I am a lucky man!

We are back!

They removed the stitches without any problems.  Doctor said that we did a great job on curing the wounds so that made us very happy.  She looks fantastic.  We came back Wednesday night and I started back at work immediately.  In fact, I am writing this from my office.  Here are some pictures of our last day there.  I will be making a video soon so check back and check it out!

 Minutes after removal!

 American Girl... wow!

 My new favorite picture of Mia and me.

 Ice skating at the Rock!

My girls!

Last Day: We made it!

Sorry for not posting daily but I have come to the conclusion that I just can't keep it up daily.  The lsat few days have been a blur.  From going to Queens to visit my cuz, Alfredo and his family to going all the way to Battery Park so that Noemi could attack Century 21 Department Store.  I am beat. 

Sandra came by last night to visit but unfortunately she could not stay long.  It definitely was different having both of parents up here to help us out.  I had more time to myself and Noemi had less.  Poor thing hasn't left Madi's side for a second to breathe.  That's why I gave her 3 hours of her own today to shop.  I tried other days but she didn't want to "leave Madi's side" (code phrase for "I don't trust you").

Tomorrow, they remove the stitches.  Finally.  This trip has been rough for little Madi.  She has cried hard every day when we cleaned her wounds, twice a day.  I hope it eases up.  She's beginning to not like me or Q-tips.  But she is a trooper.  So, I will post more in the next few days but here are some good ole' pics to hold you over.

 Halloween in NYC.  We went to the mall to Trick or Treat after this.  Quite different than what we have been used to, but they still had a blast.

 The Leon Battle Ram!  It worked quite well.

 If you go back to October 2008 you will see a similar picture.  They have taken one every year at this place.

 Madison... what a character.

Tada!  I am almost outta here!

Day 5: The Intrepid.

Today we will let the pictures do the talking.  I am exhausted to say the least.  Madison is doing great.  What an incredible little girl.  Her strength and understanding is way beyond her years.  The way she let's us clean her wounds without much (if any) fuss.  The way she allows us to put an uncomfortable mask on her face when she goes out.  The way she responds to people when they obviously talk about her in public.  The way she let's us strap her down to go to sleep so that she doesn't roll over on her face.  Amazing.  All my life I have been surrounded by incredible women.  My mother, my sister, my wife, Mia, and Madison.  I am lucky.

 The Battling Ram II.  Thanks to the Leon's.  Mia rides standing in the back.  I ran some idiot over today in it in the middle of the crosswalk.  I literally rammed him with it.  We had some exchanges of words to say the least.  Almost went Hialeah on him. 

She was born for NYC.

 My ladies...

 This pictures says sooooo much... you don't even know.  Heck, I don't even know!

 I am so proud to be an American.  This was amazing!

 I need me one of these in Miami.  Traffic would be so much fun!

 And now there are three of them.

 I have way too much fun with these girls.

I serious moment.  I am so proud of her.

This is just 3 days after surgery.  She is so beautiful.

Day 3: Easy going.

Thankfully, it was quite uneventful today.  We went to see the doctor and he told us that everything looks great with Madison.  We are always concerned that we are cleaning her wounds correctly.  Poor thing is still screaming when we clean them.  Mia and I did a little excursion out to burn off some steam while Madi, Mommy, and Ama (my mom, that's what the girls call her) strolled around the block.  We played at home and dad came by to drop off some good ole' Chinese food from Chinatown.  Tomorrow I have plans on going with Mia over there.

I ended the night by going to smoke a cigar in Columbus Circle.  It is amazing out here.  I really need to get a place out here.  Something about this place that inspires me since I was a kid.  Walking the streets while listening to music is one of my favorite things to do out here.  The weather is great.

 The women in my life (minus Sandra).  And yes, Madi has a face mask on.  She's ready for battle!

 Hard at work.

Enjoying a little me time.  I love this place.

Day 2: A Success

Just as in many other surgeries before, we woke up early and you could tell we all were a bit anxious.  Although it was raining, the taxi got us there faster than a New York minute.  In the waiting room we got to meet some other children that were going in for similar surgeries as Madison.  Dr. Waner is truly the man.  The things that he has been able to do and the amount of time he dedicates to his profession is admirable.  He has changed hundreds of children's lives world wide.  Thank God he is the one taking care of Madison.

She got in fairly quickly.  Unlike the last times, this time she was extremely nervous.  With age comes awareness, and sometimes, with awareness comes fear.  This is one of those situations where "ignorance is bliss."  And if you have ever spent anytime with her, you would know how much she likes to ask questions.  Interestingly enough, she didn't have one for the doctor but when he asked her if she had any questions for him, she looked square at him and said... "I love you"... classic Madison.  Right words at the right time.

The surgery went extremely well.  Everything that the doctor wanted to do, he did.  The removed a lot of the scaring she had in her upper lip, inserted some cartilage from her left ear into her nose, and did laser on her hemangioma.  All in about 2 hours.  She was release fairly quickly and home we went.  Now is when this gets hard.

We spent the rest of the day just chillin' out, on the sofa watching TV and doing art work.  Noemi is extremely careful and having my mom around has been great.  Cleaning her wounds have been the challenge.  She is really a strong child.  Poor thing was crying her head off but she let us get in there and do the uncomfortable... twice.  Everything is nice, clean, and glistening with ointment.  She's on some pain meds and has been quite the character.  Here are some pictures of the day.  Enjoy and thanks to all of you who had her in your prayers.  It really means a lot to us.

 The Man of the Hour!

 In comforting hands.

 Minutes before surgery.  A very scared but BRAVE Madison.  I love that about her!

 Mia cried for a while.  She was really worried about Madi.

 Funny that no one knows Noemi is a Respiratory Therapist over there. 

 PERFECT!

 Thank you Kuma.  This was perfect timing!

Nice and clean, ready to go to sleep.

Dancing Machine

Day One: The flight that never was.

The last sentence you ever want to hear as you are waiting to get your boarding tickets at the airline terminal right before a major surgery you are having for your daughter is… "Sir your flights were scheduled for a week ago"


Silence…

7:20am: "What do you mean "a week ago"?"

So yes, genius boy here made the reservations apparently for October 16, not the 26th. The day BEFORE Madi's surgery. Now if you know me, I am not one to worry, ever. I had an operation done a few years ago by Dr. Matthew 6:25 that had that part of my brain removed but God raised the stakes on this one. I guess He wanted to really know if I still had it removed.

7:22am: "What do you mean "all the flights are booked for today?""

Yes, I could feel Noemi's eyes burning me from the back of my head. This may very well be the most important surgery we have had to date and I have screwed up the flights. Talk about starting a trip on the wrong foot.

7:23am: "Listen, I need to have my wife and my daughter on a flight now. We have a doctor's appointment at 4pm today to get her ready for surgery tomorrow. They need to be on a flight."

To make a very short and intense story, shorter… By the grace of God we ALL got on the originally intended flight at 9:45am. Literally we were ushered into the plane as they were closing the doors.

Everything after that has been butter. Except for aging about 5 years in 2 hours. I aged not because of worrying but because of thinking on how many different ways to get Madi and Noemi to NYC. If we get separated, who goes with who. "What do you mean you don't want to fly with Grandma, Mia?" I can write a book on those two hours.

We arrived in NYC right on time, we went to see the Doc and he cleared everything for surgery. We had a great lunch in the diner under our apartment and we took off to Central Park. After burning all that pent up airplane energy, we headed towards Toy'R'Us for the girls shopping spree. They beat up Geoffrey, took his toys, and we headed home. Ordered Chinese (what did you expect?), I went grocery shopping, and everyone is passed out. Whew…

11:37pm: "God is good."

Why does stuff happen? I don't know. But I sat next to a pastor and we had a great conversation for the whole flight. Everything happens for a reason. I love it! What a great way to celebrate Madison's Nosy Day (read previous post for the definition).

 We made it!

 You don't want this to get ugly... I can do UGLY!

 The reason we are all up here!  Nosy Day

 Central Park Beauties.

 The Aftermath...

 Getting fall leaves for school.

Waiting for Dr. Waner.

Mia's 6th Birthday

Enjoy...

NYC, here we come!

It's been roughly 12 months since we last were in New York.  From the pictures you can see how much Madi has grown.  This last 12 months you can really see her personality come through.  And boy, am I in luck with this one.  She is going to be fun.  Quite spicy I must say.  It's interesting how she has a blend of both of our personalities.  She is fabulous.

But, we aren't going to NY to work on her personality.  The million dollar question is "what are they going to do this time?"

1. Excision of upper lip scar with complex wound closure

2. Nasal septum reconstruction with cartilaginous allograft from the ear (they will take a peace of cartilage form the ear, Madison is not going to miss it- we were promised) and they will reconstruct the bottom part of Madison’s nose.

All that in one trip.  Whew.  What does that all mean?  I will give you the answer the doctor has given me many times and that is… "we are gonna make her pretty, right?"

The next question I need to answer is "Is this the last one?"

Unfortunately, no one knows (no pun intended).  Because this is not a text book operation we won't know till he goes in there, checks what's going on, and until after the healing.

Interestingly, she has a great attitude about it.  We have made our New York trips so much fun for her that she looks forward to these trips.  She understands that she is going to go do an operation.  She even talks about her hemangioma (and she pronounces it perfectly) and how Dr. Waner "will take it off and fix her nosy."

On August 15, we celebrated Mia's Gotcha Day, the day Mia officially made us a family.  We can't believe it has been 5 years already.  And as we were talking about the Gotcha Day, Madison very concerned and wanted to know when her "Nosy Day" was.  So, we have officially named October 26 as Madison's "Nosy Day"  Put it on your calendars and adjust accordingly.  She expects you to!

 Just the sweetest thing...

 First day of school.

Lil' Noemi.