Cranial Vault Surgery

Andy, Ric and I have just returned from our third trip Chapel Hill as many months. We all love visiting Katrina but the real purpose has been to attend about a zillion doctor's appointments for Andy at UNC's medical center.
Those of you who followed our trip to China to get Andy last August may remember that I worried , at the time, about his unusual head shape. It was beyond the flat back which is typical in some orphanage children. The doctors in China talked to each other about it at his medical exam,but since I don't speak Chinese , didn't have a clue what they were saying.
Andy has craniosynostosis which means that the pieces of his skull fused together prematurely in some places, causing other places to grow out of proportion. The common term for his particular disfigurement is called tower skull. As you can see from the pictures, he now has an abundance of hair which makes it much less noticeable.
This week we will return to Chapel Hill for Andy to have surgery to reshape his skull. This will allow room for his brain to grow as well as take pressure off the optic nerve which could have lead to blindness. A neurosurgeon and a plastic surgeon will work together for 6 hours ,pulling his forehead forward which will lower the top and round out the back. Andy will be in ICU for several days but we hope to be home before Easter.
We are hoping to be able to stay at Ronald McDonald house but will not know until the day before if they have a room available. Jerry, Amber ,Ric and I are definitely going - Ariel has a conference soccer game on Friday so we are not sure what she will be doing.
We would appreciate your prayers. Andy is excited that they are going to fix his head, but of course he doesn't have a clue at what cost. Jerry and I will be alternating staying with Andy and entertaining Ric and Amber. If Katrina's school schedule isn't too busy, she will also help. I am SO glad we chose Chapel Hill, even though it is a long drive. Andy's plastic surgeon goes to Katrina's church and does mission work around the world.

Christmas Scenes

Andy's first Christmas.....and, in spite of all the hoop-la and distractions and talking to reindeer, I think he 'got it'. When I took the boys to buy a Nativity set that he and Ric could play with, he noticed it first in the store and ran over to it and said, "Mama, baby Jesus!!" On Christmas morning, we had a cake and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.
Camila and Katrina took Ric and Andy shopping and helped them wrap their gifts for everyone including Manchester. I am pretty sure that Andy has never been able to give anything to anyone before - he didn't have anything to give.
Amber cried when she opened her American girl doll - Samantha. It was so precious!
Everyone was here, including my parents and Jerry's parents. Because I was sick, I had the wonderful blessing of seeing all my kids pitch in to help to make the day fabulous.
Ric is already talking about when it will be Christmas again. Fortunately for him, he has a birthday in a week. The problem will be explaining to Andy (who has never had a birthday party) that Ric is the main present recipient on this occassion and he has to wait half a year...

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa !!!

My Mom and Dad sent us all (along with Jerry's parent's) out to dinner for Christmas. We went to dinner at the Boiler Room and afterwards had fun playing games at The Factory. After a couple of days of leftovers it was nice to have other choices. And,as the kids did all the cooking this year because I was sick in bed, they were very grateful to get out of the kitchen. Thanks, Mom and Dad!!!

September Afternoon

Thursday was a rare day when Ariel didn't have some sports practice after school (its volleyball season) so she was able to accompany us to Ric's parent's restaurant. Before we go inside, the boys always like to spend a few minutes trying out the tractors at Sears. Ric's mom and dad have invited us to come several afternoons a week, during their slow time, to eat 'real' Chinese food. There is always steamed rice, some kind of soup (this day there were mussels?- or something- in it), usually something dark green, and often shrimp. We often had shrimp in China where they are eaten by putting the whole thing in your mouth (eyeballs and all) except the tail and then spitting out anything you can't swallow onto the table. I never quite got the hang of it and was embarrassed to have to take my shell off before I put it in my mouth (what a wuss!!). Andy has been a little confused that here we put food we don't want back on our plate rather than on the table, but he is adapting. Ric often likes to stay at the restaurant for a little while. He loves anything to do with kitchens and cooking. One of the highlights of China ,for him, was seeing Ratatouille cooking at the White Swan Hotel. (He fixed our eggs and shook Ric's hand). When Ric finished helping his dad, Ariel picked him up so he could drive our grocery cart back to BiLo.

Ric's first violin lesson

Our wonderful violin teacher, Cathy Arps, will no longer be coming over the mountain to teach lessons. This year I have three children ready to begin lessons ( and a fourth when Andy gets just a little calmer - he can carry a tune beautifully, but isn't quite ready to be careful with a violin). The plan for the moment is for Everett, Ariel and I to get them going and join Cathy's students for recitals in Sylva. Our new bows have arrived, so we will begin at the Chinese restaurant this week with Brandon and Rachel. Anyone who knows anything about my musical abililty must be laughing (it took at least three years for me to tell the e string from the a string)...but after sitting through about 15 years of Suzuki lessons I must have picked up something...or at least that is what I am counting on. Unfortunately, I quit playing the violin many years ago to try the viola so I have a lot of brushing up to do....I will be heavily counting on Everett and Ariel , who can both actually PLAY the violin.

Talent

Everyone is gifted at something - here are some of the things we can do. ( Everett and I had some trouble imagining , at first, how Ric was able to keep that straw up. We think we have it figured out.)
In the medical realm - Andy's TB test was positive (not too much of a surprise since he probably had a vaccine in China - not given here) so he had to have a chest xray along all his blood work to test for various other exotic things. Dr. Berger agrees that it is probably Crouzons or some related syndrome.

Design Flaws

I always think anything is possible and there's probably an easy way to do it. Having strong Ge Ges (big brothers ) helps alot. Jay brought home the railroad ties and sand and Everett made the sandbox with the boys cheering him on. In retrospect, it IS possible I should have thought about it a little longer. Everett wondered if it mattered if it was level - it didn't matter to me. Jay wondered if the boys would get filthy on the railroad ties - oh well, I had already paid for them. It LOOKS great - should I cover the rr ties with polyurethane - would it ever dry? For the moment, I am going to consider it finished and move on to another project ( unless it rains and the sand slides out the one corner that isn't exactly sitting on the ground) ;-)