Here's the scoop

Ok...so it took me a few days to wrap my mind, and heart, around this. I am going to have surgery. A not so fun surgery. I have been in denial about the seriousness of my heart going into A-fib. I have been having an "out of body experience", as a dear friend described it, telling myself this sort of thing doesn't happen to me. But it does...and it is.

The mini maze is not as avasive as having your chest cracked, but it is still evasive. They will make 3 cuts on each of my sides, one under my arm and two down each side and front part of my chest for cameras and tubes etc. They will deflate my lung, one at a time as they work on one side at a time to prevent the need (hopefully) for the heart/lung machine, and he will use this claw like device to go in and burn around the blood line leading from my lungs to my heart. The device wraps around the vein so it is a complete burn all the way around. This will prevent some of the wrong nerve stimulations from getting through. Then he will take another device and test the 10 pathways of nerve travel on my heart and stimulate each of them to 1000 beats per minute to see where some of the wrong electrical pathways are coming through. He then will burn those areas and then re-test to make sure the burn will accomplish it's job. This will give a 90% chance of a cure rate...meaning no more A-fib...and no more chance of a stroke because of A-fib. He also will staple shut a little pocket (lobe?) on the atria that is where the blood can pool during A-fib and cause the clots that can cause the strokes. This pocket is simliar to appendix, in that it doesn't have a *major* part to play in the body's function, however it does control a small amount of hormone production that Dr. Affleck said it is ok to function without. The surgery itself (not counting pre-op/post-op) takes about 3-4 hours. He said that for my hospital stay after surgery to plan on 3 days, but I could come home after one. It just depends on how I do and how the surgery goes. Recovery sounds like it varies as well. No lifting anything for a week, but he wants me up and walking often asap to get my lung function back. He said return to normal activity is up to me. (Though he said he had a Raider's team member going snowboarding a week later - dang I wish I were *that* in shape! A week recovery sounds good to me!)

I am starting to feel more like this is real. I am starting to feel the need to plan and prepare. I cannot get his office manager to answer the phone or return my calls yet...I wonder if she is out of the office for holiday... so monday I am calling again like crazy. The funding is going to be the tricky part I think. No insurance...with no one willing to take us because of Jess' diabetes, my heart & thyroid, and the kids asthma sucks. I keep holding to the faith that Heavenly Father wanted Jess out running his own company...that we are doing the right thing... and so He must have a plan to make this all work out as well. I know it must be so. The kids getting on CHIP this summer was HUGE... but still almost $600 each month just for Jess and my regular meds is tough. Like I have said before...others go into debt/spend money for fun stuff... we just do it to stay alive! :D

A dear friend of mine called this morning. She wants to have a Chocolate Fest fund raiser. I could not stop crying! What a fun idea! What a sweet idea! (literally) It's all sureal.... One day at a time... that is how I have to process all of this. Lots of Prayer.... and one day at a time.