Wow - is it Friday already?? This week has been crazy, although I am noticing I am always saying that. Maybe I need to redefine "crazy".

Last week, we went in for Brady's echo needed for cardiac clearance for his eye surgery this past Tuesday. After we got the clearance from the cardiologist, we went down to Pre-Op to find out if we had to hand in our little piece of paper marked "CLEARED". Nope ~ they sent us back to cardiology for the cardiac anesthesiologist. After the nurses discussing for a few minutes, they said we were all set and Brady would be taken care of on Tuesday. Great!

Friday came and went with no phone calls asking us to do anything different before surgery, so Monday morning, before I went in to work, I called Pre-Op. Just checking in... the nurse looked him up, saw he was in the system and said we'd get a call in the afternoon about what time to be there the next day for surgery. Great! I kissed Brady Bunch on his head, said bye to my mother and left.

About 10:30, I get a call from the surgical coordinator at the Ophthamologist office. She said, "Umm.. I Brady needs to go to Pre-Op today before 1:30, when they close. If you don't go he won't have surgery tomorrow" WHAT?!??! Of course this is also the Coordinator who DIDN'T coordinate the need for the echo last month, when we were SUPPOSED to have surgery and it got bumped a month. So, I called cardiology and a nurse there spent almost 10 minutes researching the whole thing. (They always help me :)) She comes back to the line and says, yes we did have to go and explained he needed to see anesthesiology, and get his vitals.

ARGH! Obviously whatever needs to be done for Brady is fine, but couldn't we have a little more notice than this? That's why my mother and I trekked around the hospital last week, why I called the morning before. I wouldn't have gone to work if I knew I had to be at the hospital - I only work one or two days a week as it is, and luckily they just go around my schedule. I then had to call in more favors so someone could pick up Michael (Thanks, Stef!).

My mother drove to my work, picked me up, then we drove into the hospital. When we finally saw someone, they mentioned Brady would probably be staying overnight after the surgery. WHAT!?!?!? Everyone who has this surgery goes home after, even those with worse cardiac issues than Brady. The nurse said it would be up to cardiology after the surgery, but pack a bag just in case. Again, whatever is best for Brady, but I didn't even know this was a possibility. I spent sometime on the phone then juggling where to send Michael off to now. I got home that night at 7:30 after hitting the store on the way, exhausted.

The next morning we headed out, and everything went smoothly, more or less. They had to wait for a cardiac anesthesiologist which put us about an hour behind schedule, but the anesthesiologist we had was FABULOUS and spent extra time with him. Brady himself did great - with no food for eight hours and only an ounce of apple juice three hours before surgery, he was not crabby or cantankerous. He sailed through with flying colors and recovered very well, sleeping most of the time in the recovery room and eating a popsicle or two. We were able to be cleared to go home 4-1/2 hours after surgery when they saw everything was fine cardiac-wise and anesthesia-wise. He actually does very well with the anesthesia, not getting sick or crabby. He just slept. We got home about 7:30 again, he drank a little juice, then went back to sleep for the night. I was so glad to be home!

He was a little constipated the day after surgery - I didn't realize it could be a side effect to the anesthesia (you remember, the surgical coordinator did not do a great job). I will just remember to give him Glycolox after he wakes up from surgery in the future. His eyes were only a little red after, and three days later they are still red in the center, and will be for another week or more. His eyes seem rounder for some reason, maybe just because he is more aware of what he's looking at now (my girlfriend said, "yeah, now he sees how ugly we are all now!" LOL). Every day I notice a little more interest in him and his surroundings. We go back to ophthamology in two weeks for a follow-up, but I think it turned out great. (except trying to get this ointment in his eyes twice a day - ack!!! Impossible!!)

Funny how the biggest pain was the day BEFORE the surgery. Just aggravation~ especially since it was all stuff I COULD have known beforehand. I can work with whatever is thrown at me, but if you KNOW I have to go to Pre-Op, can you give me more than three hours notice when I am 45 minutes away from my house? All that matters, of course, is Mr. Brady and see how great he is: