Before daylight on Wednesday morning of last week (October 4th), Blake, Eliza and I were heading out again for another long medical day.

This appointment was scheduled way back in July when I called Shriners Children’s Hospital after Eliza’s local orthopedic surgeon let us know it was time to surgically intervene and repair Eliza’s right hip.

Not only did this appointment give us a second opinion about this surgery, but it also will allow the blessing of financial help with the cost of this surgery and the cost of the long hospital stay.

It took us almost four hours to get to the hospital in Minneapolis, but the drive wasn’t too bad.

The facility and the grounds are so beautiful, and tucked back in their own park like setting!

There is just something to be said for facilities that are for children only.

They are SO focused on THE CHILD – not just all of the medical stuff.

We walked into the waiting room, and Eliza got to make crafts while we waited for her name to be called!

Eliza has things like getting measured, weighed, and her blood pressure taken down pat.

Our appointments started at 10:00 a.m. and we saw a nurse, a physician’s assistant, a resident, the surgeon, a lab technician, another nurse, a care coordinator, and a social worker at a steady pace with no waiting in between each one.

We were finally ALL done at 1:30 p.m.

Eliza was AMAZING.

Really, really AMAZING.

They even drew five tubes of blood out of her arm and she didn’t even flinch!

She sang her ABC’s the whole time, because the lab tech asked her to.

I think she earned her new stuffed toy!

Eliza fell asleep for about the last hour of her appointments, but thankfully they did not need to wake her for anything.

After we were finished I told Eliza we would stop and buy her something because she was SO amazing!

She told us that she wanted a new shirt.

Ok!

A new shirt it is!

And she also found another stuffed animal too.

We ate some lunch out of our cooler in the Target parking lot, changed Eliza into her new shirt, and started the long drive home.

I got out the tablet for Eliza, and had brought lots of reading options for me!

And I wouldn’t want to forget this treat on the way home!

I will admit, I ordered a half-caf, but I normally don’t drink caffeine.

Just trust me when I say it was that kind of day.

Eliza will be having her surgery at Shriners Children’s Hospital.

We are waiting to hear when, but believe it will be the first Tuesday of November, the first Tuesday of December, or the first Tuesday of January.

The first Tuesday of each month is when the surgeon travels from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, to Shriners in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to do surgeries.

We will have a four night stay at Shriners for this surgery – one night before surgery for pre-op stuff, and a three night stay in the hospital for Eliza after surgery.

Eliza will be in her body cast for a minimum of four weeks, but a maximum of eight weeks.

We learned lots and lots of other details about the ins and outs of this surgery too.

It’s going to be a challenging time, but I am just anxious to get it done and behind us!

Have I ever mentioned how thankful we are for the team of great people we have to care for Tate and Eliza?

It should be mentioned again anyway!

SO THANKFUL.

We feel SO loved at these appointments and with all that our precious cherubs endure!

I know we will be able to look back at Eliza’s upcoming surgery and say the same thing again.