Scheduling Emerson’s Surgery

My beautiful girl in precious little dress!

On the way to school this morning, she was talking about not wanting to go, but I told her she’d have so much fun with her friends and her teachers. I told her I was just going to stinky old work, and it would be boring and not fun, but that school was fun. She thought for a second, and then said, “But home is fun. And church is fun. And Grammy’s house is fun!” It was so precious!

 

Today was my day to go into the office for some drop-off and pick-up and paperwork. And it was my lucky day, because my boss Michelle had brought boiled peanuts again today! She stopped by my office in the morning to tell me she was putting them in the crock-pot to warm up. Then later I went out to grab a little pile to eat, and she gave me a bag to take home with me. Score!

When I roasted the brussel sprouts last night, I also baked a couple of sweet potatoes for myself. Jeff doesn’t like them, so I figured they’d be a good thing to have on hand for some at-home lunches. So today I had last night’s leftover bleu cheese chicken burger and a large sweet potato with butter and cinnamon, and it was delicious! Also, since I worked late last night, I got to take an extra 30 minutes for my lunch today to flex it out, so I had a nice long break.

We got lots of great photos from her teachers at school today. The caption on this first one said that William was telling Emerson about his new haircut, but telling her not to touch it and mess it up.

And then for these next two photos, the caption said, “William was upset so Emerson was trying to comfort him with a hug…it worked. He was all better after that good squeeze.” But I couldn’t handle how precious and grown they looked! They looked like a little boyfriend/girlfriend couple on a date in high school! And they need to slow the heck down with all this growing up! But I really do love how sweet these friends are together.

So just this morning, my Mama emailed me asking if we had heard the results of sending Emerson’s heart stats to the surgeon in Jacksonville. I told her we hadn’t heard yet, but we’d check in with her cardiologist. Then out of the blue this afternoon, I got a call from Wolfson Children’s Hospital, to schedule her upcoming heart surgery. It hit me like an actual ton of bricks.

Even though they told us two weeks ago they were sending her info for the surgeon to review, in the back of my mind, I still didn’t think surgery was actually going to happen. And then today, BAM – and we were on the phone scheduling a trip to Jacksonville, for next month. We’ll go over for a heart cath & pre-op & physical on Friday, August 28, and then on Monday, August 31, she’ll have open-heart surgery to close the hole in her tiny heart.

As you might imagine, I was crying on the phone, but by the time we hung up, I was absolutely sobbing. (I was very glad the call came while I was at home, and Jeff and I could take the call together.) We have a consultation call scheduled with Dr. Shillingford (the surgeon in Jax) next Thursday, when we’ll get more information and have a chance to ask questions.

One thing we’re grateful for already, is this specific doctor (Shillingford) that will be performing the surgery. My Great-Uncle Orvin was a long-time, amazing surgeon in Gainesville and Jacksonville (retired now), and he told us from the get-go (after our appointment two weeks ago), that he would be the best one for the job, and would have no hesitation about him specifically performing the surgery. So that in itself is an answer to prayer.

After all that, I couldn’t wait to go pick her up at 5pm and snuggle her close. I gave her the biggest hug when I got her from school, and couldn’t stop kissing her cute little face.  I asked her what she wanted for dinner (thinking we would get take-out or something), but she requested taquitos! I had them in the freezer, so that’s what we had for dinner, which we all love anyways.

After dinner, we went through the hand-me-down shoe box, and found lots of good ones for Emmie, and lots of good ones that were too small for her, to pass down to the triplets.

All of these (plus one more pair) are the ones we’re keeping, with at least this many more going to the triplets! So that’s 12 news pairs of shoes for Tater Tot, most of which are still in brand new condition!

We went back to the potty tonight, with absolutely no luck as usual, but we just keep on trying, hoping one day it will finally click.

We read another new birthday book tonight, another one about dinosaurs.

She gave me sweet hugs and cuddles and was ready to lay down. But then she kept telling me she didn’t want to sleep. I reminded her that when she woke up in the morning, it would be time for water day at school, and that got her excited enough to lay down and go to sleep, after lots more kisses from Mommy of course.

On the phone with my Mama about everything earlier, she said, “I know God has big plans for that tiny girl,” and I know that’s the truth. I’ve teared up and gotten emotional about 50 times since that phone call this afternoon, and I can barely think about all of it without kicking off some serious anxiety about the whole situation.

On the drive home earlier after school, we were listening to the radio (which I rarely ever do), but I was listening to WayFM, and Chris Tomlin’s “Our God is Greater” came on. I wasn’t paying much attention as Emmie and I were chatting, but I turned it up by the time it got to the last acapella chorus. The lyrics are “How great is our God, sing with me how great is our God, and all will see how great, how great, is our God!” And I couldn’t help but think about how great our God truly is, and that through his care and protection of my daughter throughout this upcoming surgery, we will truly sing about how great he is, and all will see how great He is.

Please, please, keep us in your prayers.