And So It Begins

One parent gets to come into the operating room with the child. Guess who it was?


As you can see they give you some fancy clothes and a cool hair net (shoe booties not shown). The anesthesiologist came to say hello and explain everything. Then the surgeon, Dr. Missiuna, came to say hello and ask how Pants was doing. Then a nurse came by and we were off to the OR. Avery is going to be in one of the new ones so I was expecting a lot of fanciness. I was not disappointed.


The OR was filled with all kinds of machines and tables and people. Lots and lots of people. At one point I counted 10! 

The nurses got her all hooked up with a oxygen meter on her finger, some sticky pads on her chest and back for some machine (hopefully the one that goes "ping!"), and then the anesthesiologist started her IV. She was worried about the needle but they numbed her up pretty good. He gave her some calming medicine and she started to cry. We just practiced our breathing eyes fixed on each other, me trying to make mine smile so she could see that everything would be okay. Then the first dose of sleepy time medicine was pushed through and she was out a few seconds later. They let me give her a kiss and then a nurse walked me back to Jodi. All in all I think I was in there for 10 minutes but let me tell you that it was the longest and most emotional 10 minutes of my entire life. 

Now we wait. 

They gave us a pager in the event we're not in the family waiting room and the doctor wants to talk to us. We can also request updates and have them relayed back to us from the OR. How long do we have to wait before the surgery is done? TEN hours. The longest ten freaking hours of our lives. Two shifts of volunteers are going to come and go and we'll still be here, waiting.

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At 9:20, about an hour after I left the OR Dr. Missiuna came into the waiting room. He said rather quickly that it was just an update so we'd know what was going on but it wasn't quick enough to prevent the heart attack upon seeing him. 

He was just letting us know that Bruno the anesthesiologist was done and now it was his turn. I guess prep takes about an hour - which Dr. Missiuna said it would - as they have to get her a central line (in her neck), another IV, a catheter, a breathing tube, and then plug her into all the machines.

Now we wait.

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Random notes:

- Jodi picked up a parking pass so we don't have to spend $20/day for the week we're here
- One of the researchers came by to pick up the paperwork Pants and Jodi filled out
- I ate a bagel and had some juice but still feel sick to my stomach
- I almost cry when I read all the wonderful comments on Facebook, Twitter, and text messages
- I am really happy that "anesthesiologist" is one of the first words autocorrect suggests 

~ Dad

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