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THINGS AS THEY HAPPENED AT BLUE SKY FROM DAY 1.

We expect to have our first residents by 2nd week of June 2004.

June 1st 2004 - The Blue Sky Healing Home is almost ready to welcome kids.

June 7th - the arrival of Ji De, our first resident who hails from Qinghai province.. ..

June 10th - Ji De's 1 month birthday !! Today we also welcomed our second man in the house, Fu Kang, who is 19 months old, and under medication for a mild heart condition.

June 22nd - 3rd resident arrives. Liu Gang is an 8 yr old boy with cerebral palsey. He recently had spinal surgery and foot surgery.

June 28 - 2 new arrivals today. Wen Jie is a 9 month old baby boy born with Hirschsprung's disease. He had surgery to remove a part of his colon. Xiao Ling is a 17 year old girl who will be undergoing eye surgery in Beijing soon. We also had a special visitor today - Zina White is a nurse living in Tianjin who specialises in Ostomy and Wound care, and she gave a training session to us on how to manage JiDe's colostomy !

June 30 - One of our staff is currently accompanying a 3 year old girl in hospital, who just had heart surgery. They will return to Blue Sky next Monday, which will bring our house total to 6 kids, 6 adults. That's 12 mouths to feed ! We finally invested in and installed a new large washing machine, which will bring much relief to Aunty Chui, who has been handwashing so far. We thank her for her patience. We also received an airconditioner donation from Hatsune Japanese Restaurant which we have installed in our rehab/living room area. Thank you Hatsune !

July3rd - another 2 kids joined us today, an almost 2 year old girl, and a 6 year old girl. Both have been selected to undergo spine surgery for their scoliosis next week by a visiting Stanford orthopaedic surgeon. They will be admitted to hospital next week, and upon discharge will stay at Bluesky for recovery and therapy.

July 5 - 11- The past week has seen us taking WenJie to the hospital to learn how to dilate his anus. He will have to endure this procedure twice a day for about 3 months. He is otherwise recovering well, and babbles happily. Ya Tian, our 6 year old with scoliosis had successful surgery on Wednesday, and is recovering extremely well. She may be home tomorrow. Ya Mei, the younger scoliosis girl, will not be having the surgery after all. She has just come out in spots that look like chicken pox, although we were told that she had already had the chicken pox recently. We'll find out more tomorrow

July 12 - 18- Ya Tian is back home and doing very well in her body cast. She is a brave little girl, and fights back the tears when she is feeling uncomfortable. Ya Mei, the younger of the scoliosis girls, has chicken pox and is being isolated from the other children. Ji De, is putting on weight nicely and eats up to 900ml of formula a day !

July 19 - 25- We said "see you later" to Ya Tian, and Ya Mei who have now returned to their orphanage. They are the first to leave BlueSKy, and we will miss them. Liu Gang is doing well in therapy, and Dang Tong is walking around effortlessly, recovering extremely well from her open=heart surgery. She has been opening up to her new environment, and laughs and plays happily. She is only a little upset when she has to wear an electronic chest brace every now and then. Our household count is now at 5 kids.

July 26 - A crazy day ! We welcomed another 3 new residents who arrived early by train with their caretakers. 2 babies born with cleft lip, and a huge 3 year old that has kidney problems. The 2 babies are both under 2months old, and have extremely bad diaper rash skin, and one has horrendous bedsores on his feet. We brought them immediately to the hospital and are treating their wounds. We also brought our dear friend WenJie to the hospital- the cutie with Hirschsprung;s Disease - and we are sad to say that his skin problem turned out to be scabies ! Everyone who has been in contact with him needs to be treated for scabies, which luckily just requires an overnite application of a cream (so not too much torture). But the thought of mites infesting our skin in not pleasant. So now our house has 8 kid s!

July 27 - 30 - wow - Both new babies have now been rejected for cleft palate surgery by the hospital, and the little girl, has tested positive for Hep C, probably passed down from her mother. We are waiting to see blood test reports for the little cleft boy, but hopefully his results are negative. We really want to keep him in our care, and make sure that his wounds heal. Liu Gang has now popped out in chicken pox-looking boils... here we go again.

August 5th - Little Ji De has been causing an uproar in the home (everyone is worried sick about him). He's been having high fevers, low appetite and seems to have less energy. We've been back and forth to the hospital, and he is now on antibiotics, and improving slowly. Liu Gang is still being isolated for his chicken pox, and we can only hope that none of the other kids have been infected. Time will tell. This week we will be saying goodbye to Ruby, who has been living with us for over a month. She is completing her Masters degree in Translation, and has been helping us during her vacation with translation. She has become a part of our Bluesky family, and we will miss her dearly, and hope that she returns soon.
On another note - Tania and TianBao will be travelling to Singapore next week, for TianBao's surgery to repair her umbilical hernia (omphalocele), after many months of waiting for a passport. Please have her in your thoughts...
This month, we officially welcome Dr Maria He, who used to work at the Beijing Railway Hospital, to our BlueSKy family. She had previously volunteered her time to help us, and is largely responsible for finding and helping to manage our staff from the start. We are thrilled (and surprised !) that she has agreed to come onboard full time with us, and is a great asset to our home. Our children now have skilled and loving hands to take care of them.
August 12th - Dang Tong has left Blue Sky and is back home with her friends at the orphanage. She has been recovering so well after her heart surgery that we felt comfortable that she could go back and that they would monitor her progress. We will check in on her periodically, and take her for her check ups with the surgeons. We welcome Dang ShenLi to our home - he is under a month old, and most likely has Tetralogy of Fallot - a serious heart condition. He has difficulty breathing, and we are hoping that he can be admitted to hospital soon for surgery, and are in the meantime looking for funding to help with his medical expenses. Liu Gang, our 8 year old CP boy, is probably leaving us next Monday with his personal caretaker (who has been in our home learning therapy to better care for him). Lined up to enter into Blue Sky is a 5 week old baby girl with cleft palate. She needs to be nourished before she can be admitted for surgery to repair her cleft. This week, Molly has been serving as an appointed expert at a workshop called "Psychological Counselling & Rehabilitation Training for Orphans Care Project". She lectured to a group of 50 to 60 caretakers from orphanages all over China. One of staff, Xiao Xia, also attended the 5 day workshop, and will be passing on her knowledge to the rest of our staff. And finally, Tian Bao is happy in SIngapore, for now. Her surgery is scheduled for Monday the 16th - and we have been told that her defect is quite a large one, and that the operation may take a few hours or more. We hope for the best !
August 20th - Dang Shen Li is in the ICU at the heart hospital. His condition is very serious and we are waiting to hear from the doctors on when he can have surgery. Dang ShenXue, our new baby girl with cleft palate has arrived at our home. UPDATE from Singapore - Tian Bao is doing well after surgery on Monday the 16th. She had muscle repair surgery on her abdomen, and her tummy is now beautiful and flat. Her surgery was 4.5 hours long, and her surgeon did an amazing job re-situating her organs, and repairing her abdominal muscles. He even removed most of the ugly scar and gave her a belly button as a bonus ! To see more pictures of the precious tot...
August 26th - Shen Li is out of the iCU, but is still under onservation, and waiting for the head surgeon to make a decision on surgery. Staying temporarily with us is 12 year old TianNa, who just had heart surgery. She was released from hospital despite not having NOT had a bowel movement for 8 days ! After much painful straining and stressing her heart, Dr He assisted her, and she was able to relieve herself. Our staff are sorting through our donations of clothing and toys, for TIan Na to take back with her to the orphanage when she returns in a week's time. Molly is now back at Blue Sky, after travelling to Chongqing to give lectures. Tania is still in Singapore with Tian Bao, who is recovering well from her surgery last Monday. Tian Bao's bandage was removed yesterday, and she has 1 more appointment with the doctor next week, before returning home to Beijing. We've been asked to consider adding 4 more children to our home in the next few weeks. They are all in hospital for surgery at the moment. We will try our best to accomodate them, or find a solution. Shen Xue, the cleft baby girl, is still in hospital until further notice.
September 1st - Quick news.Tian Bao and Tania are now back in Beijing, after a relatively easily flight. She was a very good girl - phew! We also want to thank the few people that have emailed us since our article came out in the Singapore newspapers. Thank you all for your kind words and support for our cause.
Sept6th - Shen Li (the baby with heart condition) came home today. The surgeon decided that he is too weak for surgery, and needs to grow a little more. Because his stay at the hospital is extremely costly, they said that we can take him home and take care of him. We are a little nervous of his condition, but He Daifu is confident that we can keep him stable. He is slightly over a month old, and only weighs 2.2.kg. His breathing is hard and heavy, and feeding is difficult. He has been in hospital at a cost of 18,000yuan. We cn only hope for the best.
Sept13th - Lots happening at Blue Sky this past week. Shen Li (who actually is 2 months old and extremely tiny) has been under close observation, and has been improving daily. He is taking more milk, and now seems to be aware of his surroundings. He still takes more than an hour to feed on 30 - 40 ml, and gets tired very easily. Our staff are wonderful and take the time to talk to him, cuddle and make sure he is comfortable. Molly has been giving physical therapy training to 3 kids kids and their caretakers from other foster homes. GuaiGuai, 4yrs old with severe cerebral palsey, and Yuan Yuan, 1yr old who is blind and Molly suspects does not actually have CP, but is extremely under stimulated. The back of his head is as flat as a pancake (quite often seen when kids are left in beds all the time).The 3rd child is about 5 or 6 years old and is blind. She is with us for a short 3 day stay, while the other 2 will stay for about 2 weeks. Our 3 resident boys are all doing very well, and JIDE is now 6.5 kg !!! We remind our staff that when he came, he was as thin as Shen Li is now, and we were all nervous to carry him. Our hopes are that SHen Li will prosper like him soon. Tian Bao will need another minor surgery here in Beijing. She had an ingunial hernia 3 days after we arrived back, and this requires a small surgery.
Sept20 - Recap of the week - we are happy to say that Shen Li seems to be doing well, and is increasing milk intake by the day. He now takes up to 60ml each feeding, but still breathes heavily and gets tired easily. We are hoping that he will be fit for surgery after the October 1st holidays. After 3 days of therapy with Molly, the 5 year old blind girl accomplished her goal of walking on her own with her stick. Previously, she would not let go of her ayi's hand, and would sit down immediately and stop walking. Well done Molly !! The other 2 kids still have a week of therapy and are doing well. JiDe was paid a visit by his ostomy nurse from the States, who again helped us to install his colostomy bag. This time, the bag seems to be fitting very well (no doubt because there is more skin to work with on the chubby boy!). Because he has 2 stomas side by side, he has to use the adult size colostomy bag. Our staff are now getting english lessons once a week with our new volunteer, Brianne. Tian Bao has day surgery scheduled this weekend to repair her inguinal hernia. And finally, a charity dinner was thrown on behalf of Blue Sky at Kagen Restaurant on Saturday, that helped raise money for our surgery fund. We thank Karin Kelly and her volunteers for doing such a wonderful job, and for helping us help the children.
Sept27 -All is well at Blue Sky. The rehab kids and their caretakers have all returned home after 2 weeks of training. They have done well during their with us. Shen Li(Tetralogy of Fallot) is putting on weight, and is almost smiling at us. He has a special friend that comes over to Blue Sky just to hold him and talk to him. We're sure he loves looking into her big blue eyes ! JiDe has not had much luck wearing his colostomy bags. They come off within a day or 2 (ideally they stay on for 3 to 4 days). Our house is a little quieter now with just 4 boys. We will not be taking in new kids until after the October 1st holidays (where all of CHina shuts down for at least 7 days). Our staff will take turns to have a short break, and some will return to their hometowns. We think that they deserve a holiday after all the hard work they put into Blue SKy. Tian Bao had her inguinal hernia repair surgery performed over the weekend at Beijing United with Dr Ye. She is recovering amazingly well (as expected), and we really hope that this is the last surgery that she has to go through.
Sept28 - October 10: With the holidays, BlueSKy was a little quiet. WenJie turned 1 year old, and is now able to stand holding himself up on a stool. His crawling has also improved. FuKang walks freely now on his own, and blows kisses to all the women. JiDe is getting chubbier by the day, and is now 7.5kg ! Soon he will outgrow his 2 older pals, and is not even 5 months old! Shen Li is doing well, and regularly eats up to 500ml of formula a day. We were also lucky to have Tian Bao's paediatric surgeon, Dr Ye, come visit and have a thorough look at all the children. Tian Bao had her stitches removed, and is doing very well.
BlueSky has helped 17 kids in total since opening in June 2004.
October 11 - Today was BlueSky's first real day back in action and we had surely had a busy day. We welcomed 2 children (a blind 15year old and a 2year old with cerebral palsey) and their caretakers from a foster home in Langfang, that require some physical therapy training. They will stay with us for 3 days. Our new translator for Molly also arrived, Bessie, and she will be staying at BlueSKy.
Oct 12 - 17: We are happy to announce that we are expanding our operations, and have rented our second home (20 steps away!). BlueSky II will initially serve as our rehab centre, and in future will also be used as housing for more children and caretakers. We have also added another staff member, which now takes our total live-in staff to 7. With some of our kids going into hospital for surgery, our staff accompanies them in the hospital throughout their stay. Currently JiDe (our first resident boy!), is in hospital to possibly undergo his second surgery (creating his anus). We are a "little" frustrated with the care he is receiving at the hospital - but it is out of our control. We also brought ShenLi and Dang Tong (the 3 year old girl who had heart surgery and is back living at the orphanage) to the hospital for their check-ups. Dang Tong is basically a normal and healthy child now. The doctors said that Shen Li is definitely looking better, but still needs to put on more weight before they will consider surgery.
Oct18-24 : .;\Poor JiDe developed diarreah and a temperature after being in hospital for 2 days. All the babies in his ward are sick as well (not a good sign). On his 4th day in hospital, we were told that his bloodwork showed that he has Hepatitis B. This came as a shock to us because we assumed that since he had undergone the first surgery before coming to our home, that he was clear of all infectious diseases, if not, the surgeons would have informed us at the time. It is possible that it did not show in his bloodwork at that time. Our staff have all been tested and vaccinated, and are mostly upset about him having Hep B because it will give him less of a chance to get adopted, and that he is burdened with the disease for life. Poor boy. Perhaps we'll have to keep him. On Friday, he did have his surgery to create the anus, and as the doctor informed us, the surgery went well. *Molly and Bessie travelled on Friday night by overnight train to Jiaozuo, a large state orphanage that FuKang and WenJie are from. They will stay 4 nights and Molly will give training sessions to the orphanage staff. They are also bringing back with them (on the 10hour train ride!) 2 babies for care at BlueSky. Both were born with cleft lips & palates, and have difficulty feeding. Hence they are likely not to thrive in the orphanage. One is barely 2 weeks old, the other about 3months. They will stay with us to grow and get nourished, and then we will arrange for their surgeries. * FuKang went for his heart condition checkup. Unfortunately the hole in his heart has Not decreased in size with medication therapy, and he will most likely require surgery. We are waiting to hear from the surgeons on the next step. * WenJie also had his checkup and has been given the A-OK on his recovery. He is technically ready to go back to the orphanage, but we are letting him stay a little longer to improve his eating disorder (he's a very difficult eater!). We need more time with him.
Oct 25 - We visited Jide today. He's lost some weight as expected, but otherwise looks ok. He even managed a smile for us (although it took a lot of coaxing). Hopefully we can bring him home on Friday, if not sooner.
Oct27 - Molly and Bessie returned to Beijing after a gruelling 10 hour overnight train ride from Jiaozuo, Henan, with 2 baby boys - a 7 day old and a 2 month old. They report that the whole train probably didn't sleep a wink all night. Both babies have bilateral cleft lip and palates, and are at risk of failing to thrive in the orphanage due to the fact that they take longer to feed, and need extra attention. We will fatten them up, and then arrange for their surgeries. They are receiving basic medical care at Beijing United Family Hospitals and are sponsored by the hospital's foundation. So now, Blue Sky has 6 BOYS !
Oct28- Oct31 : Good news all around: The 2 new cleft babies had their initial check ups and bloodwork, and all is good. * JiDe came home on Saturday after 16 days in hospital. He is in good spirits as you can see below, and we are all thrilled to have him home. * Kids at Blue Sky - we have a total of 6 boys in the house now, and a 15yr old girl entering the hospital on Monday for burn repair surgery. We shall be using the BlueSky Medical Fund to pay for her surgeries.
Nov 1 - Nov7 : We visited Qing Qing (the 15yr old girl with burns) in hospital. She is basically in there undergoing tests (this will take about 10days typically), and we still do not know when her actual surgery is. Sadly, she told us more about herself and she was burned at the age of 4, while her parents were fighting with each other. She was then abandoned at the door of a catholic orphanage and has lived there ever since. She has already undergone a few surgeries when she was younger, and will need a few more over the next few years. This time round, she will be getting surgery on her hand that is contracting quite badly, and therapy is vital post-surgery. She is a courageous and independant girl. * One of our supporters, an Italian-Chinese Insurance Company, has decided to help us raise funds by printing Xmas cards, which we shall sell and be able to keep all proceeds.
Nov8 - Nov10: On Monday, we brought 2 kids from a nearby orphanage for physical therapy. Both girls, one has cerebral palsey and just had spinal dorsal rhizotomy. surgery to cut some of the nerves to her legs and decrease the spasticity, and the other recently had surgery on her back for her spinabifida, and has a urinal cathether in place. Unfortunately, she was crying in pain from the moment we picked her up, and so we brought her to a hospital. Turns out that she was having a bad infection from the cathether. She will now stay in hospital for a week or so.
Nov11 - Nov14: It was finally decided that Qing Qing will have surgery on her left hand on 17Nov. She will require a few surgeries over the next few months on this one hand alone, and will most likely stay with us for a few months. * Dang Qian is still in hospital recovering from her urethral infection. She will hopefullu be back next week. *All 6 boys at BlueSKy are doing well.
Nov15 : We had our first BlueSky road trip. We travelled 4 hours by car to reach a remote catholic orphanage in Shijiazhuang. It was an experience. All we can say is that the children need help, and the sisters there try their best, but have so little. We saw about 50 children, almost all of which were severely retarded. We brought them donated clothes, milk bottles and gave a personal donation to help them. We are compiling a full list of children that we think we can help. We also left with 4 boxes of pears that are famous in the region (a gift from the sisters), and a 20 day old baby girl ! She has a mysterious skin condition (her skin is peeling off in large flakes), and we felt the need to bring her home as she may be at risk for infection. She's beautiful. BlueSKy now has 6boys and a girl !
Nov 16 : We added another gorgeous boy to our home today ! He's a 2.5 year old from Fujian province, who us undergoing hormone therapy (to completely make him a boy - sorry don't know the medical term yet). He will probably need surgery in 2 months, we're told. He's very handsome, and tall for his age - he looks more like a 4 year old. So now, BlueSky is taking care of 10 children. When Qing Qing returns, she will be the first to live at BlueSky II with her caretaker.
Nov17-Nov29: Dang Qian (4yr old with spina bifida) is back from 2 weeks in hospital recovering from her urinary tract infection. She is still on antibiotics, and fitted with a catheter to collect her pee. She's a happy girl now, and loves playing with barbie dolls. We're slowly getting her to open up and talk a little as she's extremely quiet and shy, but smiles a lot. * Our little baby girl with the flaky skin is doing well, and if all goes well, she will hopefully shed the skin once and for all, and be a perfect girl. All her bloodwork came back and she's fine. * Shen Li, our 5mnth old with 4 heart abnormalities, is now ready for his surgery. We are very nervous about this, because he still looks so small and weak to us. His surgery will cost around 50000rmb ! * We've had our first sale of christmas cards at a school fair, and we've raised about 10000rmb !
Nov30 - Dec5: QingQing, the 15yr old girl with burns, has come back from the hospital. Her hand is in a cast, and her leg bandaged where they grafted some skin for the hand. She will get her stitches and pins removed on Mon13th. * Shen Li is still in the heart hospital awaiting surgery. He's caught quite a bad cough and cold, and will simply wait to get better. Our playroom at BlueSky II is taking shape, and the kids go over there for active play and learning. We are lucky to have a few volunteers who come over and play, paint and sing songs with the kids. * Apart from a few runny noses, all kids are doing well. We are managing quite well with 9 kids in the house ! And we hope that Shen Li will soon be back to join the fun ! * We've also been trying hard to sell our christmas cards that were donated to us by Generali China. We've attended 2 christmas fairs and are grateful to the volunteers that helped us (Jane, BeeBee, Patty, Helena, Gunilla, Jeanette, Fanny, Sarah, Francis, Zoe, Emma, Sabrina, Amy, and a few others). We've raised in total about 20,000rmb which will go towards ShenLi's medical fund. His surgery will cost about 50,000rmb to 80,000rmb.
Dec6th - Dec 13: We were invited to the expat hospital (Beijing United) to take part in their christmas tree lighting and toy drive. We brought 5 of our kids to enjoy the festivities - thanks to Su-En, Patty and Elsa who lent us a hand. * Shen Li is still in hospital recovering from his cold. No news yet on his surgery. * We finally took our christmas picture, but are sad that we are missing ShenLi and Xiao Qing (our ayi) who are in hospital.

Dec14th - Dec 19th - We spent the week in and out of 3 different hospitals ! * Dang Qian, our 5 yr old with Spina Bifida who wears a catheter, developed a fever on Monday. The doctors confirmed that she had another infection of the bladder, and had to undergo intravenous antibiotics. She recovered by the end of the week. * QingQing went to have her stitches removed, and was fitted with a hand splint. Molly has begun rehab with her. * We brought Tian Xi, one of our young babies with bilateral cleft, to the hospital to check his breathing. We've been noticing that his chest concaves quite a bit when he breathes in. It was discovered that he has ASD (hole in the heart), but it is small and measures 3.8mm. No surgery is required, but we've been advised to check his heart again when he is 5 to 6 months old. Next week we will see an ENT specialist to assess his throat and breathing .
Dec 20th - Dec 31st : Blue Sky had a little christmas party with about 30 guests. 2 days before the party, we bought a small electric piano for 250rmb and told our girls to prepare a little song or two. They surprised us, and put on a half hour performance with several songs and dances. Qing Qing gave a solo performance, with FuKang in her arms for morale support. And we even had Santa and his helper give candies to the audience. * The kids are all doing well - Dang Qian has undergone more tests and may need surgery. She is also being fitted for a hip brace that will cost 4000 rmb to help her posture and hip and knee joints. * LiLi's skin has improved dramatically after using a cream given to us by our friend Iris. She's looking extremely beautiful and has started to smile ! * Shen Li is also smiling these days, and is now eating better than when he was in hospital. He still needs the surgery for his heart condition soon. * Luo Fei has completed his hormone injections and went to the hospital for checkup. We are now waiting for his test results.
Jan1st - Jan14th 2005 - Happy New Year to all ! We started the year with a few runny noses and coughs, but generally everyone is doing well. * Qing Qing's check up for her hand went well, and the doctor is pleased with the results of her therapy with Molly. She will only need to see him in another month, so Qing Qing will be going home to her orphanage for the CHinese New Year holidays. When the staff at her orphanage came to pick her up, Molly spent a few hours training them on QingQing's hand therapy which they will continue at the orphanage. * With Qing Qing's departure, we arranged for JianGong, a very sweet 7 year old boy to come to Blue Sky. He is from an extremely poor orphanage that we visited in November (most of the kids there are mentally retarded), and we desperately want to help him. Doctors can only assess his hand and foot condition by seeing him, so we decided to just bring him over to Beijing. He is not able to walk, and rolls on the ground for mobility (& lack of a wheelchair in the orphanage). His hands also have extremely weak muscle tone. Jian Gong has never seen a TV, and was amazed at the little people and animals moving in the box. He has never attended school, and we are planning to have our staff and volunteers start a lesson plan for him.* On Jan 13, JiDe was checked into the hospital for his third and final surgery (to close his colostomy and re-connect his intestine to his new anus). Surgery will be performed on Monday, and we hope that all goes well. * Shen Li is still awaiting surgery, but has been slowly improving at home. He now weighs slightly over 4kg, and has a little roundness to his face. Surgery will most likely be after the Chinese New Year celebrations.

Blue Sky Healing HomeA Medical Foster Home for Orphans in China