Cuts like a knife

Hi. John (the husband) here. Typing from the surgical waiting room. It's 7:37 a.m. and her tethered cord surgery was supposed to start at 7:30, so I imagine she's under the knife right about now. I've said my prayers (a few times!) and now it is time to sit and wait. "Hunker down" as Lace would say. Surgery is expected to take around 4 hours so I figured I'd have plenty of time for my first blog post. She hasn't posted in a few days, so I'll give you the recap of what we've been up to in the meantime:

Wednesday: We departed the Albany area around 10 a.m. after packing, gassing up and taking care of a few loose strings at my office. Very smooth trip to/through NYC. We made it to Brooklyn where Lacie's sister lives in about 3 hours, which is about as good as it gets. We had a little time in the afternoon for some R&R before her sister and brother-in-law got home for the evening. Lacie spent a little time with her nephew Will. I took a nice run through Brooklyn just before dark. We had a very nice dinner at their home and turned in early. Lacie had a pretty bad day fighting her cold and was pretty well shot by 8:30 or 9.

Thursday: We got up at 6 a.m. (argh!) to get over to Long Island for the first of a series of pre-op appointments throughout the day. First to the North Shore University Hospital for radiology (MRIs). Next to another dept there for Pre-Admission Screening. Had lunch at the hospital. They have a really nice cafe and cafeteria. We couldn't believe all the fresh and healthy options. Next to The Chiari Institute for 1 p.m. neurology exam and 3 p.m. neurosurgeon appt. We waited from about 2 p.m. until 6:30 before the neurosurgeon saw us. Apparently one of the surgeons was out sick and the one who was in the office was doing double duty all day. Long wait. My butt hurts just thinking back about it! Thank God for reruns of Friends!

Thursday night: We checked in at the Variety House across the street from the hospital around 7:45. We almost missed our reservation. There was a miscommunication and the owner thought we were going to be there "at 4" not "after 4." And with the delay at TCI, we were much later than expected, regardless. Fortunately, he was still holding our room. We unloaded, ordered some Italian delivery, and settled in to watch the premiere of "Lost" on TV, much anticipated by both of us, but especially Lacie. I don't know that we were really able to fully enjoy it due to the circumstances, but it was good to take our mind off things. We can watch it again later on the DVR and analyze all the details of the show we missed.

Get this(!): Chiari "spokesperson" Julie Carter, who was featured this fall on ABC's Extreme Home Makeover, is staying at the Variety House with us!!! We came upstairs to the living room area and there she was, and we were like... "don't we know you from somewhere?" It was very surreal initially, but she is so down to earth about everything and it was an incredible experience for us to sit down with her for a little while and share our stories. She is an amazing and kind person. She has been up here to TCI and this hospital 11 times now to assist others in their Chiari surgical journeys, which is also what she is doing now. I thought it was fantastic to see how she has taken her gift from ABC and continued to ratchet up her efforts after the show was done. She also told us she has met all the most renowned Chiari surgeons in the country at one time or another, including some conference they hold every year and she said Dr. Bolognese is clearly the leader in the Chiari community and that we are in the best hands anywhere. It was so great to hear that.

So. Here we are. Tough morning. We were up at 5 a.m. Lacie had a raging headache with the low pressure coming in. She said it was about an 8 out of 10 on the pain scale. She cried a little before going in. Not sure if it was the pain or fear. Maybe both. I'm glad she let go a bit. She's such a fighter but maybe it will help her relax a little to release some. That's about all the news. I'll try to post again sometime after lunch once she is out of surgery and I've had some time with her. There is open wireless throughout the hospital, making this pretty easy.

Thanks be to God for getting us this far.