We arrived at the hospital at 6 a.m., after driving the requisite 3 times around the block to look for an unmetered available parking space. I had no expectation that we would find one but Ben just has to do it so I’ve stopped objecting. Next, we tried the garage but the machine was out of tickets, so we ended up with the valet, which was a whopping 10 bucks. Score one for the Greene Team.
We checked in at admissions, but the receptionist wouldn’t let us go upstairs even though we had been told to arrive at 6. He said they didn’t open until 6:30 or at least 6:15 and sent us to the admissions waiting room. A few minutes later I got a call from home saying that the hospital was looking for us, so I told the guy that we needed to go and he waved us through. The surgical center actually wasn’t open so we looked around until we found someone to let us in.
There are 5 waiting rooms with various types of activities (toys, books, TV), including one with food and coffee (yay – I grabbed a few Baileys nips last night so I can sneak into the bathroom and add one to my coffee). We saw Dr. Breuer on his way in, so Ben was able to meet him and Norah was able to get reaquainted.
They weighed Norah and took us into an exam room, where the radiologist came and explained her job and took Norah’s order for which smell she wanted in her mask (cotton candy). At one point there were 5 medical people plus us in a really small exam room, with Norah hiding behind the door. She wasn’t afraid, she was just fooling around. We met the OR nurse, the anesthesiologist and her resident, three other pre-op nurses, and saw Dr. Breuer again. He asked if there was anything else I wanted to discuss and I was like, “No! Let’s get it done! Watch out for those nerves and the parathyroids! Good luck! I hope you ate your Wheaties this morning! Go-go-go!!!”
The nurse gave Norah some Versat to make her sleepy, which actually made her drunk. I asked for some for myself but so far they haven’t come through on that. Norah put on some hospital pjs and a hair net, and I gowned up to go in with her. We walked down to the OR with the nurse, and I went in while they gave Norah the gas. I’m really glad I showed her photos of the OR and doctors with masks beforehand, because she wasn’t afraid. Maybe it was the Versat. It looked just like Grey’s Anatomy without the hanky-panky.
The resident lifted her onto the table, the anesthesiologist put the mask on her, and Norah started taking deep breaths. She got a tiny bit teary at one point, and right before she went under she started to struggle a bit. Luckily, two of my friends had warned me about this so I was ok. Then the nurse escorted me back to the waiting area and here we are. There are a lot of other families here too.
When it’s over, Dr. Breuer will come out and take us up to the PICU and explain how everything went. It has already been almost an hour, so I hope they’re getting some good work done in there. And if you’re wondering about my cracks…a dose of Clonazepam really takes the edge off.
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