Pre-Op & Preparation

 Doctor Maxwell is on call today

 Maxwell is now collecting his own bravery beads!

This weekend is insane for me but I needed to take a minute to come here and write, to put everything into text because I know that weeks and months from now this will all just be a blur.
Earlier in the week we got the call from Sick Kids and Maxwell's surgery is scheduled for this coming Monday (in about 48 hours from now).
On Thursday we went for the pre-op appointment and cardiac teaching, the day was so long but we have a great patient coordinator who made the day flow smoothly. We met with the Physiotherapist, child life specialist, anesthesiologist, nurse, clinic coordinator, blood work team, hemoglobin specialist, surgeon, dentist and a resident.
They were all very straight forward with the risks involved and didn't sugar coat what we should expect to see.  
I didn't really learn any new information since I have been info hunting for months but it was nice to get the details about sleeping arrangements (for me) and the CCU procedures etc. We chatted about needing to supplement food from home since his diet may be hard to oversee but the nutrition staff are top in their fields. 
There will be bubble blowing done hourly in recovery and I need to get friendly with the "Three Little Pigs" story so that Max can help the big bad wolf blow the houses down. The Village Peoples "YMCA" will be acted out as well because raising his arms above his head will help re-inflate his lungs. Maxwell's trip to the dentist showed some beautiful cavity free teeth but his blood work showed that his anemia has returned so we are now in the process of trying to get high doses of iron into him before the surgery as low iron can be problematic. His little body is not tolerating the iron very well and last night consisted of five warm bubble baths, some Advil, lots of tears and a mom with vomit in her hair. Thankfully today is a much better day and we are going to try and give him the medication slowly through out the day instead of in two big doses. 
My goal for the rest of the weekend is to plan for being away next week, laundry washed and clothes laid out, groceries done, rooms cleaned, suitcase packed and lists made for how I typically run the house. My Aunt B is sending down some toss in the slow cooker meals that Dom will just have to put in before he leaves the house in the mornings. I'm sure that the next week will be exhausting and overwhelming but I am also sure that everything will work out fine.