Pre-op Day

Well, pre-op morning. It went really well. Jed was great right up until he was DONE (and then he went with Jim, bwahaha).

We were up around 6, but missed the bus by around 30 seconds. So up over the hill we went to the other bus stop. I don't wear Jed on my back much anymore, so he really enjoys it and we had a few conversations on the way.

"MOMMY!"
"Yes!"
"Hi."

"Police car!"
"Yes." Then Jed gave his abbreviated version of "It makes this noise, like that", which comes out as "Whoooo dat! Whooo-wooo dat!" So we "who dat"'d the police car, and then later the fire truck, and talked about how we were going to the kids' hospital and what we would do there. Got on the bus and rode it to Children's. Gus pointed out every other bus we saw on the way.

Checked in, no problem. Then to the cardiology pre-op office, where they directed us all over the place. First to radiology. Jed didn't want to get off my back until he saw crayons in their waiting room. Then we took three xrays which he much enjoyed, and wanted to spend the rest of the day shirtless.

Second jaunt was phlebotomy, where the assistant phlebotomist looked about 12. The head nurse looked old enough to drive, so I didn't ask for her diploma before she inserted the needle. I had told him what would happen, and he was upset by the needle but handled it well. He smushed his face into mine and cried all over me. Then he calmed down a bit, saw that the needle was still in, and cried all over me again. Then the nurse took out the needle and asked if she could give him a bandaid, and he choked out a sad "yes". All better after about 10 seconds, and he showed off the bandaid to whomever would listen all day.

On the way back to cardiology is a playground. Now, it's just not fair to have to go straight from giving blood back to the boring office, so we played for a little while. Three xrays and blood by 9 a.m., not bad!

Then a consult with one of the cardiac fellows for consent. Then vitals with a nurse, which he completely rocked. He took every exam and command like a pro and even pointed to the blood pressure as "I want that next." Sat still for the EKG and took off his own stickers.

Then paperwork with another nurse, and Jim showed up for consult with our cardiologist. By this point Jed would lift up his shirt whenever anyone brought out a stethoscope.

He was still doing great until after a 30 minute wait for the anesthesiologist. He was pretty done in that meeting, and then we took a quick tour of the cath lab and he was tugging me out the whole time. Lunch as a group and then I sent the boys home and went to lab to count cells.

Tomorrow we catch a 6:30 bus to begin at 7 a.m. If all goes perfect, we'll be done tomorrow. If not, surgery is already scheduled for Thursday.