Dallas Surgery

                I’m in Dallas sitting in the family waiting room at Children’s Medical Center.  20 minutes ago the doctors and nurses attending Flint’s surgery got him all hooked up and ready to go, and then they gave us a moment to say goodbye to him. I did not hold back the tears as I took one last look at him without his shunt in.  I have a real love/hate relationship with this shunt.  I’m SO grateful they can do it, but I HATE that he needs it.  Several times over the last few days, the words of Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables have jokingly run through head: “What do you think a mother would feel like if she found her child tattooed all over with a baking powder advertisement?”  While it makes me laugh a little, I think of that quote with relation to Flint’s shunt.  I hate the fact that he is being permanently outfitted with something foreign in his body.  I realize that this is such a small challenge compared to those that others face, but it’s still more than what I would want for my child to have to deal with.

                Other than that, I feel very at peace with the surgery and the outcome of it.  Our experience here has been wonderful, and it all started with the wonderful Life Flight crew yesterday.  Our NICU nurse in Amarillo had told us that we’d get a call sometime Sunday morning, letting us know when the Life Flight would be there to get Flint.  Brock went to his church meetings and I stayed home with the kids to wait for the call and make sure everything was in order.  At about 9:20, the NICU called and told us they’d be there in about an hour and that we should head up to the hospital.  I texted Brock and told him it was time.  At that moment, Brock was standing at the pulpit in church, announcing the speakers for sacrament meeting.  When he sat down and saw my text, he showed it to his two counselors, got up to leave, and quickly drove home.

                Soon after he arrived home, the NICU called back and said the Medevac team had an emergency run they had to make somewhere else, so we would be delayed a bit.  They would call when they were actually on their way.  Meanwhile, my parents arrived from San Antonio, so we all relaxed and waited…and waited…and waited.  FINALLY at about 4:00, we decided that Brock had better get on the road.  We originally thought we could both fly with Flint, but after realizing just one of us could, we decided that Brock would drive over and meet us in Dallas.  We were hoping the kids would get a peek at Flint, and Brock wanted to be there to see that, but we knew if he waited any longer, he wouldn’t get to Dallas until VERY late. Right about the time he decided to drive, the NICU called and told us the Medevac team would be there at 6:00.  Brock got in the van and headed for Dallas while Mom and Dad, the kids, and me had dinner and got ready to head to the hospital. 

                The Medevac crew arrived at the hospital a little after we did, and I was immediately impressed by their kindness. We went to Flint’s room and they spent about half an hour getting him all situated and ready to go.  I lost it for a little at this point, as the reality of everything kept setting in.  The nurses and staff were SO sweet and tender with me and I’m so grateful for their goodness at a difficult time.  I also explained to them that my four older kids hadn’t yet met Flint, and they were waiting in the hall with my parents. When I asked if there was any way that we could slow down and let them take a quick look at Flint on the way out, they immediately reassured me that they would not only slow down, but they would even stop and get Flint out so the kids could really see him.  I can’t tell you how relieved and excited I was for this!  I have been hoping for so long (and so have the kids) that there could be some way for them to see Flint before he got the shunt in.  No one was able to tell me for sure if it would be possible, so when they were so willing to make time for them to meet, it just warmed my heart!

                Once they wheeled him out of the NICU, the kids finally got their chance to meet.  The nurse took him right out of his case and let the kids take their time saying hi.  Flint was WIDE AWAKE and just stared at his big sister and brothers, and they stared right back.  They were all pretty enamored with each other.  It was so sweet, and you can’t tell me that Flint didn’t know EXACTLY who those kids were.  This will always be a favorite memory for me!

    Finally it was time to go so I kissed everyone goodbye and followed the medevac team and my son down the hall, into the elevator, out of the hospital, and into the ambulance.  We took a short drive to the airport and then got on a TEENY plane, flew to Dallas, got on another ambulance, and arrived here at the Children’s Medical Center. 

                Once here, I met up with Brock and they just oriented us to the NICU and got Flint all squared away.  They wouldn’t let him eat until after his surgery, so he was pretty fussy last night and even fussier this morning. While I have felt bad for Flint being so hungry, I’ve also been in heaven because the NICU here encourages lots of holding, whenever you want, so we’ve been cuddling with Flint all morning.  It’s been wonderful  to hold him and love him and I can’t wait to keep snuggling him the whole time we’re here!

                We had an experience this morning on our way into the hospital though, that I wanted to share.  There is a check-in desk as soon as you walk into this hospital.  You have to check in each time you come to the hospital and they check your ID and print off a name badge for you.  There was one line to stand in, and you just wait for the next available worker to check in.  When it was our turn, Brock and I stepped towards the worker, but before we could get there another man stepped in front of us with his mom.  You could tell he had already checked in, but was now escorting his mother to the desk to do the same thing. It wasn’t a big deal to us that he cut us off, so we just stepped back to the line.  His mother saw what happened and started apologizing  to us.  We told her it wasn’t a big deal and she said “I’m so sorry he did that!  I’m so sorry!  It’s just that his son is about to have brain surgery so he’s a little out of it!”  I just looked at the lady and said “Yes, our son is about to have brain surgery too, and he’s only 3 weeks old.” She looked a little shocked when I said this and then she said “Oh, bless you.”  I just smiled back and said “Bless us all!” 

                I just thought this was such an interesting experience and it taught me a lot.  We really weren’t bugged by what happened, but I found it so interesting that she was justifying her son’s behavior by assuming that he was in a more difficult situation than we were in.  I realized how often we ALL do this!  We are so caught up in our own tough time and fail to see that there are so many others around us suffering in their own way, and often the other situation is WAY worse than what we are going through.  I have been reminded constantly through this, that everyone has hard times and there is always someone who has it worse. 

                I think that’s it for now.  We still haven’t heard how the surgery is going, but they told us they’d let us know as soon as it’s done.  We’re feeling very peaceful but will be even more happy when Flint is with us again and his surgery is over.