One Month(ish) until Surgery

We’re getting close enough to November that this is all starting to feel a little more real.

Justin’s surgery is scheduled for November 4th in Plano. We recently got the good news that his septal myectomy will be done robotically rather than through traditional open-heart surgery. We’re incredibly grateful for that. It’s still a major surgery, and there are still plenty of nerves that come with it, but knowing that his surgeons feel confident about the robotic approach has given us something positive to hold onto.

We’ll leave for Plano after work on November 2nd. I’ll be staying in a rented home near the hospital with both sets of our parents, which means Justin and I will have our people close by throughout this whole experience. We’re hoping everything goes smoothly enough that we can come home as early as November 8th, but we’re trying to be realistic and prepared for the possibility that we may be in Plano until the 11th or 12th. Ultimately, we’ll let Justin’s recovery be the thing that determines when we come home.

Justin is starting to feel the anxiety a little more as surgery gets closer. I think that’s probably inevitable when you know you’re about to hand yourself over to a surgical team for something this big. We’ve been trying to let ourselves feel those feelings without letting them take over, and we’ve also been trying really hard to enjoy this little pocket of normal life we have right now.

And honestly, we’ve been blessed with some really sweet moments lately.

We got to visit family in Colorado. We took a cooking class together. We’ve gone to see a couple of touring Broadway musicals. We’ve laughed, eaten good food, spent time with people we love, and just gotten to be us.

Those moments have been especially precious because they remind us that this season isn’t only about surgery. It’s also about living our lives, making memories, and being grateful for the time we have together right now.

We know there are still some hard days ahead, and we’d be lying if we said we weren’t scared. But we also feel incredibly loved and supported going into this. Having both of our families nearby, knowing we have friends and family praying for us and checking in, and knowing so many people are walking alongside us has made this feel a little less overwhelming.

So as November 4th gets closer, we’d ask you to keep Justin—and his surgical team—in your prayers and thoughts. Pray for steady hands, a smooth surgery, an uncomplicated recovery, and maybe especially for a little peace for Justin in the days leading up to it.

We’ll keep updating here as we can. Thank you for loving Justin, for loving us, and for continuing to walk this road with us. It means more than we could ever put into words. 💜

Thanks,
Sarah