Updates and Prayers

[sunnylady303]

**This is a double post because I just realized that there is now this board. Oops. My brain is not working right**

 

Just wanted to update since I haven't been around at all for a long time. Things have been very difficult. I am still grateful to the ladies who gave us a boost for my DD's birthday and some clothes - I still am planning to post pictures when we can.

 

DD2 who is just 6 is having a pretty serious surgery up at Cincinnati Children's Hospital this Monday. We go up Sunday and will be there a little while. Cinci is the only hospital in the whole region that does this surgery. We have been to dozens of doctors appointments and in the ER and in the hospital nearest us so much the last month.

 

We are moving to the big city at the end of the month.

 

I am so nervous about DD's surgery. Her lungs are only at 70% and they've already told me she'll be in ICU afterward. Anyone have advice for what to do for the four hours plus that she's in surgery? I can already hardly sit still.

 

Anyway. I continue to be grateful for all the encouragement and help and advice I have received here. This is such an awesome place.

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[RoughCollie]

You can read or knit or watch the tv that is probably in the waiting room. You can walk around the hospital. You can listen to music if you have an MP3 player, or play games or go on the internet if you have a device for that, or talk on your cell phone. You can go to the cafeteria. You can talk to other parents in the waiting room. You can grade papers or plan lessons or sign and address Christmas cards.

 

My sons have had major surgery, which lasted from 4 to 6 hours, several times from ages one to six, and again at age 11. It really helps if you can get your mind to calm down before the day of surgery. Stark fear doesn't change a thing that happens in the real world.

 

To do this, I used a rational approach.

 

* I made sure I trusted the surgeon. I looked up his qualifications, papers he wrote, and articles about him on the internet. (My boys had the same surgeon for 5 operations, so it got easier over time.)

 

* I made sure I understood what would happen during the surgery to the point that I could explain the process to anyone, including the child, complete with drawings to aid the child's understanding.

 

* I looked up the problem the surgery would correct, and learned about success rates and so forth.

 

* I forced myself not to dwell on anything negative, because worrying about that stuff is not helpful. To do that, I trained myself to switch topics when I thought about something bad happening over which I had no control. I repeated to myself all the positive things I had learned about the surgeon and the surgery. I distracted myself, IOW. It got easier as I practiced this. Otherwise, I would have spent all that time in waiting rooms being terrified, which is not useful or pleasant.