critical patients at that shelter.
"They're trying to sort out the most critical patients in the Superdome and medevac them to Baton Rouge," he said.
Fort Polk has released some of its helicopters for the mission, he said.
Meanwhile, the ambulance service has suspended its routine convalescent transfers.
"We'll take care of 911 emergencies. We're asking people to be patient with us while we're in this mode," he said.
Other hospitals in New Orleans that received less damage from Hurricane Katrina are now worried that flooding will cut off their generators, he said.
"What most people thought would be a normal hurricane was not," he said. "Hospitals were prepared for a weeklong problem, but it will be much longer."
Meanwhile, the company has had limited communications with its operations in Pascagoula and Ocean Springs, Miss.
"We're flying supplies and satellite phones out there," he said. "The biggest communication problems are Slidell and Pascagoula and Ocean Springs. It's like that area has gotten completely wiped out."

Marsha Sills

msills@theadvertiser.com

The Daily Advertiser

We are Home

By the Grace of God we are back in Lafayette with Drew.... She is doing good...

More Details to come soon ...

Thank you for all your prayers and support....

Hurricane Katrina

I spoke to Steve this morning and he said they made out ok. They don't have electricity and Canal Street has a bit of water but other than that they are fine. He asked me to update this for everyone to know they are ok, at least til he can get online. Paul

Hurricane

Of course, just one more thing for us to worry about. We have spent a good part of today trying to get stuff in case the hurricane hits here and we lose power. The grocery store was insane! But we were able to purchase what we needed. The hospital staff said we could stay in the waiting room at the hospital during the storm.

On to more important things.

Drew is doing good! They have put off taking out her breathing tube again. They said possibly tomorrow. Her lungs are too wet, If they take out the tube today they might have to replace it. They are using the tube in the ventilator to suction fluid out of her lungs. She is now off of fentnyl which is very addictive. They had to wean her off of fentnyl by giving her methadone. Thank God she is totally off that medicine.

Closer to home

They did rounds this morning and they are lowering her pain and heart meds slowly. They decided to wait until tomorrow to remove her breathing tube just to be on the safe side. She is looking better everyday. Oh, she got some milk through her feeding tube... so that is awesome.

Friday Morning Update

Thursday update

She looks good. They dressed her up as you can see in the picture below. :)
The gave her lasiks today which gets rid of the extra fluid in her body. But it is not working like they want so she needs to pee some more to get rid of the extra fluid.
The doctor did tell us they will probably take out her breathing tube tomorrow. And the next step after that is to get her to eat. She has had a feeding this whole time so they have to get her to eat out of bottle before she goes home. Some babies forget how to eat so they have to retarin them. But I don't see Drew having a problem with it cause she still sucks on her fingers with the breathing tube in her mouth. I will update tomorrow unless something else happens tonight.

Picture of Drew in PICU

Surgery was successful!!!!!!!!

They did not start her surgery till 10:20 today because the surgeon got stuck in traffic.
The surgery went as planned. The doctors were very happy with the outcome. The surgery did not end until about 3:30 so it has been a long day for Steve and I. She was not put in PICU until 4 and we visited with her for about 40 minutes and we left so she could get some rest without us bugging her. The surgeon did say that it is possible that the hole in her heart might close up by the time the second surgery at 7 months comes around. With God all things are possible. She looks really good, just a little puffy. Thank you for all of your prayers.

Tuesday Update

We just talked to the surgeon a few minutes ago.
Drew's surgery got bumped up to the first case of the day. So her surgery will be at 8 am. They have decided to go through her chest instead of through her side. Which may affect her recovery time and make it a longer journey. We will update as soon as she is out of surgery tomorrow.
The surgeon doesn't want to do anything with the hole in her heart right now because there is a possibility that it may close up on it's own, and that is what we will be praying really hard for.

We have a surgery date

They decided not to do the cardio cath. It was not needed.
Her surgery is set for wednesday and they said it was 2nd case. Which means she will be 2nd on the surgery list and that will be about mid morning.
This first surgery is to fix the coarctation in the aorta and put a band on a valve so her lungs don't get flooded with blood flow while we wait for the 2nd surgery in 7 months.
Just keep us in your prayers that this first surgery goes smoothly.

Monday morning update

We got there early this morning to talk to the cardiologist who was going to do the cardio cath. He told us he did not want to do an extra procedure if it was not completely needed. So he wants to do another echo (ultrasound) on the heart to do exact measurements. It was only one doc who wanted to do the cath so she may get over ruled which is fine by me. They say that procedure is harder on little ones cause their veins are so small. So right now we are just waiting on the echo results. We will update later today.

Sunday Update

Drew did really good today.
Tomorrow they are going to do a cardio-cath. This is a procedure where they put a line through her groin and into her heart and put dye in her to get a good picture of the heart. They have to paralize her in order to do it. They also said that it could be an all day process if they can't get a vein. So we need to pray that they can get it right away. Thank you for checking in on us.

Picture of Drew

Name Meaning

DREW ALEXANDRA SCHAAF

Name: Drew
Origin: Old French, Greek
Meaning: sturdy, vision, strong

Name: Alexandra
Orgin: Greek
Meaning: helper & defender of mankind
Orgin: Anglo-Saxon
Meaning: Wise

Name: Schaaf
Orgin: German
Meaning: descendant of a shepherd, sheep, plane