The Reveal...

The doctor gave Tahlia the all clear and she's eating real food!!  T.H.A.N.K. G.O.O.D.N.E.S.S!!  The last 3 days of puree food and restraints were the roughest - I'm not sure what we'd have done if we had to do this for another week.  She became extremely clingy and unhappy and crying and didn't know what she wanted.  BUT that's over and she's back to her wonderfully funny, loving and entertaining self.  The tape and the nose stints fell off/out on Sunday evening.  She's started exercising her mouth almost right away and has continue to do so. 

We are applying polysporin twice a day on the surgical site and it is looking very good.  There's some bruising but the doctor was very happy with the result so far.  We'll got back in a month for another follow-up and go from there.

Sunday - just after everything fell off

Today - 'Why are you taking my picture again??''

Today - I LOVE REAL FOOD!!

Post Surgery Update - Day 11

Tahlia is still doing well.  From what I can get a look at, everything seems to be healing nicely.  We have post-surgery appointment on Tuesday Feb 15, so we'll find out for sure then.  And hopefully they'll tell us, no more restraints (PLEASE!!!), back to 'real' food, and 'everything looks good, we'll see you in a month'.  Keep your fingers crossed!  I've had to trim the steri-strips on one side as they lifted and were flapping around.  Her nose stints are getting looser but I think they'll probably hang in there until her appointment.  They are causing her to breath loudly and mouth-breath more which causes more drooling.  The syringe feeding is still going well.  In fact, I'm a little concerned she's not going to want to feed herself!  The restaints are a pain.  Tahlia will whimper/cry when they have to go on, even though she still holds her .  Her sleep is very restless as I think she just can't get comfortable.  During the day, we've (I've) been keeping them off quite a bit.  She's not interested in touching her face, it's putting toys in her mouth I need to watch.  But if I tell her no, she's just move it away and continue playing.  I have to spend more time on the ground playing with her instead of doing dishes, laundry, etc but she's much happier, which makes mommy much happier!!

So what does Tahlia do all day??  She loves to hug the cats, play with her little people housing/farm complex, sing, play on the sofa, and most impressive of all......she decided she can walk by herself today!!!  Walked down the hall, from the LR to the kitchen, to the front door.  I think this should continue into tomorrow, but we'll see.  We also went to our first highschool basketball game today.  My niece Elizabeth is playing in a tournament and we got to see her team win!  Tahlia was very good and enjoyed clapping and hearing us encourage the girls on.

Singing while playing on the couch

Getting ready for bed!

Loving my kitty Bob!

Post Surgery - Day 3

Where's my lunch?!?!

Miss T is still doing great.  Eating and playing like usual....except her arms are stuck straight out!  We took a walk outside today as we're finally getting some nicer weather.  And Grandma (my mom) came for a visit.
We continue to be amazed at how well she's doing.  She'll hold her arms out for us to replace the restraints, happily plays and crawls around, and is pretty good about taking her medications.  She's wanting to be babied a little more than usual, but we're more than happy to snuggle and cuddle and reassure her that we'll help her.  She's such a little treasure!!

Post Surgery - Day 2

Tahlia is doing fantastic.  It's amazing how resilient kids are.  She's not complaining about the restraints, just trying to make it work with them on.  She's not always thrilled with the outcome but she's determined!!  She slept well through the night even though we woke her up twice for medication.  She took a good nap this afternoon and has really enjoyed having Daddy home to play with!  She's kept him busy playing with the 'little people', walking around and around the house and she's loving that he'll carry her around.  She's eating well but I'd like her to drink a little more.....probably just a paranoid mom :-)

We didn't get any pictures today, but we'll post some tomorrow.  She's got a bit of a black eye and swelling on her right side but everything is looking good.  She's trying to make some facial expressions but only her eyebrows move - it looks like she's had too much botox!

And we're HOME!

Last night went well, but we got 'roommates' about 10pm. :-(  The adults were fairly loud and the mom watch tv until after midnight and then turned it back on about 6am.  Tahlia was a trooper and slept through most of it, I wasn't quite as lucky.  She had a few syringe feeding of formula through out the night and needed only a little bit of cuddling comfort.  She was cheerful this morning but was ready to get the IV out and leave!  We had fantastic nurses and the doctors were great too. 
We were discharged by 10:30am (with a little prodding), went back to the Dugald farm and packed up and are now at the Brandon farm.
Tahlia is continuing to eat and drink well.  She's wanting to be carried a lot.  Her personality is shining through the drugs and pain - she just too cute!  We have her on liquid Tylenol every 4 hours and she sleeping in her crib now.  We'll see how our first night goes!