Ariel at the hospital

Ariel's first (and hopefully last) week at the hospital. She stayed 5 days for a surgery to remove an abscess in her neck. The large bump on her neck, was not responding to antibiotics and had grown to approximately 6'' x 6'' from her ear to her collar bone vertically and from her jaw to the back of her neck, horizontally. The only way to fix it was to lacerate and drain it (eww, not to mention painful.) She was/is our little drama queen and put up quite a protest about almost all of the procedures. She had to be sedated to receive her cat scan, pinned down by three people when her stitches were pulled closed and the doctor reports that she woke "everyone in the hospital, including the dead" when they wheeled her away from us (her parents) to the operating room. Needless to say, she feels traumatized by the experience but is recovering well. We will get her stitches out tomorrow and I think the doctor has sent a warning out to all patients with appointments at the same time, it's going to be "screaming" good time.

Thank you to everyone who came and visited while we were away from home. It was so nice to feel loved.

Ariel's first smile at the hospital was when her sister Shantell called. I don't know what they said to each other, but they have quite the gift for making each other laugh.