All-Clear

Today went better than expected.  As I thought, the X-ray and the blood draw were the worst parts.  But she handled both like a champ (better than Mommy on the X-ray) and they only had to poke her once for the blood, which was a huge relief and answer to prayer.  So far I’m very impressed with the hospital and the staff.  The only time we had to wait was at X-ray (our first “stop”) because they caught, right away, that they had entered her as a boy into the system.  (How many boys do you know named April?)  Other than that, we didn’t have any wait at all and just moved smoothly from one thing to the next.  Time seemed to go fast even though it took three hours.

All the labs came back great and we have been given the all-clear for surgery.  Please pray that we all remain healthy between now and then and after too of course.

We won’t know until the afternoon before surgery day when she is scheduled to go in.  The surgery schedule comes out at 1pm the day before and then is unchangeable (or so I’m told; I’m guessing that if an emergency case came up that night she could still get bumped.).  All I know is that currently she is supposed to be the second surgery of the day.

Note the cute blanket that her nurses gave her after her blood draw.  Made by Project Linus.  Very sweet and she loves the puppy on it.  You’ll also notice the band on her ankle.  That is the band that will match her with the blood set aside for her transfusion.  She is supposed to leave it on, but they gave me another one just in case it comes off or gets lost.  So far it doesn’t bother her, but if it becomes a nuisance I may just snip it off and bring that extra one.

[One small note about the blood transfusion: I didn't mean to imply in my previous post that they didn't have blood for her.  Clearly there is a blood bank and that is where we will get it from.  In fact, one of the nurses even told me today that the blood bank is the safest place to get blood from.  All I meant to say was that there wouldn't be a blood bank without people donating their blood, and that was my request.  You better believe I will be donating when I'm eligible, even though I despise needles.]