05.20.2008 - Waiting

From Julian's COTA journal.

1 p.m.

We received word that they were ready for Julian around 10:30 this morning. His final meds were ordered stat; on arrival, we bundled him into a wagon and wheeled him down to pre-op. More waiting as everyone involved came to check in with us: surgeons, nurses, anesthetic techs, etc. Once everyone was satisfied and the room was ready, we gave him his dose of Versed (pronounced ver-sed' aka "happy juice") and they wheeled him off to the operating room.

It was very hard to say goodbye this time, even though today is the day we've been anticipating since he was born. We've always known he'd need a transplant, and feel strongly that God has led us to Stanford for the surgery. Still, he's our little boy, and it's hard to subject him to what we know is going to be a difficult surgery and recovery.

They'll page us in the PICU waiting room around 8 p.m. tonight, and (we think) take us back to see him. It's unclear yet whether or not he'll still be on a ventilator at that time - it'll depend mostly on how he does with anesthetic during the surgery. If he is on a ventilator, he'll be sedated (i.e. "out") for as long as he's on it. Once they can extubate him, they'll bring him back.

So now we're just waiting. We've set up camp in the PICU waiting area, and at least one of us will be here until our pager buzzes later tonight. We'll post more later, as the day wears on.

David