From the PreOp part 1

11.36am

Abi just went through her physical really well, her vitals were fine and then the cardiologist fellow came in to talk to us about tomorrow's surgery. Well it didn't go well- for him. When asked if we knew what the surgery would be for we let him explain the details to us. To our surprise we found out he didn't really know what he was talking about and less than 2 minutes after he came and we educated him on Abi's condition he had to leave to figure out what is going on. He mentioned the Rastelli's precedure that we are familiar with and as far as we know this is not what Abi will have done.

Now he's gone looking for the correct information and we...... keep waiting in the preop room.

Art's Dad - short update

Just a short update on my dad. He's doing amazingly well. Already walking, all the IVs have been taken out and everything seems to be great! He's scheduled to be moved from this heart hospital a to a heart PT center this Wednesday and should be home within the next 2 weeks.


Just thought I would let you all know and thank you for your prayers! 


Art

7 months of joy

I can't believe I didn't mention Abi is turning 7 months TODAY!!
What can she do now?
-  can sit by herself;
- understands what we say to her in Polish, English and sign language (including milk, bath and car-ride);
- points out things she wants to reach and/or have;
- reaches to us when we say "come to mommy/daddy";
- makes all kinds of noises, including "singing" when I sing to her and "calling" when she wants mommy or daddy to come;
- wants to eat with a spoon by herself;
- and the most recent one - she gives herself kisses when reading a book (a gift from Shari)with mirrors.

She's such a big girl.

I love Abi.

J.

wersja polska

Dad's Surgery- Update

My Dad's surgery was delayed by 2 hours, but everything went well and smooth. My mom got to talk to him over the phone about an hour after the surgery so he's doing pretty well!


If everything continues going this well, he will be out of this hospital next Wednesday and back home in 3 weeks, and then here in NC sometime in June ;-)


Art

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Art's Dad at the Surgery

The surgery started at 8am in Poland (GMT+1). It was 2am here (EST).
It was supposed to last 3-4 hours, but when I was leaving home this morning (6:30am) the surgery wasn't done yet.
It's very different than here as far as passing the information about the surgery to the family members. First of all, the family has to call in to the hospital and ask for updates. Secondly, the only information they get is whether the patient is still in OR or not. Thirdly, the patients after the open heart surgery are not allowed to have visitors in CICU. How weird is that?
Anyway, we are awaiting more details.

J.

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The Dates Are Set

This morning we got the confirmation that Abi needs to be in Atlanta for her pre-op on Tuesday, March 2 and her surgery will be on Wednesday, March 3. 

At the same time, this morning, they finished my dad's pre-op and set his surgery date for this Wednesday, February 24. His recovery is supposed to take 3-4 weeks. Abi should be home in less than a week. 

We'll keep you up-to-date.

Thank you for your prayers and support!!!!

Art

So Surgery It Is

This morning I spoke with Dr. Kirshbom and got some more information. Since Abi is doing so well and she hasn't been sick the best move would be to do the surgery as soon as possible; in Kirshbom's words better next week than in 2 weeks. The surgery itself will take about 3 to 4 hours, but most of it will be getting Abi ready. Once she's ready, and opened up and on bypass machine fixing the issue will take about 20 minutes. He said if she does as she did after the double switch she should be out in less than a week. This is what I am really looking forward to. Need to pray there will be no complications nor lung infections.

Today we have to call Atlanta and tell them if we want the surgery next Friday, Feb 26 or the following Wednesday, March 3.

We are still talking about it, since J doesn't want the surgery at all. Yeah, not that I want it, but I don't think we have other options.

Art