I'm sitting in the cardiac surgery waiting room right now. Jarrett went back with Nurse Libby promptly at 7:30 this morning for his surgery. He'd been given some medicine to "take the edge off" the separation that also will make it so he doesn't remember that part of the experience. Now, with nothing to do but wait, I decided to update the blog. It'll help pass the time and I can pray with every keystroke.
Yesterday morning, before Jarrett, Matt and I went to the hospital for his pre-surgery visit, he tried out the new foot method of playing the piano at Momo's house:
Zephyr wanted it to be a duet:
We left the house earlier than was necessary for our 9:30 appointment at Children's so that Jarrett could spend some time looking at the ball machine--the thing he was most looking forward to at the hospital. Parking is tight in the Children's parking garage. Matt was trying to angle into a spot and before he was finished parking, Jarrett asked him, "Why are you parking crooked, Daddy?"
Quite the critic!
Here he is checking out the ball machine:
The balls roll in these wire tubes up and down and all over again and again. It is mesmerizing! Here's a fish that the balls go through:
Some of the items make noise when the balls hit them. For example, when the balls go down these frogs, they sound like notes from 3 different woodblocks:
The balls also fly through this cat's mouth:
Here's a video of one section of the ball machine. I took it mostly for Jarrett's benefit, so he can watch it while he's in ICU. It's only one small section of the machine, so I'll probably take more video later. Here's what I've got:
There were lots of toys for Jarrett to play with while we waited:
Another thing Jarrett was looking forward to was riding in a red wagon while going around the hospital. He'd seen it in the video we watched on the Children's web page. Here's Jarrett in his wagon:
Our welcome coordinator, Ashley, took us around to all of our appointments that morning. She checked us in at each station and waited with us, answering questions and explaining things to us. Jarrett liked this aquarium in the waiting room of the lab where he had his blood work done:
He was very brave during his bloodwork! I held him while the nurse drew three vials of blood from his arm. He flinched when the needle went in, but tolerated it so well! He got a hospital bracelet when he was done to signify that he'd already had his blood drawn. More importantly, he also got a sticker! Here's the picture Matt took of us before the blood work:
Jarrett also wanted a picture of the labels that were printed out to label his blood samples:
Next, we went to radiology for a chest x-ray. At first, Jarrett was a little nervous about this. We promised it wouldn't hurt, but was just like having his picture taken. Later, he was making a "big camera for x-rays" out of Legos! Here's Daddy and Jarrett ready for x-rays:
Here's me in my apron, too:
He got a sticker here, too:
Jarrett sat on the back of the sofa while we waited for our appointment in cardiology. Miss Ashley said he looked like part of the wall decor!
They took his vitals and did a basic wellness exam in cardiology. A lot of it was just to make sure that he's currently healthy enough for surgery. He played with crayons while we waited for the next event:
He had another ECG done. Here, he's getting stickers put on him:
We then had to do an echo cardiogram. He's done them twice before. It took a long time. He had to lie still on the bed and watch Disney Channel while the techs worked. I laid down right beside him and helped to hold him on his side when they needed various angles. By the time they were done, we were tired, hungry and bored. Daddy helped Jarrett get some of his wiggles out by turning him upside down:
The giggles came out when Daddy tickled him:
He found a triangular shaped pillow that he liked to play with, too:
Finally, we were released to go to lunch. It was a late lunch for Jarrett and getting late for his nap, too. After lunch in the cafeteria, we returned to the cardiology reception desk for a tour of Cardiac ICU (CICU), where he will likely be for the first couple days or so, then the Progressive Care Unit (PCU), where he will spend the remainder of his time here.
After that, we got to meet with an anesthesiologist and then with Jarrett's surgeon, Dr. Campbell. I hadn't really been all that excited about Dr. Campbell when Matt and I met with him last October. That time, however, we hadn't had Jarrett with us. Dr. Campbell was friendly with Jarrett and told us that he had three of his own sons, so he had no problem with Jarrett climbing over and under the furniture after his long day of sitting still. He talked to Matt and I for a bit and had us sign the consent to treat form. When he walked out, he looked at Jarrett and smiled, saying, "He reminds me of my boys."
That made me feel so good to see him look at Jarrett as a person rather than just a patient!
We had hoped that Jarrett would doze on the way back from the hospital, but no such luck. Since Jarrett would not be allowed to eat breakfast before surgery, we let him choose where and what he wanted to eat for dinner. He chose McDonalds. On the way home from the hospital, he was telling me, "I'm going to eat my french fries really fast. Then I'm going to drink my chocolate milk really fast. I'm going to go slurp, slurp, slurp! Then I'm going to go down the blue slide!"
Aunt Terri was holding Zephyr when we got back to Momo and Papa's house. She arrived shortly after Matt, Jarrett and I left in the morning from Kansas City. I'm so thankful to have her help!
The boys played downstairs for a bit once we got home. Jarrett had gotten a little too close to Papa's pellet stove upstairs and was startled by how hot it was. We had turned on the electric "fire place" downstairs to keep the boys warm while they played. Unlike the pellet stove, the outside of it doesn't get hot, but Jarrett didn't know that. Jarrett observed Zephyr getting too close to the electric stove and grabbed him in a restraining bear hug, saying, "No, no! Hot! Hot! Hot!"
So glad he's watching out for his brother!
We had to drive a bit out of our way to find a McDonalds that we were sure had a Play Place. Jarrett went back and forth from playing to eating and ended up eating fairly well. I let him get an ice cream cone when he'd eaten all he wanted of his Happy Meal.
Here are the boys playing in the Play Place:
Papa even went through some of the high tunnels with Jarrett! Jarrett said the Play Place was his castle!
Back at Momo's house, we worked on getting ready to head out to the hotel and give the boys their baths. I let Jarrett eat pretty much anything he wanted, just wanting to make sure he was full. He chose a piece of chocolate cake. We were in a bit of a rush to get everything done, so Aunt Terri fed him his chocolate cake during his bath:
Pretty silly!
After bath time, Zephyr wanted to brush my teeth with his hairbrush and Jarrett wanted to help:
Jarrett tried to give me some of his chest scrub we would be putting on him in a few minutes:
The chest scrub was an antiseptic that Nurse Esther asked us to put on his chest before bed. Jarrett thought the process was pretty cool!
I had to scrub him up two times, so Aunt Terri kept the warm rags coming!
After his scrub, Mom said the prayer with the sea salt that Priti had told her to do the night before Jarrett's surgery:
Our hotel is awesome! It's the Marriott Spring Hill directly across from the hospital. In fact, there's a walkway between the hotel and the hospital. It's going to be so easy for me to go back and forth to take care of Zephyr!
Even though they fell asleep on the car ride over, both boys were pretty wired once we got to our hotel room. Jarrett crawled in the pack-and-play with Zephyr and said, "I like this pillow party!"
There were flowers, balloons and a little toy car waiting for Jarrett when we arrived in our room:
Here are a couple of close ups of the flowers:
They were from Gramma and Grampa. They wrote the following card for him:
We went to bed early for me, but late for the boys--10:00. Jarrett wanted me to sleep with him, so he slept in the bed with Matt and me.
I woke him up at 5:15 this morning so I could give him some apple juice quick before he wasn't allowed liquids any more starting at 5:30. After lots of kisses and well-wishes from Momo, Papa and Aunt Terri, we came to the hospital. We were happy to see the ball machine working even so early in the morning:
At registration, she had a new bracelet for him. Jarrett was quick to inform her, "But I already had my poke!" I explained to him that he didn't have to get another poke to wear this bracelet. He got to choose a sticker to put on it. He chose two: a red and a blue star:
Also in the above picture, he is holding a stress ball that Aunt Christy sent back for him from Lily's birthday party over the weekend. Her birthday had an "Around the World" theme, so the ball is a globe. He's been loving having it with him to hold at the hospital! Dr. Ing, Jarrett's anesthesiologist whom Nurse Libby had selected for us, is from South Africa. He showed Jarrett on the globe where that is located!
Here's Jarrett in his hospital gown. Doesn't he look calm and confident?
He got another chest scrub and then he and I built the police car Lego set that Nurse Esther gave him yesterday afternoon. At about 7, they gave him the medicine to take the edge off. It didn't take long for him to start to look loopy and tired. We convinced him to lie down on his pillow to continue playing:
He really wasn't in distress in the above picture, just feeling very sleepy!
Soon, it was time for Nurse Libby to wheel him back to the operating room. We gave him kisses and hugs and told him we love him. I reminded him that God loves him, too. Then we watched them go through the doors where Matt and I are not allowed.
* * * *
And now we're waiting. It's surprising me to realize that this wait really isn't the scary part for me. I feel very confident in the doctors and nurses and everyone working with Jarrett. I feel confident that God is with Jarrett and watching over him, keeping him safe. I think the scariest part for me is the part that is yet to come: I'm worried about how he'll feel after surgery. How much will he hurt? Will the IVs and tubes bother him? I wonder if it will change him as far as his personality in any way. We prepared him so much for the surgery up to the point, but really didn't talk about recovery. Will he feel that we've deceived him by not telling how difficult recovery will be?
I guess we'll be finding all that out soon enough. The Sunday school lesson I taught on Sunday was about when Jesus taught about how God takes care of birds and flowers and how we shouldn't worry because God will take care of us. I guess I shouldn't worry, with that knowledge fresh on my mind. Still, it kind of goes with being a mom....
God's gotten us this far... I keep reminding myself that he'll be with us through recovery, too!
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