Courtney's Surgery Update

The surgery is scheduled for 1:15 PM today at Vanderbilt. We were supposed to be here by 11:15, but we got a call from the doctor's office stating that he was running ahead of schedule and asked if we could come on in. We packed the car and left about 10:10.

We got signed in and they called us back to holding by 11:00. Courtney changed into her gown and the doctor came by to speak with us. Judy, Christy, Grandmama, and Grandpapa are here to see her before she goes back to surgery. Our associate pastor also came by and had prayer with us.

OK. We are talking Vandy time, so if the doctor is running ahead of schedule, then that means that we may have the surgery close to the original time. :-) It is now 1:00 PM and she is next in line. They took the patient before her back for surgery about 15 - 20 minutes ago. She is doing well thus far talking with her visitors or playing with her new Ipod Nano that she got for Christmas.

2:00 - They just took Courtney back for surgery. They gave her the "sleepy" medicine about 30 minutes ago and she was resting well when they took her back. They expect the surgery to take about 3 hours. I will update as we get news throughout the surgery.

4:15 - Courtney is out of surgery. We just spoke with the anethesiologist and he said that she did great and is breathing well. They are going to keep the EKG on her for awhile just to keep an eye on her. We are waiting to speak with the surgeon now and find out when we can see her in Recovery.

We just spoke with the surgeon and he was very pleased with how the surgery went. He said that she will be uncomfortable for a couple of days and will not be able to eat, but otherwise everything went as well as could be expected. They have taken her to Recovery, but we are not able to go see her yet.

Thank you for your prayers.

7:00 - We have seen her in Recovery and they are working to get her pain under control. For precautionary measures, we will go to the PICU tonight (due to Courtney's history). We will be moving there in the next few minutes.

9:30 - Courtney got into her room in the PCCU about 7:15. We had to wait in the Family Room for about 45 minutes while they got her turned over to the new nurse. Kelsey went to eat while we were waiting. Jennifer went to eat while Kelsey was visiting and then I went to eat when she got back. I walked Kelsey back to her car at 9:00 so she could go to Lauren's house to spend the night. Courtney is now sleeping peacefully and we are relaxing in the room with her. We were able to get a Family Sleep Room, so one of us will sleep in the pullout chair in the room and the other will go to the sleep room. Our nurse is hoping for a very "uneventful" night that leads to her getting a good night's rest and feeling better in the morning.

I am going to try going into work tomorrow, but that will depend on how things are going here and how busy it is at work. I will start another post tomorrow to let everyone know how she is doing.

Thank you again for your prayer support. Now we are just praying for a successful recovery. We would like for it to be a speedy one, but really it is whatever is best for her.