I just got a call from the woman at UVA, and we’ve officially been rescheduled.
She said in addition to the question of whether or not Jade will be 100% healthy, and the question of whether or not there would be a bed available in the PICU, they also want to get a good in-depth Echocardiogram (Echo) of her heart prior to her surgery.
So, her surgery is now (re)scheduled for Friday, November 3rd, with pre-op testing on Thursday the 2nd. In addition, we’ll be taking her in this Tuesday (the 17th) for her Echo at 9:00 a.m.
Alvin said he’d just stay home with Dylan Tuesday while I take her for the test.
So it will be another 3 weeks before she has her surgery, but hopefully she’ll be fully healthy and nothing else will come up. Meanwhile, we’ll have to be even more vigilant about avoiding illness – no church, no children’s church, no parties for the next three weeks. After seeing how easy it is for her to get a cold, and knowing even just the sniffles can postpone surgery, I don’t want to risk it. It’s just not worth it.
In regards to the Echo on Tuesday, they sometimes sedate infants for the procedure, so they’re still enough to get a good look at the heart, but first, they want to try it un-sedated, so they want me to not feed her for four hours before the procedure, and with the hope that feeding her just before they do the echo will calm her. I think it’s good I wasn’t drinking anything when I heard her say that. I love my daughter and she’s a real sweetie pie, but the thought of Jade being cooperative and still for anything, whether hungry or fed, is pretty funny. One of the biggest struggles we have with Jade is feeding her, so bottle or breast, it’s never a “calming” thing for her. If they can’t get her to be still enough, we’ll have to schedule another time (wasted appointment, wasted time off for Alvin, wasted co-pay) and then they’ll sedate her for the second attempt. So, please pray that Jade falls asleep and/or is cooperative for the echo on this coming Tuesday.
