Its Big Girl Room Time

I left Shannon last night shortly after they took out her breathing tube. It was good to hear her voice. She was trying to use sign language but everyone was having trouble understanding her. I called the hospital this morning and they said she did great through the night. Her nurse Dennis told me that she would be going to a step down room within the hour. Soon after I received my first call from Shannon, "When are you coming? I miss you.". Unbelievable speedy recovery so far.

Welcome Back Shannon

She's out of surgery and in the ICU as of 3:00pm. I finally got to see her. Seeing all of the tubes took a little getting used to but all in all its amazing to see her communicating so soon after. She is throwing up rock locks and showing us her fist every time the nurses comment on good she is doing. She wants the breathing tube out but they want to give it a bit more time. I can't tell you good it feels to see her doing so well. -Jeff

Putting Her Back Together

Good news...We were just informed they are closing up her incision. We are at the 5hr mark and all is well so far. Everybody is on their cell phones calling relatives back in Detroit and St. Louis. Grandma was instructed by Aunt Terry that crying is not allowed. Sometimes you've got to be militant. -Jeff

Nurse's Update 2

The surgical nurse stopped by again around an hour ago and explained that Dr. Woo is working with about a 3" incision (which Shannon will be happy about). They had to remove some of the scar tissue that existed from the first surgery she had when she was two. Its almost 3 hours now. -Jeff

The board says the procedure started at 10:01am. Go Woo! Go!
Dr. Woo is Shannon's surgeon.

The surgical nurse stopped by while I was in the cafeteria grabbing a soda. She told Shannon's aunt that she was very comfortable before the procedure and that we should expect the surgery to take anywhere from 3-5.5hrs. I hate sitting and waiting. -Jeff

Today is the Day

Shannon checked in this morning at 7:15. Her confidence and positive attitude amazed me!

Her family and I are waiting in the Surgical Family Lounge. A nice woman named Ann is looking after us. They have a great information board here that updates you when the patient is in the OR, when the procedure is started and when they are out of the room. We are showing Shannon in the OR at 8:20. When will the procedure start? -Jeff

pre-admission testing

Testing consisted of blood work (LOTS of it.. just how much blood CAN they take before surgery?) and ekg and an x-ray. sounds simple, right? IT TOOK 5 HOURS!!!

we learned about all the different kinds of waiting: the "have a seat over there" waiting, the "stand right here" waiting, the "you're next, but it will still be an hour" waiting, and the "let me take you out of the this waiting room and take you to another waiting room" waiting. i never knew waiting rooms had waiting rooms... they do. and they're not any faster.

we finally got a surgery time! 7 am... stay tuned for further details.

(my husband decided that the no food or drink sign was a great place to hide his contraband)