We spent the day at American Family Children's hospital for Owen's pre-op appointments and let me tell you, we didn't have a dull moment!
When we arrived, we started by visiting the Learning center where we went over all of the pre-op information(stopping meds, stopping food and drink before surgery, etc.) This was pretty boring, so I have no pictures to share from this part. Owen played with the toys she had in her office and ended up hitting his head under her desk because he was extremely excited when he saw she had a clock toy. It didn't even phase him.
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| Playing with the model heart while getting his BP taken |
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| This is a diagram of Owen's heart based upon his Cath results. You can see where they connected/disconnected things and all the pressures in the different areas of the heart. |
Our next stop was in the Cardiology clinic. There, we met Dr. A's(Owen's new surgeon) NP, Kate, we also met with Dr. A. Owen had a physical exam to make sure he was healthy enough to have surgery on Wednesday. They did their regular BP, POX, and height and weight. They also gave him a thorough once over to make sure there wasn't anything fishy going on. Owen's new surgeon, Dr. A said Owen is a great candidate for the Fontan. The only thing that may be an issue recovering, is the way his heart relaxes after the squeeze. We won't know until after surgery though.
After Cardiology clinic, we went to get a blood draw and chest xray. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a picture of the chest xray because I wasn't allowed in the room due to being pregnant. I did get some pictures from his blood draw though! For Owen's blood draw, we had a child life specialist come help us, he also had special cream on his arm so his blood draw didn't hurt! He did so well and didn't scream or cry!
After his chest xray and blood draws, We walked over to the adult Cardio and Vascular clinic for a vascular ultrasound. This isn't a normal part of their pre-op day, we had to do it because Owen is a new patient. Since he hasn't had surgery at their facility, they need to see which veins will work best for the bypass cannulas, or ECMO if, god forbid, they'd need to go that route. They checked the veins in his neck and in his groin. I'm starting to think those sound waves are mighty soothing for Owen, because he started falling asleep during his U/S!
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| Inside the phone booth at AFCH. He kept saying "It's Dr. Who's Tardis!" |
After his ultrasound, we stopped for lunch at the main hospital cafeteria. Owen picked steamed carrots, french fries, and a chicken quesadilla for lunch. They have a pretty large selection in their cafeteria! After lunch we headed back to AFCH to get a tour of the PICU. The day of Owen's surgery, we will wait in a small family waiting room in the PICU and receive updates on a pager. The cardiac rooms are on the far end of the PICU because it's a little more isolated back there, and that's preferable for these critical kiddos. There are also 5 parent sleep rooms we are able to check out for naps or to sleep in overnight. The couch in Owen's room folds down into a single bed, so we won't both be able to sleep in his room while he's there. Once Kevin goes back to work next Monday, he'll be sleeping at home anyways. Owen's room will have a small bathroom too, no shower, but there is one in the parent sleep room area to use.
After our tour we headed home and Owen and I took a nap! Keep an eye out on here and our facebook page over the next few days. I will post the address for the hospital and the number for the gift shop in case anyone wants to send Owen anything to cheer him up! Thank you for being such wonderful prayer warriors!
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