These Three Miracles: Pre Cath day at Le Bonheur

Monday we spent the afternoon at Le Bonheur. Luckily my mom was still here because Eli and Susanna got the same fever virus that Madeline had, so my mom was able to stay with them while we went to the doctor and the cath lab tour. The most important thing we learned was that Madeline's cough and fever were too significant to go through with the cath on Oct. 12. Our new cath date is Oct. 19.

Here is Dr. Wetzel listening...

He explained his part of the cath so well. We learned a lot fromthis visit. First, that 90% of people born with WPW Syndrome outgrow it by the time they are five. Since Madeline has not outgrown it, she is a candidate for the ablation. During theEP study, he will look at how complex and dangerous her pathway is. If it does not cause a problem when they speed up the atria (don't know how they do that, and don't really want to know), then he will leave everything. If the extra charge is easy to pinpoint he will either freeze or heat it to kill the tissue - that is an ablation. Amazing and kind of scary to think about all this going on while her heart is beating.

Ms. Johnnie has done Madeline's EKG's ever since she was a baby.

We love Ms. Johnnie!

Ms. Jennifer is Dr. Wetzel's nurse, but was also Dr. Joel's nurse for a while. We love Ms. Jennifer, too!

The Cath Lab tour! This is Mrs. Lauren from Child Life! She is wonderful and also helped us prepare Madeline before the cath two years ago. She loves Lauren, and this was a great familiar, loving friend to introduce her to the new hospital places! Our first stop was Bunny Lane .... this is where she will pick out a toy before the cath.

This beautiful tile was painted by Madeline's Art Stew Camp teacher, Ms. Whendy! It was moved from the old Le Bonheur hospital. It looks great in Bunny Lane!

Here is the waiting/play room for pre-op. Looks like lots of fun!

Here is where she will have a bed to wait before the cath and watch tv or hang out/read books if she doesn't want to play in the play room.

Here is the toy closet for the cath lab. Only cath kids get to pick TWO toys!!! She was very excited about this!

Looking in the door of the cath lab.

Mrs. Lauren showed Madeline all the fragrance choices for her sleepy medicine. She chose CHERRY this time! Bubble gum and grape have been her past choices - it's fun to see her get so excited about what she is going to smell before she goes to sleep. At the same time, it is sad that she is so used to this type of decision.... Over the years we have gotten desensitized - but when we stop and think about it, it makes us sad to realize the "normal" of her life involve anesthesia smells.

Explaining Madeline's 3 jobs - choose a toy from Bunny Lane, smell her Cherry sleepy medicine, and drink an ICEE when she wakes up!

This is Dr. Waller. He was so kind to us when we ran into him in the cath lab. He answered Madeline's questions about what he is going to do and assured us that he would take good care of her!

This is Ms. Dena. She is the nurse who is the clinical manager of the cath lab. She is so sweet and showed us all around inside the cath lab room. Ms. Dena really put us at ease when she explained that Tim and I can hold Madeline's hand as she goes to sleep in the lab! So, we get to be the last people she sees before she falls asleep and the first people she sees when she wakes up in the PACU - recovery.