Arrival in Stanford, San Francisco

Hi all,  the flights were good, very long, there was unfortunately no snow in Germany, I was really hoping to see snow, as I have never seen snow before, but there was a little bit of frost on the cars.
I'm staying in a lovely family home, in Atherton, which is in a suburb, only 5 minutes drive from the hospital in Stanford. The people here have been very very kind to me. We have been settling into the new time zone, I keep looking at my watch, and can't quite believe when it's morning here, it's evening at home. I am waking up, really early in the morning, but sleeping very well as I have a very comfy bed which is like a cloud. San Francisco has warmish days but very cool nights.  There is a really cute dog - here called Cody. I've learnt a new game called Back Gammon and doing some homework. We also watched a great programme on Cake Decorating. I am feeling really well, and I've been eating healthy food, they have got some of my favourite foods namely cherries! I am going to make sure I have a good nights sleep tonight, as we are going to be up at 06h30 tomorrow, to be at the hospital on time at 07h15, for all my pre-tests.  Bye for now xx

hobbies

forgot to tell you all that I love cooking and that I want to become a chef when I have grown up. also enjoy arts, reading, game boying and my Disney channel. my favourite pets are my 2 cats Tipsy and Tapsy. they are the cuddliest animals on this earth.....

Hi,

I am Cara Kibble (for those of you who do not know me yet) and I was born on the 4^th of November 1999 in the Mediclinic hospital in Windhoek, Namibia. When I went with my parents to the Comores about 8 months later, they discovered upon our return that my haemoglobin levels were double than they should be and when I went for medical check-up for a tropical virus they discovered that I had a congenital heart disease. We had to fly to Cape Town for my first heart catheter and Dr. Pribut and Vosloo wanted to operate on me for Tetralogy of Fallot but realized that I had something far more complicated, i.e. no true pulmonary artery what so ever. So they sent us home, as I had my own “bypass” as they called it. When my baby brother Alec was weaned 2 years later my mom and granny took me to Munich for another opinion and Dr. Daebritz also declined operate on me due to the high risk involved. So we first adopted a wait-and-see approach as we were confident that with time something could be done. I feel ok but have very blue lips these days. Last year my parents were referred by our heart surgeon in Cape Town Professor Brink to Dr. Hanley in Stanford, California. After having to do another catheter in Cape Town last year May which was not successful as they could not get into my arteries, my parents decided to see Dr. Hanley in person and find out what options are available to us. With the Stanford hospital's advanced equipment they could measure all the pressures and decided that I am an excelent candidad for a unifocalization procedure, which will entail 2 open heart surgeries within 6 month of each other. Once completed I will be able to play sport like any other child and also be able to walk to school unaided. I will also be able to be just a normal teenager. So I am really looking forward to that with lots of positive energy for the next month or so…..

Anyway, we are flying out of beautiful, green Namibia (we had 450 mm already on the farm) on Wednesday night, 26 January 2011and are expected to arrive via snowy Frankfurt in San Fransisco on Thursday, 27 January 2011. If you want to get to the Californian time you simply subtract 10 hours from the Namibian time. I will have to acclimatize and go for echo, pre-op procedures, etc. on 1 February 2011. On 2 February 2011 is the BIG day with a 16 hour procedure and I will ask my mom to keep you all updated daily after the operation as I might not be conscious yet, ok?

You can post comments to me online on my blog. Thank you all for the kind presents, thoughts, prayers, well wishes and positive energy you are sending me!

Lots of love

CARA