She had her first operation on Nov. 9 and we drove (Ford Explorer, not Tuzigoot) to Denver to be with Malia and to help out a bit when Macy came home. She was in surgery for seven hours, six for the cleft lip, one for a hernia fix. She was able, though, to come home late afternoon the next day. Pretty amazing.
We had a great time with Malia during those two days (Jeff was able to come home for the night, which was good). One highlight was making cookies with Nei-Nei.
(I don't know what it is about Blogger. Sometimes it orients correctly, sometimes it doesn't. Think of it as a neck exercise as you sit in front of your computer.) In case you're wondering, those cookies are autumn leaves, not brown Christmas trees. With the butter, cinnamon, and sugar toppings it didn't matter.
We were amazed at how good Macy's lip looked when she came home. There were still stitches and glue holding things in place, but they would dissolve over a couple of weeks. We could see the basic outline, though. (Pictures below.) She wore arm restraints to keep her from touching her face. When she went walking, someone had to be there to prevent her from falling face first. Biggest problem, though was sleeping. She needed to be on her back, while she was used to sleeping face down. Sleeping strapped in a car seat (in her crib, not in the garage) didn't go over well, so the remedy was sleeping, fitfully, or not, between Mom and Dad - bonding in more than one way.
Valerie's sister, Adrienne, who lives in Los Alamos, came up for the weekend to help out. That gave us a chance to fly to Raleigh and join Mike, Karen, and Jason for a soccer tournament in Martinsville, VA -- about a two-hour drive from their place. We had not made it to a league game during the fall season and this tournament would be the last outdoor soccer of the fall.
It was chilly in the morning; Jason had 8am games both Sat and Sun. Here are a couple of shots of the frosty fields. The sun warmed things up nicely, though.
And here are some action shots:
Jason on defense. Stop that guy!
Jason, no. 17, on offense. He has just taken a powerful free kick, bending it like Beckham. The ball hit the crossbar and bounced off the goalie and in. GO-O-O-O-AL!!
Now, do you see that teammate, in the white shirt, standing behind the defenders? Could have been called offside. The other team complained to the referee. He said that, in his judgment, that player wasn't influencing the play, so it's not an offside according to the rules. Hmm. We saw several unusual calls in the tournament, but, as they say in the World Cup, that's soccer for ya.
Jason's team, Barcelona FC (I didn't know that Cary translates into Barcelona), finished the tournament with two wins, one loss, and just missed getting into the title game.
After our soccer weekend, we jet-setted back to Denver on Monday, spent the night at Mandi's, went to Outback to celebrate Paul's birthday, then drove home on Tuesday. Stopped by to see Jeff and the girls on the way out of town. Here's a fuzzy, cellphone picture of Macy one week after surgery. Lookin' good!
Here's a picture a few days later that Jeff took.
There will be more surgery to come, but she's off to a great start.
Cheers,
Susie and Rob
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