The Big Day is Finally Here!

Well, the long awaited day has finally arrived. Ammon was understandably nervous. On Thursday night, he had nightmares all night long. He kept crying in his sleep and when I woke him, he told me he was scared to have surgery. We had a prayer right then and he finally fell into a more peaceful sleep. We asked Mark Ellett if he would be willing to come and assist Jim in giving Ammon a priesthood blessing to give him a little more comfort. He was good enough to come up. Once again, Ammon was very emotional in the prayer, causing the rest of us to be quite emotional. He feels the spirit very closely and felt his dad's love very strongly in the prayer. This picture is one taken last weekend when Marci and Mark Ellett come up to visit (and bring yummy, homemade food. Ammon's surgery was scheduled for 7:30 a.m. - one of the very first. That meant that we had to leave Shriner's at 5:45 a.m. because he had to check in to Same Day Surgery by 6:00 a.m. Jim had come up the night before and we stayed in the main Ronald McDonald House so we didn't have to get up at 3:00 a.m. this time. Jim took the car over to PCMC and I rode in the bus with Ammon. Here is loading up once again.

Ammon and his bus driver, Gwedolyn (not sure of the spelling, but that's how her name is pronounced).

This is Dr. Holly. He is the anesthesiologist this time around. He is quite young but was very calm and great with Ammon. You can see the nervous look on Ammon's face in this photo.

This is a nurse named Shanni. She has been his nurse several times at Shriners. She works at both hospitals. When she is at PCMC, she works in the OR. She got to help out with Ammon's care. That helped relax him a bit.

Saying goodbye at the door. Ammon following Dr. Holly to the surgery room. This is the part we don't like. Ammon made sure we had a prayer together before he left.

More updates as they come will follow. The next update willl show Ammon without his halo for the first time in 5 weeks!