AJ was taken in to anesthesia at 10:30 eastern and we met with our surgeon. He walked us through the Norwood procedure, talked through the risks and reminded us that our odds in the procedure being successful are slightly better than a coin toss – 50-60%. In a normal kid, procedure odds are 90% – the Down’s syndrome and his older age make things more difficult unfortunately.
We did get cuddle time with AJ this morning before hand. We were able to hold him in a rocking chair. We were able to do that at the U of I as well, but he was quite a bit sicker then and we held him on a pillow. Today we got to hold him all bundled up, and he was even a little alert. Lasairiona got some pretty good pictures for us as well.
Aaron made a sign for his bed last night that features his Ellie he got at U of I and heart shaped blanket from the NICU at St Lukes….
And now the waiting game has begun – our lunch was delivered by jimmy johns on behalf of help-a-heart, which is good because I hadn’t ate yet aside from coffee. A friend of Las also dropped off some cheese and crackers. Our nurse will get us hourly updates and there’s a board in the family room that indicates where he’s at (in OR). And for now we just sit and try to keep busy while praying!