Surgery is a Go.

Today we had Henley's pre-op appointment.  Since our last pre-op 4 weeks ago, in which we were told that surgery had to be canceled because of her croup diagnosis, we have made every effort to keep her as quarantined as possible by pulling her out of school, not putting her in childcare at church, & keeping her locked inside of our house whenever possible.  So, needless to say, we were a little anxious about this appointment.  Honestly, the last 4 weeks have been some of the most trying in this journey just because of the waiting.

We got Henley all checked in and up to the surgery prep area around 9:30. They took her vitals and then we began to get peppered with questions regarding Henley's health, first from Dr. Roberts' nurse and then from the anesthesia nurse practitioner.  Then a few more nurses came in to take blood from her.  They hadn't even got set up to do their thing when the anesthesiologist came in to check Henley out.  At this point, both Leslie and I looked around and there are at least 10 medical personnel in our room tending to one thing or another.  The anesthesiologist had a thick foreign accent and spoke very softly, and when combined with the nurses playing with Henley on an iPhone it was very difficult to understand what all he was saying.  First, he asked lots of health questions, specifically regarding her respiratory health.  Once he was satisfied with our answers, he listened to her lungs and said she sounded great.  Then he began to go over with us all of the possible scenarios for tomorrow.  He explained that she will have 2-3 veinous IV's along with an arterial IV, which will constantly monitor her blood pressure with every heartbeat throughout the procedure and possibly a little while after.  Henley has been put under several times for MRI's so, to us, anesthesia has not been that big of a deal, but after hearing this, it hit me that this is going to be much more involved this time around.  

Once the anesthesiologist left the room, we knew that the surgery was a 'go'. Since the anesthesiologist is the one who can pull the plug on the surgery, he was the one we really needed the approval from.  The nurses took Henley's blood, then we spoke with Dr. Roberts' nurse practitioner.  We answered some more questions for her and then we asked her about how long we could expect to be in the hospital.  She said in Henley's case, we should expect to be there at least until Thursday and possibly until Sunday depending on what has to be done and how she responds.  Also, we found out that we don't have to be at the hospital in the morning until 6:30, which gives us an extra hour of sleep (Lord knows we'll need it).

So that's it.  We are go for surgery in the morning.  Leslie and I have just been blown away by the outpouring of prayers & encouragement all day today.  It has truly been humbling to see the body of Christ in full force on our behalf.  Everyone tells us how faithful we have been in this journey, but it has truly been a result of the support we are getting from our family, friends, and especially our church family.  Our small group, ministers, & elders have gone above and beyond to fulfill our spiritual, emotional, & physical needs during this time.  They are the example of how a church should respond to those that are in need, and we feel honored to call them our brothers and sisters in Christ.