Children's Hospital of Atlanta at the Scottish Rite

Children's Hospital of Atlanta at the Scottish Rite is truly an amazing hospital. It makes all of the other hospitals we've visited pale in comparison... Not only was the hospital beautiful, but it was thoughtfully designed with families in mind. Even their day surgery suite had rooms instead of curtains...and that room was yours for the day. It lacked the cattle drive mentality that is so prevalent in most of the facilities we've seen to date.

The staff was outstanding. Each floor has its own child life specialist...Allison was ours and she obviously loves her job. Will wasn't talking about his anxiety, but she got him talking and showed him pictures of the OR, got him a movie to watch, and simply played with him and seemed to enjoy his particular sense of humor. When it was time to leave, she actually (apparently unusually) walked us out.

Rick, a friend and one of our elders from church, works in Atlanta and left work to be with us. I'm not sure he realizes how much it helped, but having someone else to chat with and pray with is a real blessing. When I burst into tears, he didn't blink an eye... :)

The real glitch in the day... is that the first words that Will uttered upon his return to his room were, "I remember the whole thing." After asking him what exactly he remembered, he was able to recount enough to convince us all that he was indeed partially conscious throughout at least parts of the surgery. Given the medications adminstered to William, this should never have happened. After meeting with the anesthesiologist, he was amazed and concerned...he stated that in 15 years, he had never had a patient experience this. Needless to say, we're concerned. William was obviously distraught when he initially related the story, but he appears to be processing it fairly well... We are concerned about the long-term effects of this experience. To have a tube down your throat and not be able to speak, and to have meds on board that partially paralyze you such that you can't move to let someone know you're awake must be incredibly frightening.

William is in a moderate amount of pain. He's propped up on the sofa in our room and is watching the History Channel and enjoying cable while he has it. :)

We plan to head toward home tomorrow...Lord willing it will be less eventful than the trip down was! :)