Scott and Susanne were supposed to be at the hospital at 7:30am for Paxton to check in for his final day of pre-op tests. Scott had set his alarm the night before for 6:00am so that there would be no question about whether everyone would be able to make it on time for his appointment. Unfortunately, the alarm never went off. Luckily, Susanne's eyes popped open around 7:20am. She woke up because she knew she had been asleep for too long. It was rare that she got more than four to five hours of sleep at a time so she knew something was up. Once her brain registered what time it was, she jumped out of bed in a panic. She then woke up Scott. He was in a state of confusion as well. As he was rushing around to get ready, he was trying to figure out why his alarm did not go off. All he could gather was that when he woke up at 1:00am to turn off Paxton's feeding, he must have accidentally turned off the other alarm he had set for 6:00am as well. It was very difficult to try to get it together when they both had not had enough time to fully wake up yet. Scott managed to be ready to leave before Susanne, so he offered to get a head start to the hospital. Even though it was Scott's first time at Children's Hospital in Boston, he felt confident that he would be able to find the check-in desk at the admitting office with no difficulty. Susanne took him up on this so that she could finish getting ready. To try to help expedite the process, Gigi and Poppy offered to bring over the remainder of Paxton's bags and some breakfast so that Susanne could get over to the hospital as soon as possible. Scott quickly discovered that finding the admitting office proved to be more of a challenge than anticipated. He went up and down elevators, through hallways, and around corners searching for where he was supposed to be. Finally, Scott's cell phone rang. It was Susanne calling from the check-in desk. She had been waiting for them and was wondering where they were. He was clearly lost. She explained to him how to get to where he needed to go. After about another five minutes, they finally showed up. Susanne was relieved. So much for getting a head start...
Their day started similar to last week's day of pre-op tests. They were first sent to radiology for a chest x-ray to evaluate the heart and lungs. Afterwards, they were sent to an exam room so a nurse could get Paxton's height, weight, and vital signs. In addition, they got a current blood pressure, ECG, and oxygen saturation level. Paxton's oxygen saturation level was reading in the mid-seventies. This was a little bit of a concern for the cardiologist, but somewhat to be expected as he continued to outgrow his shunt. The biggest question of the day was whether Paxton should be admitted to the hospital for monitoring overnight or to just be admitted tomorrow morning before the major procedure. Luckily, his oxygen saturation levels looked more stable later in the day and he didn't have to stay.
Throughout the day, they met with each member of Paxton's team of doctors. Scott got to meet the anethesiologist, cardiologist, and cardiac surgeon. He, along with Gigi and Poppy, had the opportunity to ask any questions that they had about the upcoming procedure and post-op care. Everyone felt more at ease after the multiple discussions they had with each of them. Their day was so jammed packed full of appointments that Scott and Susanne didn't even have time to sit down to eat their lunch. They actually had to eat in one of the exam rooms during one of Paxton's appointments.
At the end of the day, a research team met with Scott and Susanne to see if they would be interested in volunteering Paxton for a study on stress hyperglycemia after major surgery and the effects it has on healing time. Of course with their science backgrounds, they supported this because it could help advance medicine in the future. It felt like their own little way to give back to the medical team that had done such an amazing job thus far with Paxton's care.
After they wrapped up for the day, they met up with Chief J and Moppy at the nearby hotel. They all spent some time talking about the expectations for the big surgery day and the state that Paxton would be in afterwards.
They all decided to go out to dinner before turning in for the night. Susanne made sure to let the waitress know about her dietary restrictions before ordering her dinner. She always presented as if she had the true dairy and soy allergy so that they would take it seriously. Surprisingly enough, they still messed up. Even though she had made it clear to the waitress and the chef prior to placing her order about her special needs and the chef picked out the dish that would be safe for her to eat, the chef still served her a dish covered in cheese. Thankfully, Susanne caught it before she took the first bite. Susanne and Scott made sure to express their concerns to the manager because if Susanne truly had an allergy, it could have been a fatal mistake.
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