Brittley the Brave!

Richie, Brit, Diana & Carson

I spent yesterday morning at the hospital with my niece Brittley. When Brittley was born, they found out she had a problem with her heart and told her parents that she would eventually have to have it fixed. Now that she is 7, it was time to take care of it. My sister, Diana, and her husband, Richie, took her a couple of weeks ago to Primary Children's for an appointment and they set up the procedure right away.
When I got there at 7:00 am, Brittley was just changing into hospital p.j.'s. She was very nervous. They had given her a little blue stuffed puppy with colored patches on it. Brittley named him Patch and the nurses put a hospital band around his tummy with his name on him.
We went across the hall to wait for them to come and get Brit. They asked her if she wanted to walk, ride in a bed or have her dad carry her. She definitely wanted to ride in the bed. The nurses had her wave to people as we passed- Princess Brit should've worn a tiara! They took us downstairs to the Cath Lab. The whole procedure took place right there. Brittley was SO BRAVE when we said goodbye to her. I could tell she was scared, but she put on a happy face and gave us all hugs. I told her to take good care of Patch because he was a little nervous and she hugged him a little harder as they wheeled her into the room. They gave Diana a pager and told us that when it beeped we should come back here. Richie had a really hard time leaving his little girl. We decided they should have anesthesia for worried dads and just knock them out, too.
We went to the cafeteria to get a little something to eat and wait. After eating, we went back down to the waiting room nearest Brittley. We waited about an hour and half before the beeper went off. We walked back by the room and the doctor was there waiting for us. He took us in a little room where he showed us an ultrasound of the whole procedure. One of the valves in Brit's heart was too narrow and there was a lot of pressure on it. The procedure was a lot like an angioplasy. They sent a catheter up through her leg to her heart. They inflated a balloon through the valve to stretch it and make it bigger. The final result was exactly what they'd hoped for, there was less pressure on that valve and the blood was flowing through it better. They took Brittley up to post-op where all three of us were able to go sit with her. Her tummy bothered her a little, but she did so well.
Post-op was so noisy. I don't think I could work in there all day. At least in my job, I have some control over it. If you have upset screaming children, there's not much you can do. Brittley spent the day in post-op. I sat with her while her mom and dad went and got lunch. She slept the whole time and when they got back, I left for home.
I'm so proud of you Brittley. I love you and I hope you're up running around soon so you can enjoy your summer!!!