Follow-Up Appt. Today

It was good to see the medical team again - Debbie, Dr. T and Dr. D. They were all very pleased with Bailey. (She did not get an echo - that's not until Jan. 22nd.) But all three of them asked "Are you eating?" when they first saw her. She is an itty-bitty-skinny thing. (And she IS eating! She eats lots more than she did before her surgery.) She's down to 82.5 pounds (her base weight a year ago before she got sick was 85). But her belly looks very, very good! In fact, Dr. T took an "after" shot of her side view today so he could compare it to the "before" shot that he took on his cell phone camera before her surgery. Amazing difference. She gave him grief about messing up her "Chinese scar". One of the chest tube scars from the Berlin days looked like the Chinese symbol for "laugh". It really did! And we really did like that scar. But he explained that he was just trying to use the same scar so she wouldn't have yet another one on her belly. He was just trying to be helpful! In all seriousness, he did say that he could smooth her scars out a little bit if she ever wanted him to. We kind of like making up stories, though. The best that we've come up with so far: gunshot wounds; shark attack; alien attack . . . It was quite fun visiting with him. He was obviously proud of his work ... as he should be! A truly incredible guy. Don't know where we'd be without him and Dr. D.

Dr. D even wanted to come take a look at Bailey. We didn't have a scheduled appointment with him, but it was good to see him too! No flutter in 7 weeks! Belly fluid nearly gone! (In fact, it just might be gone.) So exciting! I wish everybody could get a look at her. Just stand back and look. She's beautiful. Dr. D cut her lasix in half - he said her eyes looked a little sunken to him, and I think I agree. They directed her to eat more protein and do some muscle-building exercises. Now that they seem to have her dried out, we can work on getting some meat on her bones!

School starts Monday and I go back to work. It has been truly rewarding to not have to rush back to work after getting home from the hospital and to be at home with the girls this Christmas break. I've never ever had Christmas break off. It is fantastic! I'm thinking I might be ready to go back to work. Not sure about that, but hopeful. Ha! It will be nice to get back to a normal routine. I've been reading lots and lots of books and playing lots and lots of games with the girls and fixing low-sodium meals with Bailey.

Life is good!

Angie