Surgery rescheduled for Thursday

So, we went and checked in. The nurse that was assigned to us said that she heard the surgery was a go for today. So they started the process to get that blood work they didn't do yesterday. Of course she had to print a new sheet since I balled up the one from yesterday.

Last night, I e-mailed her cardiologist with questions and a heads-up that they wanted the operative info. She e-mailed me back and gave me the name and number of the person I needed to get the ball rolling with the operative notes. So, before they took us back, I ran down the hall to make that call. Then the nurse had me sign a release so that information could be faxed and she went and got that going. And she called the lab and had them come up to get the blood they needed.

Getting blood was terrible, as usual. But over fairly quickly. As soon as they were done Harlie signed get dressed, shoes and let's go. It was still fairly early (maybe around 9am) and the nurse said that she heard surgery was scheduled for 1:30. So, I went on ahead and got her dressed to help calm her down. I was thinking there was NO way were going to sit in that room until 1:30. I'd probably take her for a walk or something, which would require her to be dressed anyway.

Right about then, Dr. Magee came in. He said that he would rather not do surgery today. He said that he doesn't want to force them to do it if they aren't ready. And he didn't want to start her surgery at 1:30, then go through shift change, etc. He wants everyone working on her case to be fresh and ready and focused. Agreed.

Luckily, he said he would re-arrange his schedule and make himself available tomorrow (Thursday). He just needed to call Dr. Dilustro (neurosurgeon) to make sure that he could be available, too. So, they left to get that straight. Right then, the cardiac anesthetist (CA) came into the room. He introduced himself and started talking. He said all the right things - apologized for yesterday and started to work to put my mind at ease. I am very happy that he is NOT one of the docs from yesterday. I guess they gave him the job of clean up duty. Which is fine by me. Actually, I preferred it that way.

He better explained why they wanted the information they wanted. If only that had been done last night. They just wanted the cardiologist here at the hospital to have the information on hand should an emergency arise. The echo - they want an echo before surgery to have a baseline echo - so if something happens, and they have to do another echo, they will have a comparison pre and post op. Sounds great. He also explained that in June 2008, they didn't have cardiac anesthetists. Ah, got it. They are still working on the internal workings of getting a patient properly flagged for a CA.

Clearly.

Then he said that there is nothing stopping him from proceeding with her case. Nothing was going to change from that point to tomorrow, so why wait? He seemed completely confident and competent. I told him that maybe he should talk to Dr. Magee, and see how he feels. Oh, I also told him about the other doc's comments (Well, we don't want to kill her) and he completely cringed. Karen has communicated to the right people about what was said, so we'll see what happens there. If nothing else, I think he should know that was out of line for educational purposes on what to say or not say to a parent.

After a while they all came back and said they had moved her to tomorrow's schedule. Normally, on Thursdays, the first case is scheduled for 8:30am (instead of the standard 7:30am) because the docs have conferences in the morning. But the CA is not going to his conference so they can start at 7:30. Dr. Magee said he wanted the best people in there and they are all coming in early just for Harlie's case.

I think we are all happy with this plan now. And even with a 7:30 start (which usually requires a 5:30 arrival time) we don't have to be there until 6:45 since they have done all the pre-work necessary. So, hopefully tomorrow will go smoothly and quickly with all the best outcomes.

Now I am TIRED. I didn't sleep well at all last night. I had to be up at midnight to turn off her feeding and start her water. Then I had to get up again at 3am to turn off her water - then I couldn't get back to sleep once my mind started going. So, I think I am going to go and rest for a little bit since I don't have Cooper to be chasing after. I miss my boys!

Thanks for all your wonderful support. I will do my best to update the blog when I can.

Take care,
Christy