Wednesday, October 17, 2012

End of Day 1

Today was a day full of so many emotions!  We have spent hours feeling nervous, emotional, sad, scared and moments of  tears, sorrow, triumph, joy and laughter.

We were so very thankful to see our friends and family gather around us today.  Cameron and Kristen showed up, bright an early around 5:40 AM!!  They came and saw Iain, just as Tim and I were waiting for the Anesthesiologist to come take Iain to the OR.

We walked to the OR doors and handed our little baby over, needing to completely trust that God chose these Doctors specifically for this day, for this surgery, for OUR Iain.

Handing him over, was emotional and VERY difficult for us both.

We headed to the Main Floor Family Lounge to grab coffee and saw that Iain was in the OR at 7:03AM.

Janelle walked in about that time!   Shortly afterwards, Mom and Dad showed up.  We sat around with our Starbucks, anticipating a day that would be long, but would be full of great things for Iain.

Around 8:00 AM, we headed up to the 7th floor Ronald McDonald Family Room.  Here is where our day (and the days to come will be) was spent.

Soon, this room was pretty full!  Add Joel, Kayla and Liz.  Then add, Deb Bell,  Ben Kreps, Beth Mellinger and Tina Brumagen!  We were surrounded by folks that love and pray for our little Iain.

During this time, Warren, the Peds Social Worker was talking with us.  Showing us around, giving us a tour of the PICU.  He took us to Iain's bed, which turned out to be ONE of TWO private rooms in the PICU!!  We were astounded and grateful that we had a little bit of privacy!  Warren was great!  He fit right in with our rowdy group.

We met Iain's first Nurse, Misty.  She is so sweet and kind.  She told us what to expect and helped us prepare for what we were about to see.

Soon, Warren was back in the family room with thumbs up!  Iain was doing GREAT, Dr. Myers said that it was boring down there.  Evidently a boring OR, is a GOOD OR.

My family and our friends kept us busy and laughing.  The Volunteer even took a picture of it all! :)

Soon, Dr. Myers was standing in the door to discuss the surgery.  UNEXPECTED, WONDERFUL news!  While he previously thought he would have to completely remove Iain's Pulmonary Valve, he DID NOT do this!!!  There is a bit of stenosis (stiffness of the muscle in the valve) and only time will tell, BUT there is a GREAT chance that Iain will never need surgery again!!  We walked into this fully expecting this to be the first of a few surgeries in his lifetime.  (This was stated by the surgeon as recent at Monday!)  God is so gracious and kind to give Iain the BEST case scenario when everything was pointing towards the worst case scenario!

Dad prayed a prayer of thanksgiving to God for his kindness, then we all headed to the hallway to greet Iain as he came from the OR and headed to the PICU.  Iain was greeted with 12 people!! :)  It was great!  We caught a quick glimpse of him as he was whisked away.

All tensions eased after that.  We sat and waited for about another 40 minutes while he was prepped for his new home for the next few days.

We all then took turns seeing him.  It was so hard to see him on a breathing tube.  He was trying to wake up and looked at us with half open eyes.  It was heartbreaking and most of us ended up with teary eyes.

The evening came quickly as we had more visitors. Sarah Cope (a close friend of Cameron and Kristen who has undergone heart surgeries by the SAME Surgeon in her own life) came by with an adorable stuffed elephant!!  We have been so thankful for her kindness as we walked through these last few months.  Thanks for being so open with us about your own experiences Sarah!

Soon, Rachel Lynn came with ALL three girls!  We took Nora and Elise into see Iain.  They both went twice while they were here.  Nora got emotional at the idea of leaving him here, but put on her brave face as they headed home.  Hannah had us all in smiles in the waiting area.

We spent the late afternoon and evening taking friends and family back to see Iain.  Donna, Rachel and Abigail got to see him.  Matt Wolfgang stopped by and visited with Iain.  Then Brian, Em, Ella and Harper came and spent some time with us.

Around 9:00 Tim and I finally got some time with JUST us and Iain.  We just sat with him for about an hour, watching him sleep, then cry, then sleep and cry some more.  It is SOOOO hard to watch him lie there, helpless, in pain, hungry and to do nothing for him!! :(  We just want to pick him up and comfort him.  I can't wait to do that and hope that day comes again soon!!!

We are sitting here in the family lounge, ready to fall asleep for at least a few hours.

We are so thankful to God for making this a day full of successes!  He has been gracious and kind to us.  He has worked a miracle in little Iain's heart and we can't wait to see all that God has in store for this little man of ours.

Thank you for all your support here, on facebook, through texts and phone calls!  Thank You Deb for a wonderful lunch and Tina for the awesome variety of snacks!

Thank you to all our family that made time in their day to be with us!  We love you all and are thankful to have you with us as we continue this journey.

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