Visit with the surgeon

We had a visit with Caitlin's plastic surgeon today. Her 2nd post-op appointment was supposed to be next Thursday, but it was moved up after Monday's "incident." The doctor said everything looks good; Caitlin still has some stitches in her nose, but they should dissolve so they didn't remove them today. It would have been best to have left the stent in until the swelling went down, but so far it appears no major damage was done. We will just have to be very careful, but overall things look good... Which was a huge relief for me!(Taken today outside her doctor's office today)

Caitlin's 3rd Birthday!

My little princess turned 3 today. I still can't believe how quickly time with her flies by! My "baby" is not a baby anymore... It makes me a little sad, but I'm also very excited to watch her continue to grow into one amazing little girl.

Caitlin is talking up a storm, in sentences mostly (although not always grammatically correct, but it's incredible to see how far she's come since starting speech therapy back in June!). She knows every shape that I know, most of the animals that I know, all the colors, recognises all the letters and says the alphabet, and can count and recognise numbers up to 20.

She loves music; Caitlin sings many songs all by herself, and loves to dance. She dreams of being a ballerina (or an astronaut, depending on the day!)... I'm getting her into a dance class soon!

She is a master of puzzles, Her favorite "toy" is still books, and she enjoys "reading" her favorites out loud.

She is still very much a "girly-girl"; I'm not sure if she's more princess or diva, but she's cute either way! She loves getting dressed up, she wants her hair braided every morning, enjoys getting her toenails painted, and loves to help pick out her jewelry and bows to match her outfits.

Here are some pictures from Caitlin's birthday celebration (which started last weekend and ended today at Disneyland!):

Saturday:

Opening gifts:

Opening birthday and get-well cards that came in the mail:

At her "party" (with just Nana, Caitlin and me) at our

favorite sushi restaurant Saturday night:

Our server friends at the restaurant

surprised Caitlin with gifts, too!

On Sunday my mom and I took Caitlin up to Disneyland

for a few days. Caitlin loved meeting all the princesses!

(She was dancing with Aurora here):

She saw Aurora again today. My mom treated us to a character breakfast with the princesses! (Notice the lack of a stent!):

Posing with Goofy in our hotel lobby:

Hugs for Pluto:

Happy Birthday, Princess Caitlin!!

Unscheduled removal of stent

Caitlin had a little incident this afternoon: while goofing around on the bed after her nap, she wound up knocking part of the stent out of her nose. After spending over a half hour on the phone trying to get the number of the on-call surgeon, then multiple back-and-forth calls between her, Caitlin's surgeon and myself, it was determined that it needed to come out.

We are up in LA celebrating Caitlin's birthday with a trip to Disneyland and therefore unable to get down to see the surgeon, so my mom and I got to do it ourselves. My mom held Caitlin down while I stuck scissors up Caitlin's nose and snipped the last stitch that was holding the rest of the stent in. Not exactly how we had planned to spend our evening, but now we can get a real look at her amazing new nose!Caitlin is very proud of her new nose; she keeps telling me how much she likes it! (She also keeps announcing "Tube all gone!")

Just in time for her birthday, too- this may have been the best gift that I could have given her (as far as making her happy and comfortable, that is; not necessarily for the benefit of her nose, since the stent was supposed to stay in until next Thursday...)

First post-op appointment

Caitlin had her first post-op appointment this afternoon, and the stitches and splint were removed! I can finally see her "new" nose and scar, and they look great! She still has the stent in her nose for 2 more weeks, but everything else is gone.

Caitlin did not cooperate with the surgeon or nurses today (she was not in her usual "perfect patient" mood, not that I can blame her- it's only been 6 days since her surgery!), so they had to wrap her in a blanket like a burrito, and they kicked my mom and me out of the room. I argued, but they kept telling me that Caitlin would do better without me in there. I was not happy, but I walked out the door (mumbling something to the tune of "this is a huge mistake"). When I saw the terrified look on Caitlin's face as I was walking out the door, and the pleading look in her eyes as she was screaming bloody murder and staring at me with a look that clearly said "Please don't leave me!", I turned around and walked right back in the door and announced that I was staying. I would stay out of their way and not interfere, but I was not leaving. They were angry and exchanged a lot of looks between themselves, but there was nothing much they could do to keep me out at that point.

It was nowhere near as bad getting the stitches taken out as it had been getting them put in back in July when Caitlin busted her eye (when I was allowed to stay by her side), so I really don't know what the problem was. I stood back, against the wall where Caitlin could keep her eyes on me, but I was not in their way. Caitlin was very upset, even when it was over, and took a few minutes to calm down, but I know that it would have been far worse if they had succeeded in making me leave.

Anyway, she's done for now; her next post-op appointment when they will remove the stent from her nose is on the 23rd, but for now she's going to get to enjoy a little more spoiling from her Mama and Nana (dinner tonight at her favorite restaurant and a trip to Disneyland next week for her birthday, among other things)!

Here are a few pictures from today...

Before:

After:

(Look at that cute little nose!)

At her celebratory dinner tonight:

Doing great!

Caitlin is doing really well since her surgery. I am completely impressed with how strong and brave she is. She really doesn't let anything get her down. She even told me that she was going to thank her doctor for fixing her nose! She fights taking her medicine and cries hysterically when I have to clean her scar and apply the antibiotic ointment, but other than that she has a positive attitude and is just amazing.

She's enjoying being spoiled, and it's starting to show, however. She has definitely been testing the limits! I've been telling her that sympathy only goes so far; she's not so pitiful that she can't find herself in time out if she keeps it up!

I took these pictures in the car tonight; we went for a short ride before dinner, just to get out of the house, and Caitlin was having a good time listening to her favorite CD ("Wicked")...

Singing along to "Defying Gravity":

Pretending to fly, just like the Wicked Witch:

Hard to believe she just had surgery 2 days ago, huh?

Some pictures from the hospital yesterday:

Posing with "Sasha"- her new hospital bear that I gave her that morning:
Hospital gowns; not for the modest (Caitlin didn't mind, though!):Watching the Disney Channel while we waited:All dressed up and ready to go back (I looked like an Oompa-Loompa!):

So far so good...

I don't want to speak too soon, since the 3rd day after surgery is usually the hardest, but so far Caitlin is doing amazingly well! We stopped by the pharmacy last night on the way home from the hospital to pick up Caitlin's prescriptions, then went to McDonald's to get her her very first milkshake! She loved it- and also ate some homemade applesauce I made for her. She wanted to take a bath, but she melted down in the tub so I put her to bed.

Neither of us slept well last night (I let her sleep with me so I could keep an eye on her, so I know that she was tossing and turning all night), so we got up early this morning. She didn't really want to eat, but I finally got her to eat some yogurt and the rest of her milkshake from last night. Getting her to drink has been a struggle, but I finally got a syringe today and she drank juice that way.

Caitlin looks kind of like she ran into a wall or something; her face is swollen, she has a splint over her nose and a tube coming out of each nostril, along with all of the stitches above and on her lip. She looks pitiful, but she is such a trooper!

She can't smile or move her lips much, but she started laughing this morning by opening her mouth slightly and just saying "eeeeee!" It's kind of cute (in a sad way)! She is talking, but without moving her lips and sounding very nasal, it's very hard to understand her. But typical Caitlin, she doesn't let anything stop her! She's still up to her devilish ways and trying to get herself in trouble!

After refusing to slow down this morning, we decided to take a walk in the park. That way I could strap Caitlin into the stroller and keep her out of trouble! She enjoyed it- and the fresh air was good for all of us!