T minus 6

We had Avery's pre-op appointment today - after a slight detour home when  Andrew asked if I had the pre-op yellow envelope and I realized it was at home still. Anyway, we were only minutes late with that detour and were into see the 1st person - the Child Life Specialist. She was lovely and walked Avery through the day of surgery. She also warned Avery that hospitals can be quite boring  so she should pack lots of entertainment - feel free to comment with any ideas to help her pass her days - thanks to a hefty Christmas haul  she just bought 7 new books, but she has lots of itunes money to download or rent movies with as well.

Next up was her first health study invitation - this one is apparently worth 4 hours towards her volunteer hours  but I am not sure if she can earn high school credits in grade 7. This study is aiming to better understand immune-metabolic connections to health  a study of the role of the immune system on body weight and metabolism. 

Then we saw the nurse. She was lovely and went over her bits, then  ended to take some blood from Avery. While the blood work was happening, we were approached for a second survey focusing on pain management during scoliosis surgery and treatment. This one comes with a $10 gift card for one of 3 places. After a failed first attempt at blood collection, the nurses had success and we were back in the waiting area.

A few minutes later  we were into see the anesthesiologist. We expressed the potential allergy to anectine, but we're assured that it would not be  used for this surgery  and in fact is rarely used at all these days.  

And then we were done. We are due back at 6:30 am on Tuesday,  January 20th for surgery. One of us can sleep at the hospital with her all week. We'll see what makes sense for us.

Now it is just enjoying this week.  Great Wolf Lodge is in 48 hours so I think we will focus on that.

I am hoping Avery will let me take some before photos - so we can tell the full story once this is over. She did measure in at 5'4" today - and will likely be 5'6" this time next week.

(She did let me take some photos)