The Wheels on the Bus

Nathan FINALLY went back to school on Thursday. He had missed three weeks of school because he had been sick. Thankfully he is back to his oldself!

True Colors

Here is a quick recap of Addison's transformation. I am still amazed at the wonderful job Dr. Murthy did. Addison's lip continues to heal and her scar is very minimal.

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Here are a couple of new pics of Addison. These were taken about three weeks after her repair. Everything seems to be falling into place.






Nathan is still sick. We took him back to the pulmonologist yesterday. Right now we think he is retaining a lot of fluid - so he got a lot of lasix to help him pee it off. He is a little better today, but still nowhere close to being back to his oldself. We have an appt. with his cardiologist just to make sure things are still good from the heart stand point.

We think Addison is going to end up being a Dr. or a nurse. She is too cute, she watches us and the nurses take care of Nathan - then she tries to help. At the Dr.'s office yesterday, anytime his pulse oximeter beeped, she ran over to see what it was saying. Then she would put her hand on Nathan's head and rub him. She loves playing with his stethascope and is always wanting to "listen" to people. She is very gentle and loving with everyone.

On Monday we learned that we will be staying here in VA for at least another year. There was a possiblity that we would be moving back to San Antonio, but it didn't work out. We are disappointed because it would have been a good move for Bob and we would have been closer to family. We are also okay with staying here....both Addison and Nathan have some good Drs. and really I wasn't sure I was ready to tackle another move.

Another Update

Addison had her follow up appt. with the surgeon on Thursday. He was very pleased with her repair. I told him that we thought he did an amazing job and he said "Not that I am patting myself on the back, but I too am pleased.? Addison's surgeon is a very caring and humble man, we are all so thankful that he is the one who worked on her. He will continue to follow up with her in the next few months and will probably do a little revision when she turns three. The man issue is that there wasn't enough tissue to plump up her lips so he will fix that the next time around and of course anything else that we aren't happy with. We know that there will be some tweaking that needs to be done, but everyone (including us) that sees her can't believe how good the repair looks.

I would update some photos, but we have all been sick. We caught some sort of respiratory bug. It has hit Nathan pretty hard. He is slowly getting better but he still requires O2, nebs, and lots of other meds. Poor guy has been out of school for almost two weeks and I doubt he will be back before next Wed.

So once we are all well, I will try to get some new pics up.

Spring is in the Air

Spring is all about new beginnings and new awakenings. That is exactly what Addison is experiencing with her new lip/nose. Everyday we are more and more amazed at the transformation of her face. It has been a week since the Dr. did his magic and we are so impressed, we can't begin to imagine how it will look in a month, six months or a year. She is thankfully healing very well, both emotionally and physically. She hasn't had the screaming events at night with this surgery. We think it has a little to do with her being more comfortable in our home. The other great news is that she is making more and more sounds. She mimics a lot of what we say, but still isn't able to enunciate. She has come a long way since she has been here.

I am posting a few pics from the DC Cherry Blossom Festival. They were taken on Sunday. Even since then the swelling on Addison's face has gone down and more goop has come off. We were happy to be able to take my mom, who is here helping out, to see the Blossoms. It has been one thing that she has always wanted to do.

Keep checking back for more pics. We see the surgeon on Friday and we are anxious to see what he has to say.

Quick Update

I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on Addison's surgery. She did great! Her surgery took place Monday about 12:30 and she was done around 4:30. Then we were relesed around 1pm on Tuesday.

The Dr. used stiches, glue and steri-strips to help hold her lip together. She also has a bar over her lip taking the pressure off of her lip when she smiles. That will fall off in the next day or two. We can't see much of the repair with all the protection over her lip, but what we can see she looks great.

I will try to post a picture in the next couple of days. Right now she is still pretty bloody and beat up --- with the bar she looks somewhat like a beautiful hannibal lector:-)

Emotionally she has done much better with this surgery. She slept through past two nights with minimal crying. Nothing like the screaming she did last time.

Thank you for all your prayers. I definetely think they worked. We will keep you updated on how things are going.

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful visit with Lori, Brian, Gavin and Landon. It was nice for me to finally get to meet Brian, but of course everyone was most excited about meeting Addison. She had a ball with the boys and was giving Uncle Brian high fives when he left. While they were here, we went to a couple of places with them, but they also ventured out on their own. It was a nice visit and we were sad to see them go.

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Addison is having her lip repair on Monday. We are so excited! She has such a beautiful smile now, we can't imagine how she will look when it is a repaired smile! We pray that she will do well with the surgery and that the recovery will be easier on her this time. Check back next week for some updated pics of Addison.

Happy Easter!