Terribly Poetic

Today has been a very very long day. One that I hope we will never have to go thru again….

It started very early at 5am as we had to give Norah her last of 3 sterile baths to prepare her for surgery. Then it was off to the hospital to be there for admitting at 7am, with surgery scheduled for 8:20am. We were very prompt and actually got to the hospital early. When we got to the pre-admissions clinic we again got news that it would be delayed till 11am. So we began the first round of waiting. However, this waiting was with Norah sleeping, smiling and being her happy self. Plus Dawn got in some cuddles before surgery, which she wasn’t going to turn down for a second.

Finally the time came and we got escorted to the room just outside the OR. And we waiting again. This time it was very short. A wonderful O.R. nurse took a picture of the three of us (seen to the left, its early in the day and we look tired already) before we had to do the hard job of handing Norah into the nurses arms. Tears fell, but we knew that she was in God’s hands and that we where completely helpless to the situation. All we had was the comfort of our wonderful Saviour. But. This. was. hard.

Psalm 139:13, reminded us that God was in control and that He is a good God.

So the longest day truly began after this. Waiting.
We killed some time by getting some food. We were both starving, having been up since 5am and it was now 11am and felt like 1pm. So we went to get something to eat. Then out of nowhere Dawn had an allergic reaction to cashews. It came literally out of nowhere as she was eating an Italian Pannini. Who thought pesto sauce has cashews in it? Really? Thankful with some Benadryl and a little time she quickly began to feel better. Albeit still hungry having “lost” the food she ate for lunch, but having lost her appetite. I’m sure later tonight she will make up for it.

After lunch time seemed to go quickly all of a sudden, but then at around 4hrs time it just stopped. We waited, and we waited. Then after almost 5+ hours of waiting the surgeon walked in. Finally.

The surgeon was very happy with how things went. The hole in her heart (actually a VSD and a small ASD as well) was very large and was patched up, then he was able to look at the Pulmonary Valve and see that it is indeed very abnormal. They did a repair of the valve as well which added to the length of the surgery. He told us that they will have to monitor this valve over the course of her life and that there is a 10-20% chance that she will have to have surgery to repair it again as this repair could cause ‘leakage’ overtime. Not the news we wanted to hear, but he did say that she would led a normal life and be healthy and active. It could be decades later that she might need surgery again. So overall good news.

When the surgery was over, Norah’s heart is very strong and she came off the heart-lung bypass machine very well. The surgeon was very happy with this. We got to meet more of the nurses taking great care of Norah in the PICU and are getting to know them as in PICU there is a 1-1 ratio so the nurse is always at her side with us. Right now she is on a ventilator to help her breath and everything is looking good and they hope to take her off that tomorrow morning if all goes well over night.

Thank you for all your prayers. We really felt them today. This is the end of a very long day and we will rest peacefully.