Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 1, 1994 TAG: 9405010038
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder Newspapers
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA LENGTH: Short
Angela was born June 29, sharing a heart and liver with her twin sister, Amy. During an operation to separate the two girls last August at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Amy died.
Except for the flight that brought her from Chicago, where she was born, to Philadelphia, Angela has been hospitalized all 10 months of her life. She still requires the help of a breathing machine about 40 percent of the time.
Russell Raphaely, the director of the division of critical care at Children's, said his guess was that she would need mechanical help with breathing for six to eight more months.
He said Angela's condition was continuing to improve, albeit slowly. She is off the ventilator for about 14 hours a day, usually in three-hour stints. She appears more comfortable breathing on her own now than she has in the past, he said.
Angela still receives most of her nutrition through a feeding tube but is eating some pureed fruits on her own. However, she does not swallow liquids, probably because she has "forgotten the muscle movements," Raphaely said.
When she is free of the ventilator, the hospital staff sometimes sits her up in a car seat, he said. They read books to her and let her watch videos.
"She has not reached the usual milestones, for sure," Raphaely said, "but we think once we can turn our attention to those, she'll catch up very quickly."
Meanwhile, her bill at Children's Hospital alone has reached $1 million.
by CNB