Monday, August 2, 2010

Surgery is Tomorrow

Hey Everyone,

From my last blog until now has been a very busy time for us.  On Sunday, we went to church, had lunch, the boys had a birthday party to go to, and then we packed our bags and headed to the hospital for Claude and I to stay the night.  The team of doctors always does rounds in the mornings around 9:00 and we wanted to make sure that we got to talk to them as well as possibly the surgeon.  Upon our arrival, I just happened to ask the charge nurse for linens and towels (not knowing she was the charge nurse) and we got to talking and her and Emory's night nurse helped us out beyond measure.  They were fabulous!  Vicki (the charge nurse) made it very clear to the team of doctors at shift change that we "needed a plan".

So, one of them was here bright and early to let us know that they would all be back around 9:30.  Sure enough, they arrived around 10:00 and it was Dr. Kanan (spelling is off), his "fellow", and the resident.  We began talking with him about how Emory was doing and he informed us again of the meeting that the surgeons have every Monday afternoon at 4:00 to discuss all of the cases, schedule them for surgery, etc.  Towards the end of all our questions, he got beeped and called out into the hall.  Dr. Kanan is the one who diagnosed Emory within 24 hours of him being born and is the one who came to my room at Fayette Piedmont to tell us the news of Emory's heart condition.  We have great respect for him because of how he handled things on that day as well as his professionalism.

Five minutes after being beeped, Dr. Kanan came in and told us that there was a cancellation for tomorrow and they were planning on putting Emory in that slot unless an emergency situation came in through the night.  He also said it was tentative so we waited until the surgeon's assistant came in to let us know that the surgery was scheduled for tomorrow morning at 7:30.  After that, we had a flood of doctors, anesthesiologists, social worker, volunteer, etc. come to the room in addition to Emory having some x rays done and blood drawn.  Once it calmed down a bit, we started calling, texting, and facebooking to update everyone.

Tomorrow morning, we will go back with Emory around 7:00 to a private area just outside the operating room and pray with him.  Then, the surgeons will take him into the operating room and we'll go to the waiting room.  The entire process is about 5 hours.  The first hour is spent sedating him, putting the iv and other necessary tubes in, etc.  The next three hours are spent doing the actual procedure and the final hour is spent taking him off the heart/lung bypass machine and getting him settled into CICU.  While in surgery, they will repair the holes in his heart and they will assess what, if anything, needs to be done to the pulmonary valve and right aortic arch.  He will then be sedated for a couple of days and will stay in the CICU for 3-4 days depending on how well he does to start breathing on his own.  After that, we will come back to the area where we currently are which is called the cardiac step down unit.

We are staying at the hospital tonight so that we wouldn't have to leave our house so early in the morning.  My parents want to be here early as well, so the boys are staying overnight with some friends of ours.  Thanks to the Keaheys for being willing to take care of my two boys just after steam cleaning your carpet =).  So, that is where we are right now.  Feel free to stop by or call.  But, most importantly, keep us and everyone involved with the surgery in your prayers.  I will update the blog periodically throughout the day tomorrow.

Blessings,

Twila

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