Long Day

Some of you know that our daughter Joanna had some pretty major spine surgery today. We got up at three o'clock this morning to take her to Dallas (Addison, actually), where the surgery was done. She came through it very well, and her surgeon was really pleased with the way things went. She'll be wearing a neck brace for several months but won't have to be in a metal halo, like she was when she had spine surgery at 18 months. (Here's something I learned back then: when you have an 18-month-old and the doctors tell you, "We're going to bolt five pounds of metal to her skull . . . but it's not as bad as it sounds", they're lying. It is as bad as it sounds.) Joanna's in the ICU now and will be overnight because her blood pressure was a little low and they wanted to monitor that and her ability to swallow. Should move to a regular room tomorrow. She was in quite a bit of pain, which is to be expected but is still rough on her. On Mom and Dad, too, because no matter how old your kids get, they're still your kids.


I'm back home now, but Livia's spending the night at the hospital with her. I can't say enough about how great both of them have been today, and our other daughter Shayna, too, who has pitched in to take over everything else.