Win Win

We brought Sylvie to the Reuten Outpatient Clinic this morning to meet Dr. Valda and have Sylvie's Jackson-Pratt drainage tube removed from her abdomen. We've been measuring how many cc's of 'stuff' fills the clear hand grenade twice daily and it's finally at the point where it can come out. Everyone in the clinic saw either one of the articles on Strides For Sylvie or the TV news piece and were very excited for Monday's race and also flattered that we think so favorably of them.

Dr. Valda was there to meet us and we got down to business pretty quickly. I am glad we opted to wait to do this in the clinic as opposed to his office with Michael and I assisting. It took 3 nurses plus Michael and I to subdue Miss Sylvie. Dr. Valda removed the tape, and honestly the tape might have traumatized Sylvie more than the tube as opposed to Michael and me. When Michael and I saw what he removed from her abdomen after snipping a few stitches we couldn't help but grimace at the 6" piece of porous plastic that had been absorbing Sylvie's excess abdominal fluids. And like that, Sylvie is tube free! Yippee!

We went over to the cafe with the cool fish tank for a special cheesy egg wrap, picked up 50 Munchkins (the mini doughnuts, as opposed to little people) and went to Sylvie's super-fabulous preschool, Montessori Learning Center. We had called ahead so Maeve, Mrs. Brophy, Mrs. Morrow and Ms. Fay were expecting us. I don't know who was more elated, Sylvie's teachers, Sylvie or us! My eyes got all teary as Sylvie painted a picture. For a brief second, she almost forgot that she didn't want to walk and nearly cruised over to Mrs. Brophy. We played, sang Laurie Berkner's "We Are The Dinosaurs" and ate doughnuts. It was cute. Sophia and I talked about our favorite Barbie movies ("Diamond Castle"), Alexandra and I talked about Lucky, Julia and I chatted away too and Kate and I sat next to each other. We didn't want to overstay our welcome today, Sylvie was tired, so we left and promise to return on Friday morning. Yeay. It felt very NORMAL and normal is exactly what the doctor ordered.