Selah's Surgery Monday Morning

Selah's brain surgery is scheduled for Monday morning (March 14) at 6AM at Dell Children's Hospital in Austin.  (Well, her arrival time is 6AM, so surgery will probably be around 7:30AMish.)  Selah's original doctors (who took care of her from birth) are at Dell, so we chose to stick with those specialists.  We LOVE Methodist Children's Hospital, but Matt really didn't want to go back there for Selah's surgery, simply because of the myriad of memories and emotions that would go hand in hand with another surgery there.  For me, it would be a familiar place with familiar people (who I happen to LOVE), but I completely understand and respect Matt's feelings.  We also really like the neurosurgeon who will be doing Selah's surgery, so we pray everything will be just fine.  With all of Selah's upcoming surgeries, the staff at Dell will also become very familiar to us, and I have a feeling we'll like them just as much as everyone at Methodist.  (Maybe! :-)  I have to say that no one will be able to ever compare to Dr. Porisch (Chrissie's cardiologist), and since she wouldn't be taking care of Selah anyway, it feels OK to be at a different hospital. 

I plan to take my laptop and update everyone on how Selah is doing as much as possible.  I hope to regularly post prayer requests, praises, and updates, just as I did with Chrissie.  Matt and I will be at the hospital together all day Monday, and, depending upon how Selah does, Matt may spend the night at our house Monday night, but that will only happen if Selah is stable and not in ICU.  I will stay by Selah's side 24/7, and I feel so grateful that I'm able to do so.  Our kids ROCK.  The older kids do a fabulous job of running the house/family/ranch in our absence, and it's such a blessing to have Stephanie (our awesome teacher/friend) and her two girls (who are home from college for Spring Break) to help run the show as well. 

I have found that my two main stress relievers are eating chocolate/sweets and shopping.  I do not recommend either as a healthy way of handling stress!  Why oh why couldn't I love to exercise to reduce stress?!?  The other day, Ella (our 6 year old) said, "Mommy, you are getting bigger, but not taller."  I started cracking up.  She looked at me with bewilderment as I almost wet my pants from laughter, and then I said, "Ella, that's such a nice way to say that your mommy is getting fat!"  It still makes me laugh out loud, even as I type this.  Gotta love the honesty of a six-year-old, from the mouths of babes.  I read recently that just smelling chocolate can help people to feel happy, but somehow just smelling it doesn't do the trick for me!  So, how do you think I spent my day today as I waited for the hospital to call to tell me when Selah's surgery would be?  Shopping and eating chocolate, of course!  I didn't even buy much, but I aimlessly wandered through aisle after aisle of several stores, which wasn't a very good way to manage my time, but it did the trick of helping me not to worry about Miss Selah and all of the what-if's. 

I've been so very blessed by all of the comments and prayers you all have sent us.  God is so good to surround us with such awesome support.  Thank you all for caring about our family and for praying.  We are more grateful than I could ever express!!!