Asher had his pre-op appointment today for his Fontan surgery. We began at his cardiologist’s office, where we met with his cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. John Iguidbashian. We had been told he might be in surgery, but he had finished in time to meet with us, and we were able to ask some of our questions that we had. He told us to plan on 10-14 days in the hospital post surgery, and that the main thing keeping the kids here after the Fontan is the drainage from their plural cavities. We had been told that by other people, so we weren’t surprised by that.
Following our meeting with him, at pre-admission nurse from the hospital came and met us to bring us over to the hospital. She brought Asher a stuffed moose and some pictures to color. She also put “snowman poop” (numbing cream)mon his arms in the spots were going to try and do the blood draw later. We headed to the hospital for his x-ray, which he was awesome for. The technicians were laughing at how diligent and focused he was about holding his breath for the x-ray shots. He then went for his blood draw. I was most nervous about this part, but he did great. They let him sit on my lap, and the nurse pulled up a Clifford episode (one of his favorites) on her phone while they took the blood. He didn’t even flinch! The worst part was actually when she then stuck a long q-tip up each of his nostrils for a swab. He definitely hated that part!
After that, we went to meet with Lynn, the child-life specialist. She is amazing, and she met with our boys during Asher’s previous surgeries. She also would come in and sing to Asher and try to keep him comfortable when he was here as a baby and had to have pokes or other uncomfortable procedures. She took us on a tour of the hospital, and Asher excitedly helped her push the elevator buttons to take us from floor to floor. He was pretty familiar with most of it since we were here just a month ago for his cath, but he liked checking out the playroom and counting the squirrels on the peds floor.
She also took him to her office, and gave him a small doll dressed in a hospital gown. She let him draw a face on him, and then she explained to Asher everything that would happen to him tomorrow when he came him, and had him then do that to the doll, everything from the blood pressure cuff and pulse ox monitor to putting in the IV and putting him to sleep with the mask. She showed Asher on a larger doll the drainage tubes and incision that he would have after surgery. After she finished, she showed a picture to Asher of several children’s faces with different facial expressions. She had him point to all the faces that showed how he was feeling about his surgery tomorrow. He pointed to mad, sad, nervous … but also happy and excited. (He saw the wii in the corner, and she told him he could play that too while here). It was good to hear him express all the emotions that I’m sure he is feeling going into this big day.
We took him to McDonalds for lunch before dropping Shane off at work and heading home. While he had the expected moments of sadness, he is overall calm and ready for tomorrow. He came home to some visits from some friends wishing him luck tomorrow, and Shane gave him a Priesthood blessing before bed. Fontan surgery… here we come!
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