A Lazy day . . .

Well, today was a lazy day after the craziness of the past few. Wednesday morning started out restfully and we had a plan to have a really easy day before we went to the hospital at 11:15. Our hotel was located right across the street from the Barnes and Noble and Starbucks (Scott and I have a STRICT no hotel coffee policy), so we went for a relaxing walk and had coffee and looked for some good books. As we were finishing up we got a call from the hospital telling us that Dr. Chun had finished early, and asking if we could come in early. Our Easy morning just kicked into overdrive with the distinct possibility of us leaving the hospital that night soaring into view. We got to the hospital quickly and checked in and had Emma ready and changed in no time flat. All of her stuffed animals got name bracelets and went with her to the operating room. She made the doctor's and the nurses pictures of her heart and had filled in all of the details including where she thought the pathway was that was causing the Tachycardia. Well, the odds of her being right were slight. And the first thing the doctor told us afterwards was that she was! She actually predicted where it would be and was right. The procedure took about 4 and a half hours. Before it started I went back into the OR with Emma and helped her up on the operating table and the anesthesiologist talked us both through the procedure of her falling asleep as she smelled the mask to make sure it smelled okay. When she went to sleep I gave her one last kiss and walked shakily out to the waiting area with Scott. Before I left I reminded them to tell the doctor to 'save the princess'. We walked immediately down to the cafeteria and it struck me that through this bustling group of people that they all had no idea what was happening. My daughter was having heart surgery, and no one seemed to notice. We went down, got our food and sat for a moment. Our beeper then went off. It had only been about 15 minutes, so my heart sank, and Scott (knowing me as well as he does) said (reassuringly) that it was probably the Helsels (as they were planning on meeting us at the hospital). It was, and we spent our time waiting and talking with Gene, Ellen and Rachael.
We were called back to the small doctor/patient room and a half an hour later Dr. Chun came in and we heard the first details of what happened. Emma went into Tachycardia right after the first cath. went in and they were able to triangulate the general area of the pathway right away. The rest of the time was spent checking her heart for other pathways and then fixing the defective part (that took a mere 2 seconds) and then rechecking to make sure that they got everything. Since she was so much smaller than they anticipated they had to put 4 instead of 3 cath's in to do the job.
One of the things that we were most concerned about was her being sick due to the anesthesia. Well when we first saw her she has already had 2 popsicles and RED lips. She was a bit groggy, but the biggest struggle was the fact that she had to lie still for 4 more hours. I had better post, this is getting long, and Nadia needs me. I will finish later so for now we will just say TO BE CONTINUED . . .