A Very Special Heart: The Must-Have Accessory That Could Save Your Life
My son was born at 24 weeks weighing 1lb 9oz. He spent 227 days in the NICU before coming home with many issues. He was on oxygen 24/7, was g tube fed around the clock and was on an apnea monitor. Just five short days after coming home from such a long stay, Ashton was readmitted and ended up ventilated again. At this time his g tube was switched to a gj tube for feeds and even now has horrible “blue spells” that, to this day, have not been diagnosed.
Now, at 4.5 years old, Ashton continues with struggles in life and is constantly at the hospital. In June of 2007 he had a cochlear implant placed as we found out in September 2006 that he was profoundly deaf. In January 2007 we found out that he was legally blind and therefore needed glasses. Just shortly after receiving this heart to review, Ashton was admitted to the ICU for a trial of bipap as he has severe sleep apnea. Unfortunately on his third night he coded twice, both times requiring CPR. This led to him having a tracheotomy done on December 11th.
On start up, the main page features picture identification for each person that has information stored on the Heart as well as advanced directives, such as a living will or power of attorney. Getting setup was easy. Once plugged in, a Very Special Heart's software prompts you to enter information for each family member. This includes stuff like medications (both prescribed and over-the-counter), allergies, medical conditions (asthma, g-tube, cochlear implant), primary physician and insurance information. For kids, this is especially nice because there is also a place for their vaccination schedule.
Additional storage on the Heart also offers sections for both public and private documents. In public you have medical release forms, parental consent forms, organ donor information, DNR(Do Not Resuscitate) information to make sure your wishes are followed and then x-rays and MRIs. This is another huge plus for me. I love that I can store my son’s x-rays, MRIs and other important scans so that any new doctor has all the information at their fingertips.
A Very Special Heart has been so simple to use and I love that I can update it as I need to. You never know when you might need it, but you can feel comfortable knowing that IF you or someone else in your family ended up in an emergency situation that the EMTs and doctors would be able to give any of you the best possible care with all of the information right at their fingertips.
I highly recommend this heart to all families. Having it gives me the peace of mind of knowing that all possible information is there and best of all - it's always around my neck in case of an emergency!
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