Surgery Tomorrow

August 26, 2012

Surgery Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the *big* day.

Waverly is scheduled for surgery at 2:00 PM on Monday.

We met with the anesthesiologist on Thursday for a consult. The nurse actually remembered Waverly from a few years ago when she had her tonsils & adenoids removed. I feel confident that they understand Waverly's needs and she will be in very capable hands tomorrow. I also spoke with our GI doc to go over the procedure and what happens afterwards. My friend, Carrie, has a lot of experience with g-tubes. She walked me through the surgery and answered all of my crazy questions. I feel comfortable with the medical aspects finally.

The emotional impact of this surgery...not so much.

Comments

Joanne said…

I've been thinking about you all so much this week, Shannon. This is heartbreaking to us, even though I know it is the right decision. You are in our thoughts this evening and will be in our thoughts all day long tomorrow. xoxo, Joanne

August 26, 2012 at 4:26 PM

Anonymous said…

Thinking of you all day and praying for Waverly. Eager to hear how the procedure goes. You are being an amazing mommy. Hang in there!

August 27, 2012 at 5:23 PM

Welcome to Holland

By Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland.""Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.