Surgery Prep. . .

Pre-Op checks began at 6:30 a.m. this morning and continued all morning long.  Everyone was concerned about the fever last night, and wanted to make sure he was alright this morning.  About 10 a.m. all of the teams had cleared Brendan for surgery, including ID (infectious disease who is monitoring his meningitis infection).

 Brendan woke up this morning feeling pretty good -- although hungry! (You know you're always hungry when you know you can't have anything to eat.)  They already had the dreaded "NPO" (which stands for something like non per oral--which means nothing to eat or drink by mouth in medical jargon) on the door.

Getting ready for surgery means a bath or shower, clean gown, sheets & bedding, and an extra special antiseptic wipe down.

It was a little hard keeping Brendan occupied this morning so he wouldn't think about surgery or how hungry he is!  A Star Wars lego game seemed to help the best.

 This morning it was our turn to be the recipient of the blood draws.  Shaun and I agreed with Brendan to participate in a genomic research study of pediatric cancer by Dr. Schiffman at the Huntsman Cancer Institute.  Apparently Dr. Schiffman had cancer as a child and wants to determine why some kids get cancer and some don't.  (Believe me, Shaun wasn't as excited as he looks about getting stuck with a needle!)

11:45 a.m. came and went.  Then 12:30 p.m. (when the anesthesiologist told us they would be ready), then 1 p.m., and finally someone came to get Brendan at 1:30 p.m.

 By this time, Brendan had a terrible headache again and was feeling miserable.

 Back to the operating room staging area.

 The anesthesiologist was finally able to give Brendan some pain medication and start a sedative.

 The doctors  (the ENT doctor and his residents and 2 head and neck surgeons from the Huntsman Cancer Institute) were finally assembled and it was time to go.

The surgery started just after 2:30 p.m. and is expected to last 4-8 hours.  We received the first call from the OR nurse saying all was going well and they will call back in a few hours to give us another update.  We'll let you know. . .