let the countdown begin!!!!!!

i got a call from the HSC surgical co-ordinator yesterday. there's a funny story about it, but first, the good news:

asher's surgery is scheduled for March 2.

the fontan.

asher's ONLY surgery.

no mention of arch reconstruction. just the fontan. i still want to vomit, but it's a happy vomit, so it's good. one surgery instead of two. ECMO (by-pass) instead of circulatory arrest. planned surgery only instead of fixing unforeseen problem AND planned surgery. it's almost too good to be true!!

and now the funny story:

ok, so she called yesterday as asher and i were heading in to emerg in london. asher had had several blue spells in less than 24 hours, which was a marked increase over his usual one every few days. so she asked if i had a paper and pen handy, and i said, "well, actually, we're on our way to the hospital right now, so no."

"oh, to sick kids?" she asked.

"no, children's in london. we're going to emerg."

"oh, no! what's going on?"

"oh, nothing big. just a few blue spells."

to which she replied... get ready for this... "ok, i'm writing all this down. now, these blue spells, has he ever had them before, or is this something new for him?"

i'll give you a minute to stop laughing. (don't feel bad. i literally laughed out loud when she asked that!)

so i said, "no, he gets them all the time, but he's had several more today than usual, so i'm taking him in."

"well," she said, "make sure they check him out thoroughly, do everything they're supposed to do. they need to get to the bottom of this."

i'm not going to tell her that we waited in the waiting room, then they put us in ambulatory care, where they gave him a quick listen, check his BP, and sent us home. (which makes it sound like a quick trip. we were actually there for 4 hours or so. and his sats were fine, his BP was a bit low in triage, but it was fine later before we left. and we're NEVER in ambulatory care. i think this was the first time asher's ever been in there.)

so there you go. surgery date and a trip to emerg. all in all, a normal day in our world. :)