Our Little Honey Buns: The night before Hailey's surgery

Thursday, October 13, 2022

The night before Hailey's surgery

Dear Nathan and Hannah,

Hailey will be going away for a few days to get her heart fixed. It's finally happening! But this week has had its fair share of roller coaster moments. 10/11/2022 was the original surgery date. On 10/10 we get a phone call from the hospital to tell us that Hailey's surgery has been bumped to Friday. Daddy immediately calls Grandma and Grandpa to tell them the news. They are at the airport ticket counter and just handed off their luggage to be put on the conveyor belt. Needless to say, they were able to reschedule their flight for today and their luggage continued their journey without their owners as planned.

Fast forward to Wednesday evening. After dinner, we get a phone call from one of the surgery nurses asking if we would be willing to come in Thursday for surgery. Dad and I immediately looked at each other and said, "Yes." At this point we just want to get it over with and not have to be delayed again.

So I frantically start to pack and get everything ready for an early departure the next day.

20 minutes later, we get another call and she tells us that Dr. Frasier has decided to get some rest after a strenuous surgery and feels more comfortable resting before operating on Hailey.

So, this week, we've been hanging out at home. During the cooler mornings, we've been hanging outside and drawing on the driveway. We've been working on a Halloween mural and have filled the driveway with scary pumpkins, spooky ghosts, and menacing spiders. The last finishing touch would have to be a creepy alien who beams kids up into their space ship.

This week we've been working on cleaning the house, getting caught up with laundry, and meal prepping for the week of surgery and beyond. We also have been getting lots of food and gifts and feel very blessed and loved by our friends and neighbors.

Last Friday, we had a pre-op appointment. We spent a whopping 5.5 hours there. We met with all sorts of specialists, nurses, and Hailey was so brave to get her blood drawn 2 times! They had to use an ultrasound machine to see her teeny tiny little veins to get enough blood for some lab tests. She even got a new stuffed dog, whom she named "pickles."

Dell children's was designed with children in mind and Hailey was loving the whole experience.

Hailey had to get an X ray to make sure her lungs were clear.

We were given wipes to wipe her down at night. We needed to have her sleep in a set of freshly clean sheets and rub some napirocin in her nostrils 2 times a day.

Well, she was a trooper, so we went to get ramen and tempura shrimp for lunch. And as tradition would have it, we also got some ice cream since Hailey had to deal with a needle. She picked apple pie ice cream.