Home from the Hospital / Photos from Atlantic Beach

1. Ana in her room at UNC Children's Hospital a few hours after surgery. Note her pink monkey on the IV stand.
2. Sleeping angel.
3. Beaufort waterfront.
4. Atlantic Beach.
5. Ana singing unknown song as we drive over Radio Island.

[Phil]
Just a brief update about Ana. First of all, thank you to everyone who sent their good thoughts and wishes for Ana's surgery and speedy recovery. So far she's doing just great. She definitely seems to have some occasional pain in her mouth, but the oxycodone every 4 hours works wonders, especially on her mood! The only real side-effect of the surgery that I've noticed is that she has to blow her nose A LOT. We've probably been through a couple of boxes of tissues already. Ana has been mostly good-spirited through all of this, but as a child who loves her food (and is picky about what she eats), she is definitely tiring of soft foods like apple sauce, mushed-up baked beans, yogurt, etc. I think she's even tired of ice cream. We're going to have to get creative with our cuisine if this food prohibition is going to last for another 10 days. We were also warned repeatedly to keep Ana from touching her mouth, but so far this hasn't been a problem. We tried to put the soft arm restraints on her at night (they just keep her from inadvertently touching her mouth during sleep), but she really couldn't sleep with them on. Instead, Robin put her hands in mittens that she pinned to her pj top. This seems to be working well and during the day she's fine without them. So overall I would say things are going much better than I expected.

I have also included a couple of photos from a fun beach trip that we went on with our friend Carmen the weekend before the surgery. It was Ana's first experience seeing the ocean, and the look on her face was priceless. I could only describe it as "awe". I'll let Robin tell more about the beach trip. Right now I have to go puree some more beans. :-)

[Robin]
Ana, not unlike many children, was really frightened by the waves at the beach. She spent much of her time trying to herd us away from the ocean with "Careful, Mama!" She also was very apprehensive about getting her hands and feet "dirty" in the sand. She finally came to grips with it once we put a bucket of sea water next to our sand castle area, allowing her to dip and rinse as the mood struck her. The one ocean-related thing she really did like was searching for seashells. We had a great time picking them up, washing them off and selecting the winners to come home. She now has a beautiful selection of shells on her nightstand.

She also really enjoyed the State Aquarium. She loved watching the fish darting back and forth and the river otters swimming up to the front of the tank to say hi.

Lastly, clam strips were a surprise food hit with Ana. She ate them like popcorn and went through an enormous amount.

[Phil]
(I also liked the clam strips)