We Have a Date!

Juliana did well on our journey to Boston. This was the first in a long time that it was just the two of us. First stop was clinic. She gained a little weight but we are still increasing her PN because she needs to gain even more weight. She is not even on the charts for weight but hoping this will change after surgery. Next stop was radiology for her barium study. Juliana did very well being patient and only started to get fussy at the very end. She was really ready for a nap so I was very happy to see how cooperative she was. She did get her much need nap during the drive which was all very uneventful. In four weeks we will go back and look at the rest of her intestines and pray for a bigger weight gain.

We got a date for surgery and although it wasn't exactly the week we wanted it is in the month we had hoped for. She is scheduled to be admitted on Sunday April 24th and will have surgery on the following Monday. With our hectic lives this means that I will be going up alone for the first couple of days but my husband is not very good at waiting so it's probably for the best. The surgeon says to plan for about a 2 week stay but we will plan for more so we are not too disappointed if it ends up being a little longer.

I have been waiting for 2 and a half years to get this date. Having it though doesn't make me feel any better. It's so much easier to go into emergency surgery than to know months in advanced. Now I have two months to sit and ponder all the possible outcomes for this big day and trust me I have a wild imagination. I always find myself anticipating the worst of the worst scenarios with the hope that if reality is even slightly better I can look at the glass half full.

It will be interesting to see how Juliana handles all of this. Her last hospital stay she wasn't even crawling. Now we have a fiesty 2 year old who likes things her way so I can only imagine. She is for the most part very cooperative medically speaking. I can do dressing changes which need to be done under sterile conditions without the assistance of another adult now. She knows to keep her arms and chin up and will remain still while I sterilize the site and apply the new dressing. There are many things to keep her entertained while we are inpatient so I am not terribly concerned. The biggest plus is that they have an amazing coffee shop in the hospital and a Starbucks right across theh street!

For now we hope everything will remain status quo.