Maya has gone in for surgery

We arrived at the hospital at 6:30am to the pre-op admitting area.  They checked uAs in and we waited with the other families that were also waiting for surgery.  We saw some of the families that we had met yesterday.  One of the families in particular has been amazing to watch.  They are from Maine, and are here with their 14yo son Josh.  I am not sure all of Josh's issues, b/c he is in a wheelchair and has some other disabilities as well.  Josh is quite funny, and keeps everyone laughing.  He loved Maya yesterday, and remembered her name this morning.  He introduced us to his nana, aunt, father, father's girlfriend, and others he had met that morning.  What amazed us about this family was the closeness that they have.  In addition to Josh there are two other children, a girl who will be a freshman in college this fall and another boy, who is probably in high school.  The mother, step-father, two siblings and Josh were at the hospital with us all day yesterday, a very long day.  Not once did they get annoyed with each other.  They were all joking around with each other, and showing genuine love and concern for Josh, something that you don't always see with teenagers.  As I mentioned before, Josh had some issues.  His mother shared that he was born here at Children's and was born with only 1/2 a heart.  He didn't have an aorta.  She said that he had multiple surgeries when he was born, all of which caused him to have a stroke each time.  The last surgery he had was when he was 4yo and it left him in a coma.  So here they are 10yrs later and Josh with his blue lips (cyanosis) was undergoing surgery again, this time to place a shunt in one of the major arteries.  I can only imagine their fear, considering the outcome of the last surgery. 

As I mentioned before, we were all corralled together in the pre-op waiting area, and the three cardiac surgeries that were scheduled for 7:30am this morning (Josh, Maya and Natasha, who I will share more about later).  Then the nurse came and called all three families.  We were all escorted up to the 3rd floor which is the pre-op holding area and surgery waiting area.  The pre-op holding area only allows 2 people to be bedside with the patient, so Josh had to say goodbye to his entourage.  Most touching was watching his brother say goodbye to him, with tears in his eyes, which caused his mother to cry.  Josh of course tried to lighten the mood for all of us with humor.  We were then escorted to the pre-op beds.  Maya, Natasha and Josh were curtains apart.  At this point, a nurse came in and asked us to get Maya into the scratchy hospital gown(I think there must be one company that makes these gowns for kids, because they are the same design in all the hospitals we have been to.  It is the clowns and circus animal print in red, navy and yellow.  We experienced the same ones at Philly and Hartford too.  Maybe they get a good discount on the ugly fabric in China or somewhere.  Anyway, so we got her into the gown while Maya was watching a show on the tv about funny pets on the Animal Planet channel.  We were there for about 15 minutes watching the show when the anesthesiologist came in with the pink medicine (this is the stuff that knocks her out).  She spit some of it out, but we got most in.  Then the anesthesiologist shared with us that there were some changes today from yesterday.  She said that the breathing tube will most likely come out before she goes to the ICU.  This is due to the fact that they want to give her a caudal (shot in the buttock region that works like an epidural, but goes up vs. down), the purpose of which is to eliminate the pain in the chest cavity area, which is going to be very painful.  This will cut the pain down for 12+hrs, and eliminate the need for her to be so sedated right after the surgery.  We were a bit nervous because there is always the "slight risk of nerve damage, that is very rare".  UGH I hate even hearing these things.  Of course they are required to tell you this b/c they have to warn you of all the risks in advance, so you can sign away.  So after this long discussion, another anesthesiologist had now joined us, as did the surgical nurse.  It was like they were hawks waiting for the kill.  They were waiting, it was just for the "pink medicine" to kick in so they could take her back for surgery.  Then the surgical fellow came in to talk with us.  He was able to answer my question about the location of the chest tube.  I wanted to know if it would be in the same location as the cut for the surgery.  It is not.  She will have a small incision on the left side where the chest tube will be inserted, and she will have a horizontal incision going from the breast area to midway on her side ( I am guessing it will be about 3 inches long).  For some reason, I was thinking it would be vertical.  Poor Maya.  Now she will add these scars to her left side in addition to the 4 small scars on her right side from the CCAM surgery.  Bikini model is not in her destiny. :-0
So we had about 10 minutes of the hawks waiting.  Then they came with the heated blanket and we gave Maya big hugs and kisses, and they took her away for surgery...
We then went for breakfast in the cafe, and now we are back up in the waiting area.  The nurse just gave me an update that they have made the incision at 9:35am.
More to come... Victoria