We are here in our little hotel room just trying to stay preoccupied while we wait for tomorrow. We had a busy day of pre-op testing and meetings; everything went smoothly for the most part. We got to the hospital at 7:30 this morning and started with an echocardiogram, followed by an EKG. Nicholas did awesomely for these tests. After that, we had 2 chest x-rays, and then met with the anesthesiologist Physician's Assistant, Chloe. We had a Child Life Specialist, Jeanie, come and take Nicholas on a tour while we had our first meeting with the Surgical Physician Assistants. They explained what we should expect after the surgery, and gave us a list of possible complications during surgery. They gave us chlorhexidine wipes that we have to wash him with tomorrow morning before we leave our hotel. They answered all of our questions. After that, we did the last test I was dreading, the blood draw. Last time we were here, he kind of freaked out, but they did such a good job that he didn't realize what had happened. This time, he remembered the blood draw room and it was really hard to hold him there (four of us) while they took several vials of blood. He was burnt out after that and begged us to go back to our hotel where he could just watch a movie and have a little "siesta". We slept for 3 hours!
All of our questions have been answered and we are about as prepared as one can be before giving your child up for this life-changing open-heart surgery. One thing that was interesting to me was that the Pulmonary Artery Banding procedure is relatively simple; on a scale of 1-10 the Physician Assistant rated it at about a 2. The entire procedure should take about 1-2 hours, but Nicholas will be away from us for about 4 hours. He will likely be in the cardiac ICU for a few days, then he will transfer to a regular recovery room for a few more days. Hopefully we will be home by Christmas.
I am so thankful for all the prayers and well-wishers leading up to this point. Mostly I have kept it together up to this point, but I have had moments where I just want to cry. If it is possible to be glad, I am glad that Nicholas is in such good hands, and I am glad that there is a surgery to make his life better. I am glad that we have family helping us out and taking care of our other kids so that we can focus on Nicholas.Note the cute dinosaur slippers on the picture on the right: Auntie Ny got those for him the day before we left and they have been a huge hit! He wore them around the hospital and had many admirers and made many people smile. Nicholas was pretending that he was a dinosaur (specifically a t-rex) all day. He was his usual animated self, and I am glad he had a good day (minus that dreaded blood draw).
Brenna - I can understand so much of what you're going through right now, and the feelings as you were preparing for surgery. And the part about being separated from your other kids...that's such a hard part - but right now Nicholas just needs you! You're an awesome mom - don't forget that! And remember to sleep and eat whenever you can! :)
ReplyDelete