It hasn't even been two years yet, look at me go.
We have some news, finally. Several people have heard it, but we were kind of waiting for final details on a few things before going public. I'm going to go ahead and post now.
We have a surgery date.
After a lot of back and forth and zoom meetings and phone calls and tests and on and on, we're going ahead with a surgery in April.
Eden was deemed not a good candidate for the double switch operation because she's too old, which is weird to hear about a 9 year old. The double switch is the more complicated procedure I mentioned in July, and it is typically a surgery done on children 3 and younger. So we're going with the simpler option, where they widen the stenosis and close the VSD.
About a month before, we'll go up for an electrophysio test to map out all the electrical conduits of her heart and make sure everything there is understood and good to go. Then, in April, we'll go up on the 14th, have pre op stuff most of the day on the 15th, and then return early on the 16th for the surgery. It'll be about five or six hours, I believe. Everything should go well since it's a fairly routine procedure. We'll be in the ICU for a couple of days before being moved to a regular room for another seven to ten days, putting us in the hospital for a total of two weeks. Austin will be with us until we're out of the ICU and then he'll head home to man the ship here. Mom and Austin's parents have already volunteered to take the others for the week he's with us.
As for Eden's school, we're going to be moving to home study through AISD for the last six weeks of the school year. We've already got the wheels turning on that front, with something like six people at AISD working with us to make it all happen. This way, she doesn't have to miss all her fun summer stuff, especially since she only goes to school for half days anyway. She'll have to take it easy at home for a couple weeks before she can return to normal life, but because a sternectomy (her sternum will be cut open, along with her heart) takes about six weeks to heal, we felt it was best to just pull her out of in person school all together.
What will we need? No idea. How can you help? You got me. I've already started gathering things to take (bigger suitcase, making sure I know where a big towel is, etc) and a list of things to gather at the time has been written out for about five months now. I have friends in the metroplex, along with both sisters, so I'm sure they'll help if we need it. One already offered to sit with Eden if I just need to get away for a little while. I won't have a car, but I can learn to Uber. 😆
Austin may need/welcome help with meals for the week or so that I'm not here. He does the majority of cooking around here anyway, but it might be nice for him to not have to that week. We'll let you know if that's something we need closer to time.
I know people will want to help us, and we so appreciate it. I'm sure there's things I haven't even considered yet in regards to what to take and what we'll need, so feel free to chime in with advice and tips for a long hospital stay. I've never been a patient for longer than two days when having Asher and as a parent for two or three days with Eden when she was born. Austin is fortunate enough that his job allows him to work from home when needed, so he won't have trouble with school stuff.
That's all for now, and all I know. I'll let you all know when there's more.
