The surgery went like this:

It was heart surgery, but not open heart. They made an incision in my leg vein and sent scopes up to perform the surgery from the inside. Veeeeeeery cool. A live X-ray gives the surgeon a view of where the scopes are going, so I could see my organs moving around… Beating, breathing, etc. It was super fun to take deep, fast breaths and see my rib cage respond to my diaphragm. (I'm sure some of you are shuddering to think of the radiation exposure, but trust me... It's so cool to see inside yourself in realtime, you don't even care.) 

When they wheeled me in, the anesthesiologist asked me how much happy juice I wanted. I told him, “As little as possible. I want to remember EVERYTHING.” He grinned, and gave me just enough that I wouldn’t freak out when I saw my blood on the surgeon’s hands.

They only used a local anesthetic, so I could feel the scopes snaking around inside me. It was AWESOME.

They have no way of knowing how big the Atrial Septal Defect is until they actually go in for surgery. Turns out my hole was a lot bigger than anyone expected… about the size of a dime. They riveted the hole shut using a cool device called a Gore Helex Septal Occluder. Looks like this: 

The incisions were tiny! Two of them… 1/4 inch each, tops. No stitches. I’ll be walking out of the hospital 24 hours after the surgery. Modern medicine is incredible. (Oh, by the way, did I mention that I'm totally lucid right now?) 

The nurses made the initial incision, prepared the catheters, then we waited for the surgeon to show up. I got a good look at all the equipment.

"Hey," I asked, "Does your X-ray machine have a name?"
The X-ray tech look startled. "What?"
"The X-ray machine. Does it have a name?"
"Um... no?"
"Can I name it?"

While fronds of silicone catheters stuck out of my leg, waving about, the nurses and I spent the next 20 minutes arguing about what the machine's name should be. We finally decided on Arty.

The only part of the surgery that made me nervous and uncomfortable was the blood-pressure cuff. (I know... I wanted to watch myself have heart surgery live, and I can face big needles like Arnold Schwarzenegger taking on the Democrats, but blood pressure cuffs give me the willies.) The cuff was supposed to stay on perpetually throughout the surgery, and it took my pressure every five minutes. To try to make myself feel better about it, I named it Yogi. It definitely helped. Every time it squeezed, instead of thinking, "Oh man, they've got a stinkin' tourniquet on my arm," I thought, "Awww... Yogi is giving me a bear hug."

When my surgeon finally arrived, I hailed him with great enthusiam.

"Are you Doctor Sorensen?"
"Yes."
"I have a song for you!"
"What?"
"I have a song for you!"
"Oh!" His face was priceless. "Hold on just a second. Let me get on my surgeon's gear."

He pulled on the backwards robe/apron thingy, big gloves and one of those blue hats, and then stood next to the table where I was lying. His hands were clenched close to his body like a kid waiting for a piece of birthday cake.

"Okay, I'm ready."

And so I sang the last part of this song, starting at (2:28): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-h4A7bF8wQ

^_^ All the nurses cheered. Dr. Sorensen thought it was hilarious.

I learned a few minutes into the procedure that he spoke Chinese, and so we enjoyed some broken, drugged Mandarin banter over the operating table. I’m pretty sure every medical technician in that operating room thinks I'm nuts.

The procedure took about an hour. My Nathan brother called my Dad when we got out of the operating room to let him know everything went well. Dad told us that he'd just been on the phone with a business partner. Apparently his partner's daughter was down at the Mayo Clinic today, having open heart surgery---for the same heart defect. XD That's how new this procedure is. It's still technically experimental.

I’ll be on blood thinners for the next 6 months. During that time, my heart tissue will grow over the device until it is entirely encased and becomes a natural part of my heart.

I brought my sippy cup with me to the hospital because I was warned that I wouldn’t be allowed to lift my head off the pillow for a couple hours after the operation. Definite win.

(Why do I own a sippy cup? Once upon a time my amazing redheaded Viking princess roommate Tacia had a bad day. She needed groceries, so she went shopping. While wandering listlessly down the aisles, she stumbled across a triple set of animal sippy cups and was possessed by a sudden need to love them forever. So she bought them. And there were three, so she we each got one. And now we use them. A lot.)

Anyways, after surgery I had a stampede of visitors. They heart-attacked my room, swarmed me with hugs and all manner of affection. =) Leo came in the evening. I woke up just in time to see him crawl into the room on all fours and hide next to my bed…

Then Barky slowly swam over the edge of my blanket. ^_^ I was extremely happy to see them. And I suppose having an octopus as a visitor was extremely appropriate, since octopuses have three hearts. Leo left him with me for the night. We made some new friends together.