Surgery Tomorrow - We Hope

Max's cleft palate repair is scheduled for tomorrow. We have been focused on this date for several weeks now and have rearranged our lives accordingly. We may be rearranging. Sunday morning Ellie woke up with a fever, congestion, and a sore throat. I'm guessing it's H1N1 since it's been working it's way through her school. We knew that if Max got any signs of illness he wouldn't be able to have his surgery. So, we started Ellie on Tamiflu immediately and Max got started on prophylaxis. Jason and I also took the prophylaxis. I can't imagine being down with this and trying to take care of Max post-operatively. Or one of us being sick and the other one having to take care of him by themself. So far so good. Ellie has been fever free since about 6am this morning, and Max, Jason, and I aren't showing any signs of the illness. We've gotten the green light for surger as long as Max is symptom free for the next 18 hours, so keep us in your prayers.

This is suck a yucky virus. Ellie hasn't been this sick in a long time. Thankfully she's tolerating it really well. Going to sleep has been difficult due to the congestion, but she went to sleep much easier tonight. Also, she's woken up at about 5:30 the last two mornings with a low grade fever and "feeling funny". I'm hoping she can get a better night's rest tonight because she does seem really fatigued.

The other kicker is that our nanny called me about 3 hours after getting to our house this morning. She had a fever, splitting headache, and was vomiting. I had to drive home to relieve her until my mom could get here to watch the kids while I tried to get a whole week's worth of work done in one day. Thank you mom. Yes, she's now on prophylaxis as well. I know these are not the CDC guidelines for treatment, but I've already seen too many young people die from this illness this season and I'll be darned if I'm going to let any of my family members be one of those patients. Plus, I think Max's surgery puts us in a special risk category.

I think Grandma had an interesting day with the kids. Ellie is such a creative soul that a day with her is never boring. When Grandma got here Ellie was modeling the dress she had made with tape, markers, and paper. I wish I would have gotten a picture of it, but she got frustrated with the tape and ripped it off before I could. Ellie also made a bowling set with paper, tape, and an apple. I have pictures of the bowling pins, but the apple was toast by the time I made it home. Finally, when I got home, Ellie decorated the birthday cake she had made for Jason. His birthday was yesterday and we got it baked, but with all of the illness it didn't get decorated and eaten until today. The design on the cake should you not be able to recognize it is a forklift just like at daddy's shop. She came up with that idea and implemented it herself.

So, now that both kids are in bed I'm starting to pack for the hospital tomorrow. I won't be able to finish until tomorrow since alot of what I need is in Max's room. I've got our DVD player and videos, the computer (once I finish using it) and charger, my phone and charger, some toys and books, a sippy cup and a regular cup. I need to add some clothes and personal items and my very important kindle and I'll be about ready. The surgery itself is going to be about 1:30pm. We need to be at the hospital at 12:30. I think it's going to be a long morning. Thankfully they're letting Max have clear liquids up until 10:30, but he can't have any solids after 1:30am and I'm not getting him up to feed him at that point. We just gave him a big dinner and cake. I think the surgery will take about 3 hours and then he'll be in recovery for a little bit. Grandma is going to watch Ellie until we get into a room and then Jason will come home to stay with her and I'll hang with Max at the hospital. As long as Max is taking liquids and oral pain medicine on Wednesday we should be able to come home late that afternoon. I'm already looking forward to that.