Full speed ahead

The transplant that delayed us this morning fell apart and the team moved quickly to get Riley ready for his surgery. Once he said goodbye to his siblings, bonus parents, and Grampy from the registration waiting area, he went into the pre-op suite where he shedded his civilian clothing for Mickey Mouse scrubs, plain blue hospital pants, and grippy yellow socks.

Numbing medication went onto his hands to prepare IV sites. He also received a large dose of Versed to help relieve some of his anxiety and despite it's miserable taste, he managed to keep it down with some distraction. One of the team members overhead that Riley likes the Giants and promptly handed over his iPhone so that he could watch some Giants' highlights. That relaxed him almost instantly...and I'm sure the Versed was already kicking in as well.

From there Ken and I gave him some hugs and the team rolled him out of there to get prepped for surgery. That was around 9:30 am. Dr. Hanley would go into the operating room a few hours later. The whole procedure should last less than nine hours, but we should get periodic updates from the team. We had the opportunity to meet briefly with Dr. Hanley just outside the family waiting room. He went over the complex procedure and talked a bit about chylothorax, which is something Riley has suffered from in the past. The takeaway is that he may get it, but it's unlikley. The biggest risk is that he comes out with a permanent pacemaker.