Surgery Set for Friday

We had Amelia's pre-op appointment this morning and we got a lot of our questions answered. The first thing Kim Uhrich told us when we came into the exam room was that the surgery is going to be Friday. The OR scheduler said Thursday is just too full. (This is good news because yesterday she told us we might not get a final answer until Wednesday afternoon!) We were so relieved to have the scheduling issue decided and not have to bring it up during our meeting with the surgeon. Also we found out she is the "first case" which means her surgery will be at 7 am or so, and I'll be allowed to feed her up until 3 am, which is very good news.

Kim went over a lot of specifics of the surgery and we signed some consent forms. Then they sent us up to pre-care where we met with someone from the anesthesiologist's team, and Amelia had to get blood draw. They tried to numb her arm with some ELMA cream but unfortunately they couldn't get the vein on the first try and had to try again on her un-numb arm. She cried..a lot, but it was over relatively quickly (even though it seemed to take forever at the time). We were comforted to realize that all of the other uncomfortable procedures that lie ahead will be done after she is under anesthesia.

After that we got a chance to meet with Dr. Perry (the pediatric neurosurgeon). He was very friendly and sweet with Amelia. She took to him and was touching his face and being sweet with him. Finally Dr. Van Aalst came in to meet with us (along with another RN and another MD who is doing a fellowship with him). He apologized again, and then gave us a very detailed description of how the surgery takes place. We felt very good about our interactions with both surgeons.

The only problem we now face is that BOTH Mya and Owen woke up this morning with pretty bad colds--sneezing and very runny noses! (Thanks to Kelly for risking the health of her own kids to care for our sickies while we were at the hospital). Needless to say, we are doing everything we can to prevent Amelia from getting it. Lots of hand washing and hand sanitizing and trying to get them to keep their distance, but it's tough because they love her so much! We want to keep her healthy without making them feel like lepers! The nurses told us that if she does get a cold, there is a chance the surgery would have to be postponed--especially if she were to get a fever. So that's our big prayer request for the day: PRAY FOR AMELIA TO STAY HEALTHY and Mya and Owen to get well quickly. My mom will arrive tomorrow night so she will be a big help in keeping the kids busy and away from Amelia.

So that's the latest. Keep the prayers coming--we definitely feel them carrying us through!!