Dec 17 - back in Dallas

Thu, Dec 15 was a rainy day so we went to Museum Center instead of the zoo. We met up with Thomas & Zoryana as well as Melissa Miller, her husband & daughter Kaitlyn. The kids had a great time running around... they especially liked the trains in the holiday hall. That evening, at the RMH, there was a magician show for the kids. KP was starting to play Candy Land when one of the magicians came up to the table & showed him a slight of hand trick... after that it was put the game away & let's go watch their show (he said earlier he wasn't interested). He laughed, shouted out responses and generally had a good time.

Fri, Dec 16 - D (for decision) day.. went for an xray at 9am. They are really organized... check in via kiosk... a couple minutes later the receptionist called Everett's name, banded him & off we went to xray. Next stop Dr. Pena's office. After a short wait he arrived. KP was started to cry when he asked him to get on the examining table. Margot had told him that Dr. Pena would do "probies".. which meant he would have to dilate his newly formed anal opening. After his first pull-thru operation KP had to have "probies" for many months to keep slowly enlarge the opening and then keep it from closing. Dr. Pena told him don't worry, he wouldn't hurt him (Margot wondered how he was going to pull that off). He looked at KP's incision and said it looked good. When Margot asked about dilation, he said no dilation... ever! Margot didn't know whether to hold KP & keep him from falling or hug Dr. Pena. KP was SOOOO happy. He said that if Daddy wanted to do "probies" he would tell him "No, Dr. Pena said no "probies." The only other instruction we received was to use double diapers for another 2 weeks.... no straddling till after Dec 29.

After the July bowel management session, Dr. Pena indicated that using laxatives to keep KP clean would probably not work because of KP's condition (very high imperforate anus). Now he told her to call the bowel management clinic in 6 -12 months to have another try at the laxative regime... though he's not promising it would work.

We left Cincinnati right after lunch. We drove until we reached Mayfield, KY (Margot never ever wants to go back there) and spent the night. Today we planned to drive to Hot Springs, AK and visit the train museum & a hands-on children's museum BUT decided once we got there that we could make it home. So we pushed through and arrived around 7pm... yay. End of Cincinnati saga...

Thank you to doctors, nurses & staff at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital and to the staff at the Cincinnati Ronald McDonald House.