Good to go :)

Today, we had yet another pre-op day at the hospital. It got off to a fantastic start as I noticed, while walking to the admissions department, that the hospital's Starbucks was closing :( I have frequented that Starbucks more times than I could count over the past four years. Both my girls were born at this hospital, I've had numerous doctors appointments there - both prenatal check ups for myself and various other appointments for Maddy. Maddy spent four months in NICU at this hospital and has since been admitted there three times for different things. AND the only food I will eat at the hospital is from Starbucks. Hospital food is awful and the cafeteria is not much better. I'm so sad to see Starbucks go :( (I wish that Starbucks was reimbursing me for saying all that, but they are not. My grief is real and not paid for). 

We got to the hospital at 10am and I didn't expect to see a doctor until 4. I must have been optimistic because the first of three doctors (anesthetist) showed up at 6pm, the second (ENT) at 6:30 and the third (the plastic surgeon who will perform the cleft surgery) at close to 7pm. We didn't make it home until nearly 8!!

All in all though, it was a productive day. The doctors agree that since Maddy's spine is clear, she is now ready for surgery. She did have a bit of a cold last week and still has a residual cough and they want to wait 2-3 weeks until that is completely clear, but they will be scheduling surgery soon. The earliest will probably still be a month away, but it should be done within two months. They will only give us around 3-7 days notice and the surgery could theoretically be cancelled at the last moment if PICU is full (Maddy is expected to need PICU after the surgery for a day or two). 

There will be a few things done in this surgery. First of all, they will do a proper airway assessment. Despite all of Maddy's airway issues, she has never had a formal bronchoscopy. They will do this when she goes in for surgery. The second thing they will do (as long as there is no complications with the bronchoscopy) is the cleft repair. The third thing is to place tubes in the ears to drain the fluid, if it is necessary (they will decide this the day before surgery). And last of all, they will do the ABR hearing test to determine whether Maddy also needs hearing aids.

Please keep us in your prayers over the next month or two as we wait for surgery, that Maddy will get over this cough and be healthy when the time comes. Also pray that we can get one of the earlier slots as we'd really like this behind us - and we also want to figure out Maddy's hearing and speech issues sooner rather than later. Pray that the surgery will be successful and that Maddy handles it well and recovers quickly from it. And pray for the rest of us as we support Maddy through her surgery, especially as we have to do it without Starbucks!!