Our Cup Overfloweth!

On the other blogs front: Ruby is going home today! YAYAYAYAYAY! I can't imagine how thrilled and terrified her mommy and daddy must be, but I bet they'll sleep tonight like they've never slept before...

As far as the Final Countdown to July 14th goes, we've had our last meeting and consent sign-off before Tuesday, this time with two anesthesiologists, one for me and one for Rafa. Both seemed like lovely, pleasant men who kept us well-informed about the risks involved as well as possible side effects. Rafa's anesthesiologist thinks it might even be possible to only use a VV ECMO machine instead of a VA ECMO machine, as we were told by Dr. Jennings.

What's the difference? With VV ECMO, the heart can actually participate in the pumping and transfer of blood (which, in theory, Rafa's can do because it's normal in shape and function), whereas VA ECMO is a complete heart-lung bypass machine. Regardless of which they choose, I'm just happy to hear that any of his doctors have enough faith in his own body to do what it's supposed to do.

Most heartening of all, Rafa's anesthesiologist said that it was all but a certainty that Rafa will come out of his repair surgery OK (remember that there are all kinds of caveats around this, as there are with any medical procedure). Mommy's latest fear has been that she'll go under for her own surgery and wake up to devastated faces. But I slept great last night, knowing that all of the machinery Rafa's attached to will keep him alive in a more reliable fashion than if you or I were to undergo the same surgery.

We'll receive a finalized day of surgery schedule today or Monday, as well as a last call from Big Ouiser to discuss the EXIT surgery from an OB's perspective. We're getting ready to storm the Bastille!