Hospital Update

Surgery is canceled. The nurse will call later today and reschedule, probably for November they told us. The doctor did lots of heart transplants this summer, which pushed back some of the "regular" surgeries into fall. A week ago, NINE babies were born that needed immediate corrective surgery. Maggie was scheduled for 7:30 tomorrow morning, and when we started pre-op procedures they told us she had been pushed back to 3:30 in the afternoon. But before we got to EKG and blood draws and X-ray, another call came in with the need for the doctor to handle another emergency of a baby born this morning. Since Maggie is by far the healthiest of the ones needing surgery, she stays at the end of the line.

We found out during pre-op today that they anticipate Maggie being in for about a week. Possible that it could be a day or two less, possible that it could be longer. But they said planning for a week would be reasonable. Also, they hope to take out the breathing tube and have her wake up the same day as the surgery. For her last open-heart, she was drugged for over four days to keep her asleep, and still had the breathing tube for a few days after waking up.

It's an odd feeling to be sent home. Kinda disappointing, and it shouldn't be. We had the arrangements made -- the food taken care of for the ones at home and the ones at the hospital, errands re-arranged, Ronald McDonald House reservations, work schedules adjusted, etc. And now we just come home and go on with life, and go through all those arrangements again in a few weeks. I think the weird "let down" feeling is probably due to the desire to be in control and to know what's coming up next. Even if what's coming up next isn't such a good thing, people still seem a little more settled if our expectations aren't pulled out from under us.

Well, back to schoolwork and housekeeping and cooking. And we'll try this surgery thing again in a few more weeks. They did tell us that they try never to reschedule a second time, knowing how rescheduling throws a huge kink into people's lives and plans.