Bridget Engle would like her friends in Annandale to know she’s feeling stronger with each new day and looks forward to coming home soon. "Every day she says, ‘Go home, go home,’" her dad, Tim, said Sunday, Jan. 13. "Bridget misses everyone at school. We’re hoping she gets out of here sometime next week." The 14-year-old Annandale Middle School student, recovering from heart surgery performed Tuesday, Jan. 8, at Minneapolis Children’s Hospital, was smiling, laughing and acting like her old self again in a matter of days, said her parents. "The surgery went really well," Tim said. "They’re really happy with how she’s doing." Aortic valve replaced Last week’s replacement of an aortic valve was the third open-heart procedure Bridget has had to undergo in her short lifetime, said her father. Born with multiple heart defects, she has also lived since the age of six weeks with cerebral palsy – an after-effect of cardiac arrest that occurred during one of those surgeries. The replacement, performed to relieve stress that could eventually result in permanent damage, was a procedure her parents have always known would eventually be necessary. "They wanted to wait until she was big enough to handle it," Tim explained. "As it is, they weren’t able to give her one quite as big as they wanted, but it is an adult-sized valve, and it should last a long, long time." Understandably a bit groggy the first few days following her surgery, Bridget has since regained her sunny disposition and is again flashing the engaging grin that is her personal trademark. "She’s just bright-eyed and giggling and talking up a storm," Tim said. "She keeps pointing to her incision and saying, ‘They fixed my heart.’ She’s doing really, really well." The next step in her recovery will be to determine proper dosage of a blood thinner she’ll likely need to take for many years. Once that hurdle is cleared, she will be able to continue her recovery at home, where family members and friends are standing by to help out. A return to school is hoped for in early to mid-February. Support from Bridget’s schoolmates and the community, Tim said, has been overwhelming. Most gratifying, he noted, was the contribution of $2,736 raised by AMS students in a Christmas fundraising campaign initiated by classmates Rachel Heiber and Bree Ahsenmacher. "That was totally amazing, what those kids did," he said. Emotional support has also been pouring in over the internet, he added, by way of a CaringBridge web site that features not only a guest book where well-wishers can sign in and leave a few encouraging words, but a parents’ journal of updates on Bridget’s condition as well. Bridget’s guest book, journal, and an assortment of photographs can be found at www.caringbridge.org. Type in Bridgetengle. "To see the CaringBridge web site and how many people have logged on – that makes our day," Tim said. "You forget, sometimes, how many people she touches." Bridget’s mom, Michelle, echoed his sentiments. "The site is wonderful," she said. "There are people on that web site I haven’t seen in years, some I’ve never even met before. We’re very grateful for the CaringBridge." "We’re grateful for everyone’s thoughts, everyone’s prayers and their support," Tim said. "I have just one more request," Michelle added. "And that would be that everyone keep praying for her."
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