Pre-op Monday March 10th

The alarm went off at 4:20am, this would be the first time in more than two months that I have been up that early since getting laid off.  It was super hard to drag myself out of bed, I'm not sure how I did it through Tuckers pregnancy and then for 3+ long years.  

On the ride in Tucker was in such a good mood, it was short lived as when we registered at Cardiology Pre-op, our first stop was at X-ray.  This has been Tucker's worst behavied area in the past and today was nothing out of the norm.  He screamed the entire time he was there.  Luckily we met up with a fellow heart group member in preop, Linda with her 8 year old daughter Savannah.  Savannah had a Dora the explorer book, which she was kind enough to let Tucker use most of the morning.  He loves Dora!    He is obsessed really.  

After X-ray, we sat in preop for a while, then we were carted off to EKG, temperture, BP, height and weight.  Tucker was great for everything but the blood pressure.  His oxygen saturation is still hanging in the upper 70's, between 78 and 79.  Which is his normal.  Then we were off for our lab work.  We always request Nina, in the lab.  She gets him on the first stick as he has such small veins and arteries from being poked so much.  She is wonderful!  When we returned to cardiology preop, we were whisked away with the NP, then the surgical fellow who works with our surgeon Dr Emani.  He described both the lateral fontan vs. the intracardiac fontan operations.  It will be up to Dr. Emani which one he chooses to do for optimum blood flow to his extremities.  We then were taken into an office where we met with an anesthesiologist.  We were warned of the rate of infections and failures and such.  Reminded of Children's 98% carfiac surgery success rate and asked to sign our life away.  Hardest part of preop day.  

While waiting Around in preop today. Tucker ran right into a woman who was walking.  After apologizing to her, she looked a little familiar to me.  We met at the heart on the hill last year when we were seated next to each other.  She is a developmental specialist for Children's Hospital. She promised to stop by and see us while we are inpatient.  

Back to cardiology preop to meet with Dr.Porras, where he drew us a diagram and explained the two different surgery options to us.  The lateral vs the inter-cardiac Fontan.  One of them uses Tucker's own heart tissue and a piece of gortex gets sewn directly into Tucker's heart.  They attach the artery which was prevoiusly tied off in the Glenn to his right pulmonary artery.  Here is a diagram he drew.  After surgery his oxygen saturation a will continue to rise slowly until they go in (via catheterization) and close a hole that they make in his heart to help regulate the new blood pressures.

We waited for Dr. Emani.  He is such a wonderfully kind doctor, he sat with is for a long time and took plenty of time to answer all of my questions. First he drew a photo of the two surgeries and explained the pros and the cons of each. The main difference is that for the lateral they don't have to stop his heart.  Also there is a spot in the heart which controls all of the electrical impulses of the heart.  The risks are higher or the chance of getting a pacemaker if that area is disturbed.  The chance of pacemaker is 1%, however they still have to tell you about it.  Here is the diagram that Dr. Emani grew.

Tucker couldn't stay awake another minute..

 Before Dr. Emani left we joked about the Children's hospital video that he made, I posted it on the blog a few days ago.  I'm so glad that he isn't rotating the tires on my car.  He's much better at saving children's lives.  ;o)

Next stop, cardiology clinic for a non sedated echo.  We took some video of his pumping chambers.  It always amazes me!  I will try to post it.  

The boys got to pick dinner today, what did they want, McDonald's in front of the TV.  Can't wait for the kids to be off a high calorie diet!  

After dinner, we had to scrub Tucker with an anticeptic sponge for several minutes during his bath time.  After his bath, one last photo of our "blue baby's feet".   Can't wait to see him pink.  

Good night for now, big day tomorrow, please keep us all in your thoughts today and over the weeks to come. 

XoXo