First I want to say you are in good hands there.Kathleen is a patient of Sr.Scott also. Her surgery was almost 4 yrs ago.She had her Arteriogram there.It was done out patient, and they didn't want us to travel with her that day so we stayed next door at  the Best Western Inn at Longwood Medical.They give a discout for patients of the hospital so if you make a reservation be sure to ask for it.They were very accomidating to us and it's soooooo convenient you can jsut walk over to teh hospital.In fact we stayed there the night before too so we'de get there in time in the morning.In fact one of the times we were out there we had reservations to stay and kathleen had complications and we neede to stay iwth Kathleen at the hospital,so my husband went over to tell them we weren't staying and they didn't charge us for the night.They also have free parking.I have no idea about the flying becuase we drove there.I suppose that owuld be a question for Dr. Scott's office.You could probably even e-mail them to ask about it.Keep us posted on the results.I think you will feel very comfortable with everyone at Children's Hospital.
mary Grace

Stephanie,Don't apologise about the questions at all. The recovery was pretty quick for Kathleen(she was almost 5 at the time).They kept her in the recovery room for I believe 4 hours because she had to keep her elg still to be sure there was no bleeding.Then we went back to the Hotel got some dinner from the food court in the hotel and broguth it back to the room.We just gave her tylenol because there wasn't much pain at all.You may want to pack some to bring with you  if you'll be staying the night in the hotel(we had to go to the Drugstore to get some for the night which was right there in the hospital).She was up and walking the next day without much pain at all just a little sore like a shot and a little bruising.She wasn't in school  at the time but she could have gone back probably the day after we got home.Unfortunatly we had to wait a while after the test for surgery because Dr. Scott was away for several weeks doing a research paper.Kathleen had  her test in Feb.and her surgery in April.Most seem to have surgery mush quicker.Ask away if you ahve any other questions.
Mary Grace

  Not a problem....LOL....Kathleen's case is a bit extreme because she was in a very unstable condition at the time of her surgery.She suffered a stroke on the way to the hospital the day before surgery.So she did suffer complications with the surgery.they could only do one side and had to stop.She ahd a couple more strokes and they did the other side a few days later.AS I saidshe wasn't in good shape before surgery so it's not typical for this all to happen most kids do wonderful and have both sides done if needed at the same time.Kathleen is doing amazing now! She never ahd another stroke and is rehabilitating still.They only shaved as much as they needed on the sides(just a narrow path) so we left the rest of Kathleen's hair long and you could barely tell it ahd been shaved.It grew back in pretty well in just months that's when we cut it a bit just to even it up.You can't see the scare unless you move her hair and look for it.She started Kindergarden in Sept that year so it was aobut 5 months after her surgery if there's no complications though I bleieve they can go back much sooner depending on how they feel.She probably could have gone back in a couple months but Kindy didn't start until Sept.Even then I made sure they were aware that she may get exhausted adn I would bring her home early.We did this a lot through that first year.Her only problems now are from the strokes.She's doing geat though and the surgery saved ehr life.She was also born with Down Syndrome (this seems to be a higher risk group of chidlren)Kathleen's first signs were when she walked she was wobbly and looked "drunk".It got progressivly worse and we took her to the ER.This was exactly 4 yrs ago Jan.18th.Did I get it all???LOL I don't mind at all answering any questions.I wish I could ahve asked someone the same things back when we were going through all this.Let me know if you want to talk sometime I could e-mail you my # if that would be easier...
Mary Grace