Journal
Archives 2005
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Jan 15th - Jan 20th - BREAKING NEWS !!! JIDE (OUR FIRST BOY AT BLUESKY) DOES NOT HAVE HEPETITIS B !!!! Everyone at BlueSky is overjoyed. It is confirmed now that the hospital where he had his first 2 surgeries, had made a mistake in his blood work. We had requested them to re-test when they  had first told us he had Hep B, but all they gave us was verbal confirmation, and now we believe that they never re-tested. For his third surgery, we changed hospitals and are funding the surgery on our own. We informed the doctors that he had Hep B, and blood work was done to confirm. They came back and said that he does not have Hep B. So we took another sample of his blood to another outside hospital to re-confirm, (that's how paranoid we are), and we can now honestly believe that he is Hep B free !!! So now,he has had his third and final surgery to close the colostomy. Doctors said that surgery went well, and recovery should be smooth. We visited him yesterday (his favorite caretaker in tow), and he was a little grumpy, but didn't cry the whole time we were there. He will still be there for another week or so. JiDe is such a sweet boy, and now that he does not have Hep B, he will have a greater chance at being adopted.
March 23 - APril 9 th : GOOD NEWS ! Shen Li, our heart baby boy, had major open-heart surgery on Monday March April 10th - April 13 - NEW BABY !
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been amazing, and the doctors are very pleased with his progress. He is now sporting a mohawk hairstyle, as a result of having an IV drip inserting into the vein on his head. JiDe is all smiles and giggles now. * Jian Gong, our 7yr old with arthrogryposis, was the lucky recipient of a wheelchair donated by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. It is a little bit big for him, but he seems to be able to manuever his way around anyway. After more consultations with doctors in Beijing, Jian Gong will most likely have surgery on his feet and knee after chinese new year. In the meantime, he has been learning how to count (up to 10 now) and is starting to recognise a few characters. He is very willing to learn and is such a polite boy. He and Dang Qian have become good friends. 
area to do this. In the beginning, the loud bangs and colourful skies are exciting to see, but after 3 days of non-stop bangs (even in daylight!), it's a little tiring, and this continues for 15 days.. Most of the kids were scared from all the noise, and our staff spent most of their time comforting them. The kids didn't sleep in their own beds for those first few nights ... (when i was told this by one of the staff, I was happy that the staff really treat the kids like family, which is obvious in any case, but nice to be reminded). 
Jia Jia is 2.5 years old born with Arthrogryposis. She has no functional use of arms and is unable to walk. Molly is teaching her caretakers about the nature of her 
condition, exercises to prevent deformities and strengthening the legs, standing and balance to prepare her for walking someday. Until November they really hadn't been doing any exercise or activities for her so she is quite weak. Liu Sheng Hao is 16 months old born with Cerebral palsy. He can't roll, sit, stand or use hands. Teaching foster mom how to hold, carry and play with him to improve his body control and increase opportunities for stimulation. She wasn't really sure what CP was and didn't know that any thing could be don't to help him before coming here
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Molly has also been working with Kai Rui- the little girl with clubfeet was born premature in Shanxi province and is staying at China Care's foster home in Beijing. We have been casting her since early December and she has made excellent progress. 
XiaoEn, had his cleft repair surgery today, and is doing well. The next few days will be his most difficult. 
doing very well. We are getting used to his new "look", and mostly miss his big wide smile. * We have a new resident that has checked straight into the hospital after arriving in Beijing. She is 4.5 yr old Long Long, from Shanxi province, and she will possibly get surgery on her feet later this week or next. BlueSky will fund this surgery. * Shen Li is still in hospital waiting for surgery possibly later this week or early next week. 
28th. He was in ICU for only a week and then in general ward for 
another 5 days. He is now back home with us and doing very well. We have to carefully monitor his liquid intake. He has come a long way from being near death at 2 weeks old, when doctors gave him little hope to survive. Now the doctors are saying that he can lead a completely normal life as a healthy child. We want to thank all of you that have helped us with Shen Li's medical fees, and for all the support and love shown to him during his time with us. He will still be with us for many months recuperating.
Blue Sky received it's youngest baby ever at 5 days old ! On Monday we went straight from the train station after picking them up to the hospital, where the baby was admitted and now one of our staff is stationed with him. It appears that the baby was born with bladder exstrophy (bladder on the outside of the body), and it may also have an imperforate anus. We are waiting for the final diagnosis from the surgeons, and whether surgery can be performed. Baby is otherwise eating well, and seems to be surviving. This will probably be our most complicated case yet, and usually 
We bid a fond farewell to Molly Albers, who co-founded Blue Sky. After 4 years in China, she is returning to the States with XuanXuan, her adopted daughter. We wish them health, happiness and a wonderful future together. See our 
from a flat tyre along the way, we had a good time visiting with the orphanage officials and the children. We were also taken to see triplets at the local army hospital, that were first abandoned at the orphanage in a box, and whose parents (& grandparents) later came forward to claim responsibility. They could not afford the hospital bills at the time, but are now raising funds with the help of the orphanage. The babies weigh approximately 1.4kg at 1 month old. 
We also re-visited with Ya Tian and Ya Mei, who had spent about a month at Blue SKy while waiting for surgery last year. THey are both looking very well taken care of as you can see. * Tian You, our bladder exstrophy baby, is still waiting for surgery in the hospital. With the May holidays in China, no surgery is performed until after May 8th, but he seems to be doing well. * Qing Qing, the 15 year old burn victim, has had her hand repair surgery on April 25th. This is the second stage of surgery to seperate her fingers. She is still in hospital recuperating. * FuKang is still waiting for his passport to be processed following which we can arrange for his surgery in Singapore. * Luo Fei is scheduled to see the doctors this week for evaluation for surgery. * We have now hired a full-time pre-school teacher to be on staff at Blue Sky. She was formerly teaching migrant workers children (a free school organised by the local catholic church). FInally, Jian Gong (our 7 year old who has not had any education) will get proper tutoring to get him on track for a regular school. THe teacher will also teach our toddlers. 
Baby Tian You has been doing well since his surgery. He may even return home next week ! His surgery did not, however, go as planned it was explained to us, and he now has 2 colostomies (opening in the abdomen) =- one is for his urine, and one is for his stools. His bladder was successfully replaced, but the doctors are concerned that his bladder is extremely small. 2nd stage surgery is planned for 3 months time, according to the surgeons. *We went on an outing over the May 1st holiday to Jin Hai Lake - which was basically a large lake with nothing much to do, but go on a half hour boat ride. Still it was a nice day out, and a nice change from our regular days. Our little babies were left at Blue Sky and were well looked after by Bessie and some volunteers. 
FuKang has recovered very well after surgery, and will be returning to Beijing on Sunday. We wish to thank Dr Shankar, Kumari, Joyce and Deirdre for helping us to arrange his surgery in Singapore through the foundation. * Baby Tian You turned 100 days old on today (Sat). He is pictured on the left. 
Despite the partly exposed bladder, his condition is good. He's round and chubby, and eats well. He simply needs constant care of his wounds to avoid infection. 
* BAOBAO's birthday party ! Giulia BaoBao turned 2 years old, so with grandparents in tow (their first visit to BlueSky), we had a seven dwarfs birthday cake enjoyed by all the kids. * The older kids at BlueSky (Jian Gong, Long Long & Luo Fei) have started lessons at Blue Sky 2, with our new temporary staff that has primary school teaching experience. So far she's doing a great job, and the kids love her. She will be with us only until September, and we'll have to hunt for another teacher at that time. *
Lili's skin condition has been acting up with the extreme heat in Beijing (up to 38 degrees some days !), but it is currently under control. Despite still having no teeth at 8 months old, she has been eating solids since 6 months old and has put on the weight to prove it. She is such a happy bundle of roundness, and is still our only girl in the gang of eleven. * Shen Li, our heart boy, has been doing very well. He turned 1 year old on July 1st. * Tian Xi has been slowly putting on weight and is turning out to be a very tall boy. We are still waiting to see when he can have surgery on his lip. * Xiao En is ready soon for his second surgery to repair his palate. He is almost walking ! * Ji De, our first baby ever, is now 1yr 2 months, and walking confidently. He is a very happy boy and a joy to all my staff. * iN SINGAPORE ! FuKang and Dr Maria He are currently in Singapore where FuKang has just undergone open heart surgery. He was accepted in to the KK Hospital's foundation for needy kids and his surgery is fully funded. Surgery has gone well, and he is in the ICU now. They will most likely be in Singapore for another week before returning to Beijing. 
after the summer holidays and are bringing lots of goodies. Mostly, the kids are happy to see familiar faces. The older ones (LuoFei, Long Long and Jian Gong) were taken out by Leslie and family for a day of swimming ! 
Their first experience ever. Needless to say, they loved it. JianGong (pictured left) has been working so hard on his rehab and exercises, that he can now walk a few paces on his own with the walker. So a nice reward came from Leslie who took him to see Disney on Ice ! * On Monday, 8 Aug, our two cleft boys (Xiao En and Tian Xi) underwent surgery for palate repair (Xiao En), and lip repair (Tian XI). They are in recovery, and hopefully not in too much pain. We hope to have them back in a week's time. * Xrays of Xiao Dai (pictured on the right) reveal that he is missing the 3 lower ribs on his left side, and also has possible compression of his verterbrae. We are trying to find an orthopaedic doctor to consult with on his case, as we are quite worried that the location of missing ribs is so near his heart. From our research on the internet, his condition seems to be very rare.
Tian Xi had a difficult bilateral cleft, and they managed to make him look gorgeous ! We are grateful to Operation Blessing for assisting us in the arrangement of the surgeries and for sharing part of the cost. * Throughout the summer, our older kids were having lessons by one of our staff with a little experience in teaching, since we could not find a teacher. Starting mid-August, an experienced teacher is being sponsored for 3 months by Neighborhood Chinese School and teaches the kids 3 hours a day. They are being taught all the basics of chinese, english, math and science. Our most important student is Jian Gong, our 7 year old from a really poor orphanage. We have high hopes for him to be an academic, since he is limited physically. He will also be with us for a while, since his orphanage holds little future for him. He is 
so eager to learn and has already picked up some english skills just by spending time with our english speaking volunteers. * Blue Sky threw Xiao En, one of our cleft boys, a cake party to celebrate his 1st birthday ! * Blue SKy is also helping a poor family from Inner Mongolia. The mother is a school teacher in a rural area, and her 5 year old son has a complicated heart condition. They have been told by a heart hospital in Beijing that nothing can be done to help her son. We decided to let them come back to Beijing for another consultation at the heart hospital that we have been very happy with. They travelled a full day by train to get to Beijing, without sleeping berths, just regular seats. After consultations with the doctors, they have told us that he needs a special man-made valve to be surgically implanted, and that the valve can only be obtained in the States. The valve can be brought to Beijing by visiting surgeons frm the States, and surgery can be performed. The cost will be extremely high, but we have said to proceed. Further tests will be done on the child to confirm the procedure. 
even though she didn't speak a word of chinese ! We are sad that she has returned to Holland, but hope she will visit again soon. Thanks Sandra ! * Baby Zhi Jing, pictured left, our youngest at the moment, turned 2 months old today (the 14th). She has quite an appetite and has no problems drinking milk formula, despite her cleft lip. She is now 5.16kg, and looking nice and chubby ! * We had a little bit of a scare with Baby Tian You, our bladder exstrophy baby. He has 2 inguinal hernias that decided to descend rather dangerously, and were causing him pain. This was late at night, and we called the surgeon who gave us a quick tip to have the hernias subside- basically hang him upside down. Luckily, the hernias did subside and he is alright. He needs surgery to repair this defect (one of the many surgeries he needs). 
Wen Jie (sumo wrestler!) has turned 2 years old. We have noticed that h e is naturally inclined to singing and dancing.
He is fitted with a very restrictive cast from his waist down, and has to lie flat all the time. He seems to be in good spirits, and is very proud of himself that he did not cry once in hospital. He truly is a brave little boy. He will have to endure the cast for 6 weeks.
bilateral lip. She is back home now, but her lip has started to split apart slightly from her crying. The doctor has advised that it be repaired again in about 3 months time. * We have a new baby girl - she was in the hospital the same time as ZhiJing, and is from a poor orphanage. She had a cleft lip repaired as well, but for a 5 month old, is very thin and weak.
* Baby Tian You, our 7 month old with Bladder Exstrophy, is most likely heading to Singapore for repair surgery. We have been desperately raising funds to support his medical fees and expenses, which will be high due to the severity of his condition. He will need several surgeries in any case, and we will constantly be raising funds for him. We are hoping that he will be in Singapore sometime in December. * We are lucky that 2 of our staff were invited to attend a training course for conducting music classes for babys and children. 
major surgery. He left on December 10th, and arrived in Singapore with a hernia that would not subside, and then he developed pneumonia. He was admiited into the hospital for emergency surgery, and released a week later. He was checked in again on Jan 2nd for the planned bladder exstrophy surgery. * Other news: Jian Gong, who turned 8 years old on january 19th 2006, had his hip cast removed and is mobile once again. He's been very brave at all hospital visits, and is proud of himself for not shedding a tear at all. He's doing therapy daily, and is back to private tutoring with one of our staff.
We are still looking to find an education solution for him, but have been told that local schools do not accept children with handicaps. He should not be deprived of an education just because of his physical disability. He will also most likely have another surgery to straighten his feet one more time, as the surgeons still believe it will help him be more balanced. * LuoFei, our almost 4 year old from Fujian province, and born intersexed, will have surgery after chinese new year. This corrective surgery will be to bring out his testicles. * Tian Xi, one of our cleft boys, will be having middle ear and palate repair surgery after chinese new year as well. The doctors believe that correcting his hearing problem may help in his mental development, which appears to be delayed at the moment. * Our 2 cleft girls, will have their second stage surgeries planned in March 2006. * Shen Li, our baby who had major heart repair surgery, was requested to return to his orphanage for Chinese New Year. He will not be coming back to us, and we are saddened to see him go ! Luckily we have volunteers that pay frequent visits to his orphanage, and we will be getting updates on how he is doing. * Ji De, our first baby ever at Blue Sky, has his adoption papers filed at CCAA (China Centre of Adoption Affairs). He is registered with an adoption agency in the States as a special needs child, and propective families can view his picture and consider adopting him. We hope that a family decides to adopt him soon. The rest of our kids are waiting to have tiheir paperwork processed by the orphanages. This is a lengthy process, and we can only sit and wait. * Christmas was great fun - the staff and kids were treated to quite a few little parties, and even received presents! Thanks to all the volunteers for making them all so happy. * Thanks also to the many individuals and groups that have helped us raise funds over the past few months. The majority of our fundraising this season will go towards paying for Baby Tian You's surgery costs in Singapore. His total bill as of today already stands at SGD 40,000.00 +, and he is still not checked out yet ! His condition is an extremely complicated one, and he's had a few relapses that required a 2nd and 3rd surgery, as well as more than 10 days in the ICU. We're also thankful to the foster family, the Marshalls, who have been taking care of Tian You and our staff Lucy by providing housing and meals, and well as the many other visitors that Tian You has been getting at the hospital. Thank you all for your kind support. He's a lovely boy. 
