As I watch Abby playing and laughing today, it's humbling to think that one year ago we were spending our first time anxiously waiting on B3 while Aberdeen was in surgery. While the experience was excruciating - we thought she would be having cranial surgery at about six months of age, not a mere five weeks old - I know that without it, we would have a very different daughter than we have today. Her poor little brain was so locked in by her fused cranial sutures that it couldn't grow the way it needed to without removing parts of her skull. Because she also has Noonan Syndrome, the neurosurgeon ran into some unforeseen complications - prompting him to say that the painstaking nature of the surgery figuratively shaved a year off of his life. I love the expression on his face every time he sees her now though, you can tell he's pretty pleased with himself - as he should be! There was no guarantee that Abby would be as interactive and present as she is without his concerted efforts.
September 18, 2014
September 26, 2014
We went to Aberdeen's 1 year post-op follow-up about a week and a half ago and learned that eventually she will need another surgery to release the sutures that have refused since her first surgery (both coronals), but hopefully not for another year or so. He also said that we can consider her a helmet graduate!!! Her bones have healed enough that the helmet won't do much more at this point, so we can be done with it! Yay! They were thrilled with how playful and active she was - signs that her brain is not currently under undue pressure.
We had a number of other follow-ups we had to check off before we could head down to Texas - all going similarly to neurosurg: some good news, some not so good news, doctors very happy with how she's acting. We finally completed all of her appointments last Friday, spent a week planning and packing, and boarded Abby's very first airplane flight yesterday!
It was a long, slightly stressful day, but all in all things went very smoothly and we made it safely to Texas.
We have been enjoying reconnecting with friends and family and look forward to what Texas holds for us (appointments begin on Monday)!
