Here is our big girl in the surgery waiting room at Dell Children’s waiting for her pre-op tour of the PANDA unit where they prepare for procedures.

After a quick lunch in the hospital cafeteria between her appointments, we went down to the surgery waiting. There we met a very nice Child Life Specialist for the tour. Child Life Services is responsible for the overall well-being of the patients, reducing stress and anxiety, and training and education beyond the scope of the nurses. They are most visible throughout the hospital through all of the toys!

Miriam did very well talking about her procedure. She was a little nervous at first, but warmed up (especially after seeing the toys and hearing about the popsicles.

We walked through the steps for the morning of the procedure, starting with where we will wait with her while everything is ready. Then we walked back to the stop sign where the doctors will take over and we will giver her hugs and kisses. (Grandparents are allowed up to this point too!)

The we were shown a procedure room. There were a lot of equipment and lights and machines and hoses in there. And the bed, which Miriam said made here “a little confused.” She was apprehensive about the anesthesia mask the Child Life Specialist gave her to try out:

But then Cecilia tried hers out and Miriam did too. Her only job for the surgery is to take deep breaths in the mask, and she got in some good practice.

The next stop was the “wake-up room” where she will recover after the procedure. (The toy cars were probably more exciting, though.) She will wake up slowly and naturally, and then the doctors will call her parents back as soon as she is up. She will also get juice or a popsicle at this time. When asked which she would prefer, she said, “both.” They thought she needed to practice that part, so she and Cecilia both got a “practice popsicle.”

After the tour we visited the chapel and prayed for Miriam and her doctors.

When she got home, Miriam told us about everything that happened and explained the whole process. She has been acting it out with her dolls this evening, using the mask to help “Miriam” go to sleep. So we know she learned a lot and is working through it. She will be much more comfortable when we go next week for her pre-op labs and the following Monday for the surgery. We are very grateful for the time the staff took to talk to her and take such good care of her.

(And here are some bonus pictures of the chapel, because daddy.)