Off to surgery

Sophia was in a very upbeat mood last night and pleased at the cards, gifts, and so on that she has received from loved ones. In spite of such a life changing event, she wanted to go to bed and fell asleep easily. (That's Sophia.)

This morning at 4:40 a.m., she got up, scrubbed down with anti-bacterial soap and I washed her scalp like crazy. We made it at 5:35 (only 5 min. past our check in time, which I blame on the fact that there is no valet parking until 9 a.m.) Then the usual waiting, prep, more prep, filling out forms, and more prep. Sophia had Versed (sp?) and Tylenol before she left for surgery. By the time the anesthesiologist came to talk to us, she was so loopy that one of her responses to his question was, "I lay eggs."

Sophia's hospital garb
 It was a serious work out to get those thigh-high compression hose on her legs

She was off to surgery at about 7:40. She didn't want me to leave so that was really hard. Knowing how great they have been with her during past procedures definitely helps. Oh, when we were waiting in pre-surgery, my cousin (Dr. Butterfield) just happened to see me when he was walking by and came in to give hugs and wish us well. That definitely brightened my morning.

 

So apparently, what they are doing now is called... oh boy, I forgot what they called it, but it's not the mapping. Whatever the term is, they are removing a skull flap and placing electrodes on the brain. (Left temporal lobe.) The mapping is what they do during the next few days (hopefully fewer as opposed to more). They need to observe what happens when Sophia has a seizure and they need to see at least 3. With all of this information they can "map" as precisely as possible where the locus of the seizures occurs.

I'm here in The Night Shift coffe shop on the IMC campus enjoying some good tunes (I hear Florence & the Machine currently) and a hot beverage. The waiting room had non-stop election coverage. Will that really help people stay calm while waiting for loved ones in surgery?!? Terrible environment for peace. Plus all of their complementary snacks have gluten. So I would have been stuck listening to annoying commenary and staring Lorna Doone's feeling bad that I can't ever eat that delicious cookie again.

Well, it's been an hour, so I'm going to check in and see how things are going.