Pre op meeting today

Nate and I went to the Hospital today for his pre op meeting today.
We met with a registered nurse and she went over all the paperwork, Nate’s Meds list and had him sign stuff.
Then I asked her if the Anesthesiologist was coming down to meet with us.
She didn’t know, so I told her Nate’s doctor said they would.
She called up stairs and after about 25 min one came down to talk to us.
He was really nice and when I told him about Nate having GBS, he became very concerned and serious. We discovered that he is very familiar with GBS and what it does.
He asked a lot of questions about what the GBS did to Nate and what treatment was done and about his recovery.
He was very interested in whether or not Nate’s lungs were affected and if he was ventilated or not. I told him Nate’s lungs were affected but he got by without being ventilated.
He told us that patients who have had GBS often have a hard time breathing after surgery if their lungs were compromised from GBS, especially with a long surgery and his may take up to 6 hrs. He said that if there is a problem, it will show up then. He is ordering a breathing treatment before Nate goes into surgery just to get his lungs ready.
He told Nate not to be surprised if he wakes up with a ventilator still in place for awhile though, just to prepare us in case it happens.
He also told us that GBS patients sometimes have a harder time getting any muscle strength back and not to be surprised if that happens.
The only thing that still bothers me is that he may not be the Anesthesiologist that Nate gets. There is no way to know until the night before when they call Nate. I hope its the same guy though. It will make us all feel a lot better.
I will make sure he tells whoever it is all of his history.
I know I will be scared, and I already am but Nate needs this surgery and he wants it.
Nate’s also getting nervous now that we went and did the pre op stuff. He’s in junk food mode now and thats not good but understandable.
This next week will be tough for all of us but we will get through it.
I will let all of you know how things go next wednesday.
Trudy, Natesmom
Nate, diagnosed with GBS Jan 06
Hospitalized until Sept 06
Home with us 2 yrs now.