Heart Cath Procedure

We arrived at the hospital first thing this morning at 6:30am, while it was still dark outside. Mom & Jeff dropped us off, and I took Emmie inside for her procedure today. They gave her and her new bunny we named Bubblegum matching Tired Little Tiger hospital gowns.

And her nurse showed Emmie on Bubblegum how the strawberry-scented gas mask would work, and we all got to sniff the strawberry flavor.

She got a little nervous when the doctor came to talk to us, because he was just so business-like and somber, and never really perked back before having to go back to anesthesiology. She was starting to scream and cling to me like crazy, so they actually let me suit up really quick to take her into the Cath Lab, and stay with her while they gave her the gas. The anesthesia doc also put a kids YouTube video on her phone, so that helped as well.

Jeff and my mom went and got breakfast at a local place nearby, and we had planned to switch out and let me get some too, but the nurses said it really wouldn’t take that long and I should just stay and wait. So I found my way to the cafeteria and grabbed some breakfast and coffee. (I hate eating by myself, but I felt like a big girl doing it today. I read while I ate, so that helped occupy my mind…)

I slept absolutely terrible last night (didn’t fall asleep until 1am and then woke up like at least two times every hour until 5am), so I needed more coffee. We were given a few Starbucks gifts cards, and there was one inside the hospital. I’m usually a Dunkin iced coffee girl, so I texted my friend Tamara for some Starbs recs, since I knew she could steer me in the right direction. She gave me three or four drinks to try, so today I started with the pumpkin cream cold brew. I sent her the photo and she told me they gave me the wrong lid, so I threw it away so I could just sip from the top and get to taste the delicious cream part.

The procedure was actually pretty quick, and before I knew it, they were calling me asking me to come back to the Cath Lab to talk about results. They threw me for a loop a little bit, because the doctor wasn’t 100% sure that she needed surgery after looking at the results from today. he said the hole was small enough that it didn’t necessarily need to be closed, and she was kind of right on the edge of needing surgery. However, the two factors that pushed them towards deciding to definitely perform the surgery next week, were her tiny size and inability to gain weight, and the fact that one side of her heart is enlarged.

I got to hold her in recovery for a while, but the poor thing was sad and pitiful and confused coming out of anesthesia. She wondered where Daddy & Grammy were, and why I wasn’t with her when she first started waking up. She wanted to go back to the “who-tell” and she wanted her people.

After a little while, we switched places and let Grammy come be with her for a bit. She had a lunch tray delivered, and ate a pretty good meal of chicken tenders and mac and cheese, plus these Nilla Wafers Grammy brought from the snack cart.

Jeff and I found a local Mexican restaurant that was super close to the hotel, and grabbed some lunch together. The place was super cool inside, and the food was really yummy! Jeff got the most delicious chicken nachos (with the best queso I’ve ever tasted), and I got my usual favorite of al pastor tacos.

After lunch, we switched things up again, and Jeff got to go into the hospital with Emmie for a while. (Because of covid, only one person per family is allowed inside at a time. So at the main entrance, they literally watch until that one person in the family leaves, before the next person is allowed to enter the building.) Jeff said by the time he got in there with her, she was back to her normal, goofy, silly self.

Before long, Jeff texted to say they were getting discharge papers, so Mom & I drove back over to pick them up!

We went back to the RMH, and had the afternoon and evening to just play and rest and be together. Emmie was in a great, super silly mood, and you would never have known she had been under anesthesia earlier this morning! She chose to open the gift in the princess bag, which turned out to be Minnie Mouse activities from her friend Madeline at school. Thank you Maddie (and Allie!) for these sweet toys!

Jeff and I also splurged a little on our gift to her, a brand new Kindle Fire Kids tablet, complete with cute case and matching headphones. We figured it would be great to watch videos and play games for her post-surgery hospital stay, and of course she loved it!

We played in the room a little longer (the nurse sent Emmie home with some medical stuff, after we told her Emmie had her own pediatric nurse costume at home) so she spent some time nursing her bunny and taking her blood pressure.

Subway delivered turkey subs to the RMH for tonight’s house meal, so we grabbed those from the kitchen, along with chips and drinks, and found a spot to eat all by ourselves. (All the tables in the dining room are put up, so we can’t eat there, but there are only a few other families here in the whole place.)

She got to open up one more gift tonight, this one from Grandmommie with some toys and gifts and two pairs of jammies!

We spent a lot of time this afternoon and evening just being silly (mom, Emmie and I were all a little delirious at one point; Jeff, however, took a nap), and going back and forth across the hallway between our two rooms. (Also, Mama slept terrible last night as well, so we were both super tired this afternoon.) We spent the last hour getting Emerson calmed down and going through the bedtime routine, and she’s finally in her bed.

She chose to sleep in Grammy’s room tonight, so we wheeled her crib across the hall, and hopefully she actually sleeps, and soon. She was up until almost 10pm last night, and didn’t take a nap today post-procedure, so she should, theoretically, be exhausted enough to fall asleep instantly. BUT! we all know how much this girl fights her sleep! So pray that Emmie falls asleep soon, and that Mama and I both sleep better tonight than we did last night!

We’re not even sure what we’re going to be doing here for the next few days. We need to keep ourselves mostly socially-distanced just to be safe, but we also need to get out of this place and find something else to do. We had thought about going to the beach, but she’s not supposed to get her incision-site from today very wet, and we’d hate to take her to the beach and tell her she can’t swim. Anyways, we’ve got three full days to kill, so we’ll just have to figure something out!

Thank you all SO MUCH for your prayers today!!! So many of you reached out through text or email, and we’ve loved getting to read and respond to all of the Facebook comments on our posts. Thank you for loving our family, and thank you for loving our girl! We all feel very loved!!