Chicago, IL. Unfortunately, very unfortunately, here Ella and I are in Chicago and the surgery was cancelled this morning. Ella has a cold and a cough and the anesthesiologist and Dr. Patel together convinced us it would be advisable not to go ahead under those circumstances. So that was very disappointing. Ella started developing a cold on Sunday but it was slight. By yesterday she was coughing and sneezing but didn’t have a consistently runny nose. I was hoping that it would be gone by today but actually the cough got worse. It’s a very wet, loose cough that the anesthetstisiologist said he could hear raspiness in her lungs. I relied on Dr. Patel to put the final spin on it – whether he thought we should go ahead. After a consultation between the two in the hallway, he was convinced against it. So now we have the big mess of plane tickets and re-doing all our arrangements which makes me think that I’m not sure this whole shlep to Chicago is worth it. Too late of course, as we’re in the middle right now between surgeries but I see how incredibly disruptive this is. I’d feel differently if Ella’s development was not as delayed as it is — it is unclear to me how aggressive we need to be.
So now the date has been rescheduled tentatively for June 29th. That is right in the middle of my conference in Canada. What a mess. No other dates work before we change insurance companies at the end of the month. I’m sure we could work it out for later with the new insurance I just don’t want to have to go through that whole negotiation nightmare again. So, I see ahead countless hours on the telephone, rescheduling therapies and coverage for Netta and Gaul while we are gone. Ella and I are flying back to Boston tomorrow morning. Ella was cranky yesterday and it was hard to deal with her after a while on the plane. She got bored — how many time can you flip over a book? She also wasn’t feeling so hot probably.
When I got to Val’s Ella was very cranky, unconsolable and wouldn’t let me leave her sight for a minute. Today we went to the beach and she fell asleep on the way back to Val’s in the stroller. At least she enjoyed herself this afternoon.