Pre-Op

Warning!!! Kind of a long post! :)

Here is Madi right before we left for the hospital @ 4:45 a.m. That's right...A.M.

( Please don't be a hater on how we all look. It was DANG early!! )

But I must say, Madi always looks beautiful!

Right before we left, we woke up the other kids to have a family prayer.
I'm sure they were thrilled to be woken up at 4:30.

The drive to Phoenix Children's was quiet. Too quiet.

Madi was deep in thought. I think it finally hit her.

I was nervous and sick to my stomach.

Mike was calm, cool and collected. He was cracking his dumb, cheesy jokes, and of course, he was the only one who was laughing at them. Gosh, I love that guy! :)

Once we were at the hospital we all mellowed out and felt calm. See people...Prayers really work! Madi's pre-op nurse was Sherri. She was awesome! Everyone here has been. Sherri was cute with Madi and made her feel so comfortable. She made Madi get dressed in the oh so stylish hospital garb. Lovely. She also had to wear some sweet looking tights!

Here's Madi being her cute, fun self posing for the camera in her to-die-for new outfit! The girl amazes me! She can still manage to have a good time no matter what her circumstances are! Man, I love her!

Here are a few shots for your viewing pleasure. Mike and I hamming it up with Mad dog while waiting to go back to surgery (for those of you that don't know, that is one of her many nicknames)

Here is her anesthesiologist, Dr. Serlin. A surgery patient's best friend! Can I just say how much we love him? Ok, good...We soooooo love him!!! He called the house the night before to talk with Mike and me and Madi. He just wanted to make sure we all knew that he was going to make sure that Madilyn was comfortable and, most importantly, SAFE! Then the morning of surgery he was just sweet and kind to her. Makes a mom feel so good when other people treat their kids with tenderness and respect.

The picture below is of him giving Madi some meds that would help her relax.

Look at her face. She looks pretty serious.

Now look at her... post meds.

That stuff made her soooo happy!!! She couldn't stop laughing!!

I have to say, it was quite entertaining!

And here is the miracle worker... Dr White.

He's been Madi's doctor for 5 1/2 long years.

He's super hysterical and uber talented in the spinal fusion field.

The best, if you ask me!

Oh, get this, he's also in a band!!! WHAT?!

Whatever, who cares! We love him!!!

While we were in pre-op, Dr. White came in and talked with Madi and, of course, I had to take their picture. I know... I'm crazy. After the picture, he asked us if we wanted him to take pictures in the O.R. of her surgery!!! I was like, ummmm... I don't know if Madi would want that. and no sooner had I said that, Madi piped up and said, " YEAH!!! DO IT!!!! " Alrighty then!! So, Dr. white took these really amazing pictures of her!! I won't post them here. They are kind of graphic. Super cool, but graphic. If you want to see them ( family only, please) let me know and I'll email them to ya.

I'm gonna post again later today and show you the pictures Dr. White took of the x-rays of madi's back before the rods were in and after. All I can say is AMAZING!!

Thanks again for all the love, prayers, thoughts and service. We really feel so thankful and blessed.