Success, followed by Repose

After long and wearisome searches cross hill and vale and ford and river that enigmatic battalion known as Neurosurge found Eli's long lost shunt and peremptorily stuck it back in her head. Actually, she underwent a pretty standard surgery and received a new shunt (in the occipital lobe this time, Dr. Strugar assures us). The operation was a total success ("Very smooth," says the illustrious Strugar with a mild accent reflecting a certain Prussian rigour) and Eli looks wonderful, if a bit puffy (we're told on good authority that this is altogether normal). Eli celebrated the advent of her new shunt by taking a long nap, awakening only long enough to inhale a hearty repast, and then taking another, longer nap (she's had quite a day). When she woke up from the second nap she was greeted by an officious nurse who hailed her with the unpleasantries of a sizeable dose of iron (Eli didn't see it coming; usually when iron is on its way she drops defensively into a prolonged expectoral raspberry).

I had no classes today (and my daughter was having brain surgery, so I wouldn't have gone anyway), so I came to the hospital early this morning and have been here ever since. Lia and I have spent a delightful morning, afternoon, and evening together (though Lia's level of delight seems to have been something less steady than my own), reading, reminiscing, napping, and engaging in a joust of competitive superlatives in referrence to the cuteness of our daughters.

Julia and Nin, meantime, have plunged into some heavy duty socializing, beginning with an early morning "tea party" with Julia's latest partner in rumpusry, Callie Laduke. After this venerable custom, there was apparently some dancing, rumbustious music, and a fiery concatenation of revelry that, according to one report, ended in the intervention of the long arm of the law (actually an inveterate neighbor with a sturdy broom, according to another report; naptime according to a third). In any case, Julia and Callie have become quite the pals--because "she's little like I'm little," as Julia, lately arrived at the hospital, just explained to me.

The famous Strugar tells us that the plan is to keep Eli here on the formidable antibiotics for another two or three days (two, we ardently hope) before sending her home with less formidable antibiotics that can be taken orally. We're all very grateful for the success of operation number 5, which we hope and pray will be her last until the present shunt is removed about the time of Eli's twelfth birthday. A special thanks to all who have blessed our little Eli with their anxious thoughts and fervent prayers. Our family is as happy as we have been since Eli's second admission to the hospital, and the prospect of an imminent return home renders the occasion more joyful still.

Huzzah for the hardy Strugar and his faithful cohorts! Hooray for the intrepid Eli!!!