We're home ...

Great news (especially for Sydney, because she's been asking ever since the day after her surgery) ... as of about 6:30 pm on Monday evening, we are home.

Whew! Today was a busy day. Her surgeon came by, then the anesthesia folks, someone from her pediatrician's office stopped to check on her, then physical therapy came by, a couple of visitors stopped in to see her and breakfast was delivered -- all of this before 9am, when Sydney finally woke up.

After breakfast, Sydney put on her 'back brace' (something that she pretty much has to wear all of the time -except for sleeping & bathing) and we went to the "playroom" on her floor. It was a little nerve racking for Karen and I -- her balance was off. Because her back is straighter, her center of gravity has changed ... and because she was still adjusting, she was a little unstable. It was like she was in the V8 commercial where everyone was walking crooked -- if you can imagine Sydney walking like that. She stumbled a couple of times, but Karen and I were watching her like hawks and we were there to catch her. She did manage to fall down once, but luckily she had her brace on. She was also able to work with the physical therapist right before lunch (she was sleeping the first time he came by) ... by this time, she had been walking around & playing for awhile, so she looked pretty stable and more "in tune" with her balance.

This afternoon, Sydney managed to get "18" in ... well, not really. She was invited to participate in "putting for smiles" (something that one of the local PGA pros came in to do with the kids) ... keep an eye out - the FL Times-Union was there and some of the kids may be in the newspaper in a special section in the next couple of weeks. Sydney really, really wanted a medal (believe you me, she would have talked the guy into giving her one if he had an extra one to give her) ... she ended up with a sleeve of golf balls, yeah for daddy -- he's always losing golf balls.

After playing in the playroom for awhile, we thought she needed some "down time" back in her room. By the way, Spencer has been with us the whole day so far. So when we finally got back to Sydney's room, they were already going back and forth - you know, the brother/sister quarrelling act. Meanwhile her surgeon walks in to check on how she's doing, and she's standing on the window bench chasing after her brother. He takes one look at her and realizes how well she was doing and told us we should go home. No, really ... those were his exact words, "go home". There really was no reason why we needed to still be there - her pain levels had decreased, her incisions looked good, physically - she was walking, getting in & out of bed, etc., So, within an hour, we were packed and ready to head home.

Just a couple of minor things: still working on her pain (better, but still good & bad time) and her back brace needs to be adjusted a little. Other than that, she has recovered pretty quickly. A lot quicker than what we had anticipated ... she's already back to shaking those hips & dancing. "She's back" ...

-A4