Surgery Date

Today I received an unexpected phone call. The University of Michigan Cardiac Surgery Department called with the date for Nevaeh's third open heart surgery. I wasn't expecting to hear from them so soon, because we were told that Dr. Bove was out of town until the end of the month! They have her scheduled for May 7th, which is a Wednesday. We will have to have her up there the day before for her pre-op testing. They usually do a sedated echo, EKG, chest x-ray, as well as any needed blood work. We will also meet with the anesthesia department, as well as cardiology. Since this isn't the first time we've had to go through this, we won't need the tour of the unit. Unfortunately we're pretty familiar with it, as they are with Nevaeh! Hopefully this will be the last major procedure she will need for a while. I've looked back, and the poor thing has not gone longer than 4 months without something major! Between all of the heart catheterizations, the first 2 open hearts, and the PEG tube placement, she literally hasn't gone more than 4 months without some type of surgical procedure. This should take care of things for at least a couple of years I hope!

Now the fun part begins. The getting ready to head up north. We'll have to line something up for Gabby because I'll have to stay with her in Ann Arbor. During the last admission a couple of weeks ago, if I got more than 5 feet away from her crib, she started to cry. It even lasted for a day or two at home! There is no way that I'll be able to leave her if she is consious without her getting worked up! I'm really hoping this time that she is able to get off the ventilator much quicker than her previous surgeries. The first one she was on it for 10 days, and after extubating her they had to re-intubate for another 4 days because she did so poorly. The second surgery she was again on the vent for 10 days, but once she came off of it, she did well. Hopefully this time whe only need to be intubated for less than a week! Then maybe she could come home in a couple of weeks, instead of taking a detour through Toledo! I guess the fact that its been so long since the last major surgery, and she is so much bigger & stronger gives me hope that she'll do better. I guess we'll just have to wait & see how things go with the surgery itself, and go from there!