Fontan Pre-Op

Waiting for our fist appointment.

Waiting for the E.K.G.

Ready to move to appointment number 2.

So Sweet.

I love that face.

The reality of blood draws.  Just heartbreaking.

Got her foot.

On our way home.

Watching Cookie Monster.

Seeing her best friend, Elmo.

So I know pre-op day is always long and stressful, but we left our house at 6:30am and didn't return till 8pm so it was a very very long day.  Raygen was pretty stressed the whole day.  Her day started with an x-ray, meeting the cardio nurse, ekg, and vitals.  Then we had a break between appointments so we thought we would get the dreaded blood draw out of the way early so we wouldn't have to worry about it all day.  So we went to the lab and it took 4 people to hold her and two pokes, but they were able to get blood from her hand.  We thought the day was going too easy so we were not shocked to learn from Dr. Chen, Raygen's surgeon, that her blood clotted and the test he needed before surgery was not able to be performed.  We met with the anesthesiologist nurse and then after speaking with Dr. Chen around 2pm we headed back to the lab.  About an hour of waiting someone was finally brave enough to try again on Raygen.  You could tell the nurse was nervous, but I laid down my ground rules ahead of time.  They get two pokes and if they can't get it then we leave.  Thankfully he got an vein in her foot and was able to get just enough blood for the test, but we left right after so if they were able to do the test on the blood I am not sure.  Knowing Raygen's luck it probably clotted and they will just have to run it again while she is in surgery.  For surgery she is so far the only one on the schedule on Thursday, but that will change.  She is first case so check in should be around 6am and surgery starting around 7am.  Dr Chen said it should take anywhere from 4 to 5 hours and they may not have to even stop her heart which would be amazing.  That is the scariest part for me when I get that page that they have stopped her heart.  Worst feeling ever.  To say I am stressed and worry doesn't do justice.  Seeing how stressed and scared Raygen was yesterday just makes me cry.  It is so hard since she doesn't communicate.  You could tell she knew what was happening and all she could do to voice her feelings was cry and it's heartbreaking when their reaching for you and you can't just scoop them up and run. 

This is our last weekend before surgery so I will be packing and preparing.  My main goal is to have lots of snuggle time with both my girls and not to leave our house.  

I just keep repeating "God does not give us more then we can handle."

xoxo

Erin