2 Weeks after Surgery 2

Josie has had a rough recovery for this second surgery. Last Thursday she woke up really early with a stomach bug that hung around for 24 hours. Friday morning she was no longer vomiting but the intestinal part of it kicked in and hung around through the weekend.

This week she is on the mend though, she is finally looking bright-eyed and has a fresh new haircut to boot (thanks Aunt Holly)! Her lips are still really swollen but they have started to go down and her incisions are healing. When we were visiting with Dr. Franks last week I asked him about the swelling in her lips and how long it would take for it to go down. He explained that the tissue between your nose and your lip is very dense compared to the cheek, and the swelling tends to be worse and hang around longer.

 A friend asked me recently if I thought Josie understands everything that is happening to her and that made me really stop and think. I've always thought that she understands but I honestly don't know how her 4-year old mind interprets all this. I've thought about how she just seems to accept and understand when its time to go back to New York for another surgery without an argument or fuss. I've heard her explain her scars and cheek to curious kids with such sweet grace. My mind goes back to a comment that Josie made recently. We have a daily routine of applying Aquaphor to Josie's lips and she always asks me "how do I look today, mom?" I tell her "its getting better everyday" and then joke that I'm not going to recognize her one of these days. The last time she asked me this question she commented "...but the doctors forgot to fix this part of my cheek, mom" (pointing to the front of her cheek). So I think she understands, to an extent.