The Bartlinski Bunch

" Teresa "

" Teresa "

Teresa "Fang Fang " Bartlinski

Teresa was born on December 25, 2006 in China. She was born with a very complex heart condition. In July 2010, GOD added Teresa to our family through adoption. We have been blessed with 9 wonderful children. Gods grace has woven us together as a family. Upon bringing Teresa home from China we unfortunately learned she not only needed a heart transplant but also a lung transplant. Her doctors feel she would not survive this operation. Please help us to pray for a miracle for Teresa's heart and lungs to be healed. She is a very special little soul who has touched so many lives around the world ...
I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES!

Friday, April 29, 2011

Gaston's Shoes


It's always nice to have your best friend with you !

Today Gemma had her blood transfusion . She had a great month but unfortunately her hemoglobin dropped too low and she will have to go back to having her transfusions every 3 weeks from now on . Her body could not handle the 4 week schedule. Her ferritin was also at dangerously high levels .
We met with the head of Pediatric Hematology at Hopkins ( for the first time, we usually see another Doctor but he happened to be on call today ) and he discussed her best options.
He asked if we had considered a bone marrow transplant . After explaining her adoption to him and the very remote chance of even finding a matching biological donor , he then switched to plan B.
She will have to stay on the 3 week transfusion schedule, increase her daily infusion (for chelation ) from 5 days a week to 7 , and possibly have a spleenectomy if she does not show improvement.

If any one knows of a way to find birth parents or biological family members of children adopted from China please email me . Right now Gemma is doing great and not in a crisis but the continual blood transfusions and high ferritin levels over time damage the heart , liver and spleen . Gemma has already developed some liver damage .


Last week the girls and I were sitting on the front porch waiting for Gemma's weekly infusion medicine to be delivered. As the delivery man came up to the porch Teresa looked down at his shoes ( Like she does with EVERYONE ) . I was a little afraid of what was going to come out of her mouth next. " Oh Mommy I luva his shoes " . He started laughing and thought this was quite amusing . He had on old black work boots . I don't think he had ever had a positive comment about his shoes before .

After he left I asked her why she liked his boots so much . " Because they are just like Gaston's !"

Her favorite movie and Princess are Beauty and The Beast . Even though she did not like Gaston because he was so mean to Belle , she loved his shoes .

Teresa had another great week . She had a cold but it only lasted a few days. I am amazed at how well she responds to every little bug that comes her way . I become very nervous every time she sneezes because it always turns into a cold and the Doctors have explained to us how dangerous an infection could potentially damage her already fragile health.
Thank you everyone for continually praying for Teressa . We are so blessed to have so many fantastic caring people always lifting her up in prayer .

5 comments:

Shonni said...

Prayers for both of your precious little girls.
And LOL about the shoes...probably made his day.

ChellisFamily said...

Hi - I have been a big fan of Theresa's ever since she was in China and have been praying for you and your family for a long time.
When we adopted in 2004, I found out about the China DNA project. Here is a link: http://www.familytreedna.com/public/China/default.aspx
You might also join her orphanage yahoo group and post your plea on the site.
If you google Brian Sty, he helps find birthparents in China (not a big fan of his but that is another story).
The bone marrow registry might be a chance: http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/index.html?src=tabjoin
Our prayers, as always, is with your family and beautiful girls.

Unknown said...

There's also another mom who managed to find a donor match for her Chinese daughter: http://kaileegetwells.com/ she may be of help to you as well.

Teresa

Medtary said...

Ann, here are a few more sites to check out...

http://www.bmdp.org/index.php
http://www.asianmarrow.org/
http://www.aabmf.org/
http://www.aadp.org/
http://www.cllf.org/
http://www.stemcellschina.com/index.php/en/news/22/256-china-builds-worlds-largest-bone-marrow-bank
http://www.stemcellschina.com/index.php/en/news/22/256-china-builds-worlds-largest-bone-marrow-bank

--

Molly said...

I've got to say, I love your sweet girls. Teresa has totally worked her way into my heart and I am praying for your miracle!