Weekend madness

Friday night right before 5pm, we got a phone call that we needed to redo Ben's blood work. They made a exception and we did it in Grand Rapids Saturday. Then after we got that call Dan ran to Meijer and my air conditioning went out on my car. We thought we were going to need to drive the beastly truck in the ramp in Ann Arbor. Dan spend Saturday trying to fix the car. We thought the compressor went out which would have been pricey. Luckily Dan is the man. He figured out a part was missing and could not find it. Finally he found it up in my engine and a bolt was broken. $2 later the air conditioning was fixed. We hope the blood work is good and we are ready to go Monday. We are enjoying some time at my sisters tonight.

Blood Work Down and the Timing

We are back in Grand Rapids after our dash to get Ben's blood work before the surgery. U of M requires it to be at one of there labs. So we drove into Brighton. The drive was uneventful. Ben pointed out every big truck, semi, and any construction equipment we saw. When we got to the lab we got in fast. Although the tricky part was getting his blood. Ben has very mad and angry even before we started the process because he knew it was coming. We had to poke each arm to get enough blood. His arms have never been easy to get a good point of access. The lab would not do his feet like in the hospital. But it was over quickly and he recovered fast as we went out to eat with my sister and friend Kristin. Kristin brought her son Mason the boys enjoyed the trains at Bagger Daves. I got the Pre-opt admission phone call while I was typing this. We need to be at the hospital at 6:30 on Monday July 1st. Ben will start fasting at midnight, so it will be easy because he will be sleeping. Then we will meet with Dr. Hirsch-Ramano and sign the papers for the Fontan. I will post an update as soon as I can compose myself. It is hard saying goodbye even through I am positive our prayers will be answered. Talk to you all soon.

Surgery Date

Today I got the phone call. Ben's Fontan surgery is planned for July 1, 2013.

Waiting for discharge

Chilling watching Cars2

Pressures looked good

Ben cath did not start until 12:00. We just finally met with the doctor at 3:30. He did very good and we will get to see him soon. Although we need to stay here until 8:00 so they can observe him. Dr Armstrong feels that he is ready for the next step. His pressures are appropriate for the Fontan surgery. We plan to schedule it for the end of June or in July.

Talk to you soon and thanks for checking in.

Tests went well

Ben disliked his chest x-ray, but it was pretty fast and painless. Then they sedated him, but we decided it was best not to fully sedate him. We actually would have liked to not give him anything, but his personality makes him need something or we would have not gotten good results. So we gave him a nasal drug that made him chill out rather than being knocked out. His Eco and and EKG looked great. No serious problems. If his cath pressures look good tomorrow, they plan to schedule his Fontan surgery this summer. We will need to fast again tomorrow. The cath will be different than his last one. They will go in at two points. On his groin and under his collarbone. The cath goes right in his heart and there are risks. They may need to put some coils in, if they find there is some vessels that have formed. Wish Ben luck tomorrow and have a good one.

Ann Arbor

We have arrived safely. Ben is playing in the waiting room waiting for a chest x-ray. The new hospital is beautiful.