A Little Love

It was Father’s Day 2020 when April Bridges gave her husband Dharnell the best gift of all. The couple was on vacation in Ocean City, Maryland, when April’s deep-seated maternal instinct told her she was pregnant. After six children, April’s instinct proved she was right. On February 18, 2021, the couple welcomed baby Love into the family. “The name just fit her perfectly,” says Dharnell. “There was no other option but ‘Love.’ We just felt it from the beginning.”

The petite baby with beautiful, big, brown eyes and butter-soft skin looked as perfect as her name. But after 10 weeks it became apparent something was wrong. Love wasn’t gaining weight and spit up after every bottle feed. A change in formula failed to solve the problem. Finally, a pediatric specialist diagnosed a small cyst on Love’s airway that was preventing her from eating properly and getting nutrition. Surgery was needed. The procedure, in theory, was relatively simple, and recovery, the Bridges were told, should be quick. A few days in the neonatal intensive care unit, and Love would be going home.

“We expected her to bounce back quickly when she came off the breathing tube hours after surgery,” says Dharnell. “But her condition took a turn for the worse. We literally could see the space between her lungs retracting as she struggled to breathe.”

Love had to be sedated and re-intubated. Further procedures failed to solve her breathing problems. Love would need a tracheostomy, a breathing tube surgically inserted in her airway. “It was our last resort,” says Dharnell.

Weeks later, Love had progressed enough for the next step in her recovery. Not only did she need a wide range of rehabilitation therapies, but April and Dharnell needed training on how to manage Love’s tracheostomy so they could eventually take her home. The Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital Emily Howatt Pliskatt Pediatric Unit in Bethlehem was the place to go. The proximity of the hospital to the Bridges’ home in Easton made it easier for April and Dharnell to spend time with Love and get the hands-on training they needed while juggling the care of their other six children at home.

On June 3, 31/2-month-old Love was admitted to Good Shepherd. She needed physical, occupational, speech, recreational and respiratory therapy.

“Because she had been sick for so long, she had lost some skills from being acutely in the hospital,” says Kimberly Kuchinski, MD, MPH, medical director, pediatric Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. “Here, she benefitted from all of the therapies to help her get stronger, to start eating on her own and progress through all her developmental milestones while her parents learned the care of her tracheostomy.”

“Love received the most amazing therapy from every department,” says Dharnell. “They started training us with Love’s trach care on the second day. We were nervous, but we were always assured that we were doing a great job.”

The respiratory therapy team taught April and Dharnell how to suction and change Love's trach, and how to check for infection or skin breakdown among other things. Working with nursing, they were schooled in how to handle an emergency should one arise. “We were tested to see if in an emergency we could in fact change the trach on our own, and April and I both passed with flying colors,” says Dharnell. “There is no doubt in my mind that we were prepared.”

Speech therapists oversaw Love’s feeding, keeping her parents involved and informed every step of the way, including Love’s swallow study, which was essential to teaching Love how to breathe and swallow differently. “We were never left in the dark when it came to Love’s ability to successfully eat,” says Dharnell. “Our ability to care for Love was never doubted, but help was always there for us when Love would not have a good feeding, just to give us that motivational push we needed to move forward.”

Physical and occupational therapy helped Love get stronger through play. “These ladies made sure Love was hitting her correct developmental milestones, rolling over, tummy time, holding her head up, reaching for her feet and turning her head in both directions,” says Dharnell. And recreational therapy made certain Love had ample time every day to socialize. “Love loved when TR came into the room in the early morning just to take her to the day room,” says Dharnell.

After almost three months, Love went home for the first time, crawling, sitting up on her own and able to tolerate spoon feeding. She was 6 months old.

“Good Shepherd is the best place for pediatric rehabilitation because we not only have an incredibly dedicated and enthusiastic staff, but we’re able to handle some of the most medically complex patients and help them wean from as much medical support as possible and achieve their best functional outcomes,” says Dr. Kuchinski.

Love, now 2 years old, is testament to that. She loves to eat, is walking and adores playing with her brothers and sisters. The hope is eventually Love will no longer need the tracheostomy. Her future looks bright.

“She’s just amazing,” says Dharnell. “She’s hitting all her milestones. It was a lot, but Good Shepherd trained us 100 percent. If it wasn’t for them, I don’t think we would have been as comfortable bringing our daughter home or be as prepared to care for her. Love now only needs basic trach care and all the love we can give her. Good Shepherd is top of the line. If anybody ever has a child that needs any kind of help, I would definitely recommend Good Shepherd.” n