Now in surgery

The latest fashion

We woke Muriel up at just before 8AM this morning, as that was the cutoff for clear fluids before surgery.  We were hoping that she would tear through a bottle of Pedialyte or even some water, but she isn't much of a drinker in the morning, and this morning was no exception, unfortunately.  By 10AM she was hungry and thirsty, and we couldn't give her anything... made her pretty cranky.  We had packed up everything last night and brought it all over to Ronald McDonald house, so we didn't have much to entertain her either.  We made several laps around the floor, but she also wanted to go into the toy room.  Megan put the kabatch on the toy room yesterday, when she had a (short) conversation with a mom there that claimed "They think my son has some kind of infection, but they really don't know what it is yet!"... as he drooled on and ate lots of toys.  Muriel suddenly had a full diaper and that is the last she has seen of the toy room!

Napping on Mommy

Reading with Daddy

We had to make due with books and our walks - anything to take her mind off of being hungry.  She did finally take a nap for the last hour before surgery.

Lots of doctor and nurse visits this morning.  We had a chance to talk to Dr. Van Burgen, who is very reassuring and confident.  He went over post-op care plans and described how his clinic will work - we will be bringing Muriel to see him in his clinic for years to come.

Aunt Gayle (Cookie) showed up just before being taken to surgery, so we got a picture with her quickly.  She then followed us to the surgical area and the waiting room.

Aunt Cookie

In the staging area we met with the Anesthesiologist and the surgeon Dr. Ilbawi.  While talking with the doctors they gave her some Versed to calm her down (she was pretty upset with the extra monitors already hooked up).  They used the existing IV for this, which clearly worked well.  Literally seconds after hitting the plunger she just started *laughing*.  It was bizarre.  Mommy and Daddy got their last few hugs and kisses in, and they whisked her away.

Dr. Ilbawi, Surgeon

We are now in the waiting area with Gayle.  We are told that we will get an update as soon as they have all the various lines inserted (IV, access, drainage) and have her on the heart/lung machine.  We expected that update almost an hour ago, so anxiety is building a bit.  I'm sure everything is fine.  I'll post a shorty as soon as we hear.

Dressed and ready in the staging area

One more kiss for Daddy