Lip Gloss... surgery tomorrow

I can't believe that tomorrow is October 10th.  We've talked about it for so long, yet it arrived too fast.  The anxiety that accompanies the anticipation is gripping.  It's not constant.  Rather, it comes in waves at uninvited times.  I was grocery shopping on Sunday and realized that I only needed 2 days worth of food.  My hands tightened on the cart and nausea squeezed my stomach.  I exhaled a deep, audible breath and kept going.  I went through the mental checklist of what I needed for the hospital, slowly walking through the aisles.  We pretty much live on protein bars and coffee while we're there.  Nothing looked appealing.  As I loaded the groceries into my car, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the window and hated what I saw.  An unattractive frown marked my face.  I lifting my head and shaking off the sadness.  "There... that's better." I told myself, making a mental note of how unappealing and intimidating that frown made me look.

I joke with my girlfriends that there is no situation that can't be made better with lipgloss and chandelier earrings and firmly believe our outward appearance affects the way people treat us. What opinions do you form about the guy sitting next to you on an airplane in gray sweatpants and an old t-shirt vs. the business person in professional attire?  It's the same thing in the hospital.  Larry and I always put care into our appearance when we are there.

So... tomorrow is the big day.  Though hard to believe, but we still have not received pre-op instructions.  Ari's cecostomy makes pre-op preparation unique and we will have to flush his bowels at home.  It would be nice to know when they want me to do it (I usually do it in the morning) and when he has to switch to clears only.  I'm hoping we find this out sooner rather than later today.

(**Update** The procedure is scheduled for 11:45 a.m.)

A lot of people have asked me what Ari is having done.  Without going into too much medical detail, the purpose of this surgery is two-fold.  First, to repair his left ureter which is refluxing urine to his left kidney and second to create a Mitrofanoff, which is a urinary diversion.  To create the Mitrafanoff, a section of his intestinal track will be removed and shaped into a narrow tube.  One end will be inserted into the bladder and the other end out will be made into a stoma through his lower abdominal wall.  Once healed, we will be able to cath his urine through the stoma.  Pretty cool, huh?  I'll write about best and worst case scenerios once he's through the procedure, which should take 4 hours or so.

Today is going to be emotionally tough as we think about the "what ifs..." that inevitably cross our minds.   My goal is keep the family distracted and happy while mentally preparing for tomorrow.

I'd better go get my lipgloss...