One Week to Go

In one week, on August 1st, we will be flying to Edmonton for Susan's second open heart surgery in 7 years.  The original referral to Edmonton from St Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg was sent in early February.  We've been waiting a long time for this.  Waiting is not easy.

We received the news in early June that a date had been set for August 3rd, for the surgery.  It was nice to finally have a date but it also meant we had essentially two months to "kill" in anticipation of this date.  This has been a process of metaphorically watching the "kettle boil."  Our first reaction to the date in August was profound disappointment.  We were hoping to be done this "whole mess" by now.  When we were discussing plans in March and April we hoped we could have had this all done by the end of June but that wasn't to be.  I think our disappointment was based on the reality that we would likely lose a whole summer to a very persistent cardiac illness.  Susan would likely be house bound up until the surgery date and she would likely spend the balance of the summer recovering from surgery.  It would have been very easy to let this whole summer slip away.

Our "Holiday" Selfie.
On our way to the cabin at Riding Mountain National Park

Fortunately, we have been blessed by many outstanding people who have helped us make this summer a unique (if not enjoyable) experience.  We've been busy.  After school ended at the end of June we have tried to keep the kids busy doing as many activities as we could manage.  We were even able to spend a week at Clear Lake in Riding Mountain National Park last week.  This has become an annual event for our family.  I think I can speak for everyone that we all had a great time.  Russell was even able to pry himself away from "Minecraft" for a few days to enjoy some time at the lake.

Near Miss!
The damage done by a storm on July 20th

So here we are one week away from surgery.  Now our planning for Edmonton becomes a reality.  Unfortunately, we have some unexpected clean up to do before we go.  We had a storm hit our area while we were gone at the lake.  Everything is OK but we do have some damage to our trees and our back shed looks like it's roof may need some attention too.  It could have been a lot worse.

Our basic plan for our stay in Edmonton is in place.  Our flights are booked and accommodations are made.  I'm off work now until September, so things are falling into place.  The one big question mark in this whole process are the things we don't control.  The result of the surgery.  As much as we would like to think we are knowledgeable of this process; we are still very uncertain of the results.  Will this be a solution?  Probably not.

We hope this surgery goes as planned.  10-14 days in Edmonton and then a journey home to recover.  However, there is the possibility that things will not go as planned.  This is not a minor surgery and there are significant risks.  The extent of the surgery has not yet been planned.  There will be some decisions to be made in the operating room.  I'll explain some of the technical details in a future post but my understanding is that we are going to know a lot more on the afternoon of August 3rd, after the surgery is complete.

For now....the countdown is on.  7 days to go!