Health update

mom made a conscious decision to keep this blog upbeat, keeping discussions of any medical problems or illnesses off the blog. Well, we're delighted to tell you today, Dear Reader, that the surgery was a success:



Beyond Uncle Rodrigo's health problems, though, Lil' Genghis got her first piercings today, little adornments for her ears. It's traditional for Brazilian girls to get their ears pierced, but a little less traditional to have tubes stuck in 'em so some puss can leak out.*

She went under a brief round of general anesthesia today and woke up, pretty disoriented, with the ear tubes, which should fall out in about 18 months. Until then, they'll be helping keep her inner ear free of fluid build up. Literally every time she went to see the doctor since last September, she had an ear infection -- at least six infections in nine months, and, we suspect, more infections earlier on that we wrongly attributed to stuff like colic.

So she's doing fine now with the tubes, which are a common surgery, and they should reduce the number of future ear infections, if not beat 'em off pretty much entirely. Time will tell. This has, with the possibility of an early bovine-American secretion allergy, been her only health stumbles. We think her vocabulary will soon take off now that she can actually hear -- imagine that!

And a special call-out to Aunt Catherine: In the recovery room, she got a little Strawberry Shortcake sticker and seemed pretty darned happy about it.

For those of you wondering, mom is recovering quite nicely.



* Would "Leaking Puss" be a good band name? mom still likes
The Horny Polentas," but dad is partial to "Occupied Montana."