March 29, 2006 -Update #1-10:30 AM

This morning we left Denver at 5 AM and made it to Iowa City in time to have Leah's port accessed on the 7th floor by one of her nurses, Stephanie. She was able to get into surgery a bit earlier than expected, but we still spent 5 minutes too long in the OR holding area. Leah was scared and crying and that is hard for any parent to see. I took her back to OR with the anesthesiologist and he did a good job of clearing out all the other people who were in the room to try and give her some space. They were able to quickly put her to sleep via her port tube. Chaplain Sheer was on hand to help us and pray with us right after this which both Chris and I were thankful for. We checked in to the family lounge then got some breakfast. Just before 10 as we were heading back to the waiting area we received a call that Dr. Lawrence thought the actual surgery would begin at 10:10 this morning. Her ventilator, catheter, pain relief catheter, IV (and perhaps a few other things) were all hooked up and she was doing well. It is only 10:30 now and it already feels like we have been waiting a long time.

We were able to confirm with the anesthesiologist that she will be sedated for at least 24 hours post surgery. In some ways that just highlights how major this surgery is, yet it is also a bit of a relief because she will have a lot of tubes hooked up and probably will not be receptive to this at all. The more time she can spend resting peacefully and mending will be helpful.

We have received messages from so many people who are praying for her quick recovery. Please continue to "pray without ceasing (1 Thes. 5:17)." We will continue to update our blog as the day progresses to keep everyone informed of the doctor's progress.