The Mommy Blog of Sharon Swan: Sarah the Brave & Fabulous

Yesterday, Sarah Bear had her 3rd heart cath operation! She was so brave for a little four year old girl. She makes me so proud! I fully expected and would have been okay with her crying and being upset, but she woke up and said "It's time to go to HOUSTON!" She's a little fighter and she KNOWS she needs help to fix her little heart.
I was very nervous the night before. She started coughing with allergies on Thursday night and by the middle of the night, she coughed so hard that she made herself throw up! (alllllll over mommy!) It was 3:26 a.m. and I was up waiting for a cardiologist to call me back to let me know if they thought they would still do the surgery or not. Because we were relatively certain the cough was from allergies and the throwing up was from the cough....they said we had a green light and to come on so we did!

We arrived at Texas Children's about 9 a.m. We checked in and went through the process of getting everything set and they got us into the waiting area for her surgery in less than 30 minutes! Then, we waited. For several hours. But it was fine! Sarah was entertained ....and she was entertaining as well! She loved all the attention she was getting!

I was so glad that she was happy! Knowing what she was fixing to go through made me sick at my stomach, but she was still smiling! My brave little one! She asked me earlier in the week if she would get a "treat" for having surgery! I told her YES! What would you like? Simple....

Lip Gloss.

So, she got some lip gloss AS SOON as she woke up from surgery! She was saying "Do I look fabulous now?!" Yes, baby.............you always look fabulous! :) She is our Sarah....the Brave & Fabulous!

She got to wear her custom made hospital gown for a while until it was time for surgery. Then, they made us take it off because it may get blood on it. It was fine. They let her have one with froggies on it and she LOVES frogs! When they give her the anesthesia, it is in 3 stages. Stage 1 is a tiny cup of cherry flavored juice that is called the "amnesia medicine". Once she drinks it, she will remember nothing from that point on. THANK GOD!!!!

About 5 minutes after drinking it, I looked at her and she had little tears running down her cheeks. I sat with her and held her hands and she gripped mine so tight and said "I don't want to go to sleep, Mommy." I cried after the nurse reminded me....she won't even remember THIS part. So, then I knew it was okay for mommy to cry too! Thankfully, because I couldn't hold it much longer! Finally, she began to drift off and they told her she could go with them and breathe "strawberry air". At this point....she didn't mind. She just laid there and they rolled her out. The cutest thing she did say before going to sleep was when we told her that she could take "Barry" her teddy bear with her into surgery. I told her that Barry was going to make sure everything was okay and go with her. She said "But he's not a doctor....he's just my teddy bear!" It was so sad and precious at the same time!

We then made the dreaded walk to the waiting room where I tried to appear strong for Jason's sake. We waited for 1 hour for an update. They called and said everything was going smoothly and they had the iv's and the cath tubes in and they were about to begin. They had to go in from 2 locations because of the way her sytem is routed. She had a cath through her neck and the inside of her thigh. I was worried about the incision on her neck for some reason but it turned out that it was smaller than a grain of rice! No stitches! Yea!

She breezed through the cath in less than 2 1/2 hours. We then went to the recovery room to wait for her to wake up. They told us she would be upset when she woke up, but she wasn't. She just said "I took a nap." and then a few minutes later she said "Am I wearing a DIAPER!?"
She couldn't quite figure out WHAT had happened and she quickly became aware of all the tubes, wires, iv's, etc. (what we lovingly called her "attachments'") She started telling the nurses, "I have 3 of these on....take one off". LOL We knew she was going to be FINE at that point! Then, I handed her the lipgloss, we got her a Happy Meal from McDonald's downstairs and she had a popcicle and we got to go home! Easy!

It was a lonnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggg day, but she did great! We should hear from her cardiologist within the next few weeks with information about when they will want to do her next (and hopefully last) open heart surgery! It will be within 6 months, though! Almost done! Yea! We are so ready to get this chapter of our lives behind us so we can move on with her little life without "upcoming surgeries"!

Yesterday, we could feel the love, prayers, and support from friends and family and even people we've never met from all over the country! Everyone was pouring out to us with notes on facebook, phonecalls, text messages, etc. I felt so thankful! It was an awesome feeling to know that we were being lifted up in prayer in so many places! Thank you to everyone who has supported us and helped us through! Even if you weren't sitting beside us in the waiting room, we could feel your presence all day! We are so blessed!

Sarah & I decide to take a few photos before the anesthesia team showed up!

Sarah working on some puzzles.

Getting my last eskimo kisses before surgery! This is our special thing! She and I are Eskimo Kissers!!!!

This is Beth! She is on the CV-Anesthesia team! She has known and loved Sarah since the day she was born and taken to TCH! Beth has been with her in EVERY SINGLE surgery procedure....even ear tubes which is NOT her area! But she came and was by our side! She is an angel and we always know we are loved when we are there! THANK YOU BETH!!!!!! We are so thankful for you!