Heart Surgery & The Lesson

Andi bean's heart surgery is scheduled.  This next Wednesday, August 25th, first case.  I've been told that means 7 a.m.  Whether you're religious or not, it's time to conjure up some good vibes for our lil' bean.  Anytime you have a surgery, it's scary.  Throw into the factor that it's a three month old baby, scary doubles.  Add in that it's on a vital organ, ugh... scary times infinity.

Andi's heart defect is pretty complicated.  She has a complete AV Canal defect.  Two holes in her heart. One hole in the upper chamber, one hole in the lower chamber.  She also has a valve that is currently one large one, that needs to be divided into two smaller ones. It's pretty intense.  Here's a link if you want to see an explanation of the AV Canal defect:

http://www.childrenshospital.org/az/Site521/mainpageS521P0.html

I think waiting out the surgery is going to be very tough.  However, I actually think the night before will be much more traumatic.  The 'what if's' will likely torture us.  We've had to discuss the possibility of losing her. It is a possibility. Especially considering how young and small she is.  I imagine that night will be extremely difficult, but full of love and affection.  This baby is loved by many. She is strong.  She is a fighter.  And hopefully, she toughs out another surgery and blows the Dr's hair back and parts it with how resilient she is. 

I keep thinking how we said that raising a dog is a great precursor to parenthood of a child.  Potty training, manners-training a dog has to be much like feedings throughout the night, and soothing a crying baby. The funny thing is that we have a $10,000.00 dog and a multi-million dollar baby.  Our dog has had four surgeries.  One to neuter him.  Left TPLO (ACL surgery), Right TPLO, and one elbow surgery.  Now, here's Andi facing her fourth surgery.  Perhaps this will be our magic number with her too!?!  We'd be very lucky if that were true, as Cory read somewhere that a CHARGE baby is likely to have 10 surgeries by the time they're 5 years old.  Maddux, our dog, is worth every cent of those surgeries. Even the night I nursed him through his last surgery and he cried all night long.  It was one of the most difficult nights I've ever endured.  Just as Andi is worth every little bit, and then some.  I knew parenthood would be tough, but this is way beyond what I expected.

Someone mentioned that there's a lesson for us to learn through all this.  That sounds like something I would say too.  I think the lesson I need to learn is to not take anything for granted.  I always have.  Everything has always come rather easy to me, and I don't fully appreciate what I have or do, I just expect it.  I've always expected that things will work out. This past year has taught me that things don't always go as planned, and maybe I should stop and appreciate what I do have.  Hold onto it and savor it, as it might not be there tomorrow.  Wow, Tuesday night is definitely going to be tough.