Surgery Day= Thursday!

Today a surgical nurse came in and talked to Mom and me. She was very nice and helpful. Gracie's heart surgery will be done on Thursday as long as no emergency cases come up. We still have not seen the doctor, but he is supposed to come by tomorrow. She said that Dr. Fraser will cut Gracie on the chest and look at the heart that way instead of going under her arm. She said that once in there, they would be able to get a good look at everything and compare it to the echocardiograms. That makes sense that the eye does better than a picture! She also said that it could be worse or better than it looks on the echo.

The nurse said that they are very slow and take their time in surgery to try and prevent having to go back in and fix something afterward. The surgery will probably take about 6 hours if everything goes smoothly maybe longer if there are complications. After surgery Gracie will be on the cardiac ICU floor (18th floor) probably for a few days, just depending on how good she is doing. While in there, she will be on a ventilator along with other tubes. I am not really looking forward to that, but think that I have prepared myself to see her like that. What I am having the hardest time with, is the fact that they will cut her down her chest and break the sternum. That hurts me even to think about it.

After she is off the vent and I am assuming all the other tubes, Gracie will be moved back down to the 15th floor for a few more days before being released from the hospital. Before releasing her, they will have to make sure that she is eating good and gaining weight at a steady rate, so hopefully that won't be too long. For someone that is only 5 pounds 6 ounces, I hope she gains weight quickly and doesn't loose too much if any!!

After leaving the hospital, we will have to stay in Houston another week or two to make sure that everything is okay and Gracie will have a follow up visit with the doctors. Recovery time is about 4-6 weeks usually.

I will post more later and have tons of pictures over the last month that I need to get on! Maybe that will get done on surgery day. Todd, Callie, Kadee, Dad, Tommy, and Jeannette are coming tomorrow so just keep praying for us and their safe trip! (or at least Todd's...this is Callie and Kadee's first flight and Todd doesn't like to fly anyway! At least he has help!!!)