Talking with Libby

Early in January.... 

I had finally gotten around to e-mailing the cardiology nurse Mom knows from her school. She got back to me while we were at WalMart. I took the boys over to the cars/trucks aisle so they could play while I talked to Libby.
She is another huge miracle we have experienced since we found out that Jarrett needs surgery! She has lined up all of the people who will be working with us on the day of the surgery. Her friend Angie will meet us the morning of the 23rd. Dr. Ing, from Africa, will be Jarrett's anesthesiologist--her favorite. She herself will be the nurse assisting with Jarrett's surgery!

In my e-mail I'd asked her opinion of Dr. Campbell, Jarrett's surgeon. She said that she would feel comfortable having Dr. Campbell operate on her child. Dr. Campbell has a student--a resident? a fellow? I don't know my terms that well. Anyway, he has the student perform the surgery while he stands right there and observes the procedure. Libby said the student they have right now is the best they've had in 5 years and made me feel more comfortable about that, too!

I'd also asked in my e-mail if she could give me some details about what Jarrett will experience the day of surgery. The more facts he is armed with, the more comfortable he is going through something. She went through the whole morning with me so that I can explain it to him! Here are a couple of highlights: He does get to take Candy Cane back with him to surgery! He will still be awake when he leaves us. She said that a good way to handle it with someone Jarrett's age is to say, "The room you are going to is not for mommies and daddies, but there are a lot of nice people there to take care of you." She also said that the operating room has a lot of equipment in it that he'll be able to look at. I want to find a YouTube video or photos showing an operating room so he can begin wrap his head around what it will be like. He'll probably have lots of questions for them when he goes back!

It really helped me to talk to Libby and to know that she's already done so much legwork for us! I just wanted to cry when she started talking about everything she'd put in place. Who gets that kind of service? I am overwhelmed with gratitude!

* * * *

Matt and I started talking to Jarrett about his surgery on Tuesday night. How do you explain to a 3-year-old something of this magnitude? I told him that his heart is a little bit broken and that the doctors are going to fix it. All the books and articles I've read suggest avoiding words like "cut" and "hurt" and things that might scare him. We watched a YouTube video about how the heart works and read excerpts from a book called Cardiac Kids (recommended to me by Christy MacClellan when we visited them in Ohio). Cardiac Kids is told from the perspective of a big sister whose little sister has had and will need to have heart surgery again. It discussed and illustrated many of the same tests Jarrett has already done and some that he will do before surgery.

I made this little heart out of felt that is "a little bit broken:"

And then tied a piece of yarn through it to make it whole:

I don't know if that helped or not, but he does look at it from time to time and talks about the heart. This surgery is going to be a major event in the life of our young family. I'm worried about any pain Jarrett will experience after surgery and I'm worried about how Zephyr will do for the time without his brother and with limited access to Matt and me. (Mom and Dad will be helping to take care of him while Jarrett's at the hospital, so at least he'll have familiar faces around.) In spite of my worries and fears, though, I feel so at peace with the situation as a whole. I feel like I've seen God's hand working every step of the way, so I'm confident that he will continue to be with us as we proceed. Christy MacClellan (whose 2nd daughter had heart surgery at 18 months of age) put it best after hearing our experiences so far. She said, "I'll pray for you. I'm not worried about it; it sounds like God's in control, but you still have to walk through it." The walk will be a challenge, but we've got the best help all the way!