Oct. 22nd...Pre-Surgery Screens

Wednesday Oct. 22nd.
Today we went to the University to get all of the pre-screen things done for surgery. We arrived at the hospital shortly after 9 (a little late) and found the clinic we needed to be at. This hospital is a big huge maze and man can you get lost! Once we checked in a nurse came back and got us and they got Addie's height and weight and blood pressure. They also put a urine bag on her so they could get a urine sample. I was sitting there holding Addie and felt warmth on my leg....the bag had obviously leaked and so now I had a wet leg. That should have been a sign of how the rest of the day would go.....I guess atleast there was enough for their sample!

We were then sent to the lab to get blood drawn. Oh man. They looked at her arms and couldn't really see any "good" veins, but went ahead and started fishing. And kept fishing. It was horrible. Addie was screaming. Finally Zac made them stop and told them they had to stop and they needed to get a nurse in here to help. I told those girls that Addie had a heart condition and can't be getting upset like this. The girl said she didn't know that and she would go get a nurse. We were then put in a room and three nurses were in there trying to get some blood. First they did the other arm, then her wrist, then her ankle..and then I left....finally they were able to get blood out of her scalp! and then finished the last little bit from her heel. It was HORRIBLE. I would never wish it on anyone! Ugh. I was crying, Addie was screaming. In between each poke we would hold her and try to get her to calm down. The nurses were very reassuring that they had all the resources if something happened or if she had a blue spell. This really didn't help...but it had to be done. I just ended up leaving the room and went out and wandered the hallway and pleaded to God to get her blood to flow. Zac stayed in the room to be with Addie. So glad that is behind us!

After the trauma of the blood draw we were sent to x-ray to get a chest x-ray. This wasn't too bad, aside from having to have her strapped to the table and crying and we had to stay in the other room behind the glass and just wait for them to take the pictures. Again, NOT FUN.

We then were taken back to the clinic and met with Sue, who is one of the nurses that helps with the surgery. She went over questions and what we were to expect of today. She also gave us some cleansing sope and sponge and told us to give Addie a bath that night and scrub her chest and groin for about 5 mintues. Then we met with Tina, Dr. Davis (the surgeon), Nurse practioner, who was very informative about the surgery and anesthesia and everything. Both Sue and Tina were so very very nice! We then met with the pediatric cardiologist,(can't remember his name right now) who would be following Addie while she is here at the hospital. He was also very nice and informative. He did tell us that we should plan on being here at the hospital for 2 weeks as this type of heart condition can take longer for recovery. This was new news as we had been planning on 3-7 days. But we'll just see how Addie does! If it takes two weeks that's OK, but any earlier would be good too. Then Sue took us for a tour of the PICU and pediatric floor and surgery area. This place is HUGE!

Anesthesia was our next stop and by now Addie was fast asleep and Zac and I were hungry! It was almost 2:00. We finally were called back and met with a woman about what to expect with the anesthesia and how that all would happen. When were were done there we called Sue to let her know we were done and she let us know that Dr. Davis was still in surgery, but wanted to meet us. So we decided to go check into the hotel room at the Sheraton so I could pump and we could find something to eat. Well, by the time we got checked in and me pumped, Sue called and wanted to let me know that Dr. Davis was ready to see us, so back to the hospital we went, minus food. (If you know Zac, he was starting to get ansty, but he held in there minus food!)

We met Dr. Davis, who would be the surgeon and were very impressed. He explained his procedure and how he expected things to go. He did explain to us about a valve, that I had forgotten about. I'm going to have to ask Tina to explain it again, because I'm not sure on the details, but we're hoping they can save the valve. There will more than likely have to cut the valve in order to do what they need to do...but we're praying that they can save it.

After meeting Dr. Davis we were done! Off to the hotel we went and to find something to eat!!