Sadie's Story ~ Part 1

Many have been asking for this, so here it is. I will post it in a few different installments. I hope that our story will be able to help reach out God's hand and touch someone's life.

Tuesday May 11th. We left home around 2:30 for Kansas City. I begged Craig to let me drive up there, but he has a complex about letting me drive long distance. I'm not a bad driver. (No comments here Josh...lol) Maybe it makes him feel husbandly or something. Who knows.

Our first stop would be at Benton, Kansas to meet up with my mom & dad. They were generous enough to offer to stay in Kansas City with us while Sadie had her surgery. The plan was for them was to head home after Sadie was up and around. Probably on Thursday. After meeting up with them we headed up to our hotel in KC. Sadie did very well with the car ride. She slept for the first hour. The rest of the trip was spent listening to the radio and eating Cheetos & Reeces Pieces. She was headed in for surgery...she could have whatever she wanted! :)

We got to KC around 6:30 and checked into the Hyatt. It was the closest hotel to Children's Mercy Hospital. The staff was awesome!! We told them our situation with Sadie and they were more than willing to work with us. They gave us discounted rooms, waved parking fees and always asked mom & dad how Sadie was doing. Wonderful people there!! After checking in it was on to Crown Center for dinner and back to the room to relax a bit. Sadie ate a few chocolate chip cookies and watched one of her Baby Einstein DVD's. Love those things. Sadie ate her last cookie and drank her last sip of milk at 9:30. No more for her until after surgery.

I didn't sleep well at all that night. I was up at 3:10 writing down questions and just going crazy with knots starting to form in my stomach. At 6:40 I finally woke Craig up and we gave Sadie her last dose of Flovent (asthma medication) and gave her a shower. We checked out of the Hyatt (Craig & I - Mom & Dad stayed there the whole time they were in KC) and headed over to Mercy Hospital and checked into Same Day Surgery. All surgeries have to check in here reguardless of whether or not they are expecting a hospital stay. Her check in time was scheduled for 8:30. Those that know me shouldn't be surprised that we were there and checked in at 7:40. :) Craig & I were ready to get this thing over with. The wait wasn't too long. At 8 they called Craig, Sadie & I back to check her vitals, weigh her and talk with all the 5 doctors that wanted to see us. Mom & Dad had to wait out in the waiting room until it was time to take Sadie to surgery. Sadie's weight was 9.7 kg. (Please dont' ask what that is in pounds...I have no idea.) All of her vitals looked great. We waited in room 11 for the doctors to start filing in.

The first to come was an Anesthia Nurse Prationer. She asked lots of basic questions about Sadie's health history and what not. Next the actual Anesthiaologist came in to explain our choices of medication during surgery. They offered us the option of giving Sadie and epidural. Craig & I weren't comfortable with it. There were too many risks and complications for us. We opted for IV drip medication along with gases through a mask for inital sedation. She would get the mask as soon as she was brought back for surgery. After she was asleep they would draw blood and put in IVs. We were relieved that she would be feeling any pain.

Next were Dr. Ostlie and his fellow Trish. They marked her right lung with a purple "x" and explained her surgery. He said that the blood work done before her surgery would take some time. Blood would also be prepared in case she needed a blood transfusion. He planned on going in thorascopicly (sorry about the spelling) first and then make a 2 inch incision if the need arised. That would be the case if he felt that the surgery was taking a little too long. Surgery would last 2-3 hours. He expected us to go home Friday morning.

Sadie feel asleep shortly after that. At 10 they brought Mom & Dad back and we walked Sadie to the hallway where I had to hand her off for surgery. Cindi is the name of the nurse that took her. She didn't wake up when I handed her over. We kissed her good bye and told her good luck. I cried. I was scared. We had no idea what we were in for. It would be a long day. Lots of tears. Lots of praying and pleading with God. We didn't have any idea that things would get as rough as they did. To Be Continued.....