June 12, 2007, 2:10 PMPDT, Tuesday

Molly is in surgery. They took her in at noon today. It is so good to know we are all holding hands together. Warm thoughts to all and back again. I got the call this morning as we were enjoying preschool in Chester. Just got home, fed the hungry hippos, and logged on. I will update as I can. We have preschool graduation tonight but may have some wireless in Chester to get the new info out. Love to all. Dianne

9:30 PM, Tuesday night:

Molly is out of surgery. All went well. She is on minimum drugs and the closing, which can be iffy, was done with no problem. Kevin and Mary are meeting with the doctor in a half an hour. Kevin will call and give me more information. I will get it passed along as soon as I can.

Woo Hoo!!!

10:27 PM, Tuesday night:

Molly is a star! She was in surgery for 7 hours. There is apparently no swelling which made the closing so easy. She is sedated and will remain sedated for 24 to 36 hours. There can be no chance for her to move around and open the wound. She is on the ventilator and has drain tubes. Kevin and Mary are heading to Ronald McDonald House to get a full night's sleep. They have expressed the desire to be with her as much as possible and the belief that their presence will help Molly recover more quickly. They have been assured that, as soon as it is safe to do so, they will be holding her as much as they want.

Good Night to all. D

• What do you call a one-eyed deer? ....no idea(r).... Katie and Dominic
• Where do bees go to the bathroom? ....the BP station.... Dianne
• A tourist is traveling with a guide through one of the thickest jungles in South America, when he comes across an ancient Mayan temple. The tourist is entranced by the temple, and asks the guide for details. To this, the guide states that archaeologists are carrying out excavations, and still finding great treasures. The tourist then queries how old the temple is.
  "This temple is 1503 years old", replies the guide.
  Impressed at this accurate dating, he inquires as to how he gave this precise figure.
  "Easy", replies the guide, "the archaeologists said the temple was 1500 years old, and that was three years ago". Annie

Love and love to everyone in Palo Alto.
Love, (to be redundant),
Godfannie Annie

• We are so glad to hear "all is well"!!!!! Thank you, Grandma Dianne, for keeping us all posted. You are a fighter, Little Miss Molly!!! Now you can concentrate on growing more adorable and sweeter day by day!!! We have a feeling you have Mommy and Daddy and brothers wrapped pretty tight around your tiny finger!!! Good for you! All that good loving is the best medicine anyone could prescribe!!!! Can hardly wait to see you in person! Love, Connie and Jim and all of the Spice family
• Well, I am following your updates regularly. I can only imagine how you must be feeling today. I want you to know that Scott always said that if you had to have something go wrong with your body, let it be your heart. . . and that was many years ago. Modern medicine is amazing, and that sweet baby girl will be the picture of health within days.
  I love you. I hope you can feel my support....Ann
• Mary and Kevin are pillars of strength--they balance each other quite well. I'm sure you've heard by now that this particular hospital ward has a million rules and regulations, but we think that once Molly's moved to the recovery wing things will be different. Molly shares a room with at least 8 other babies and that room is attached by a glass slider to an identical room, so to walk in and just see rows of tiny sweethearts with mounds of equipment and tubes was overwhelming. That, coupled with the lack of family present for any of those other babies, broke our hearts.

Shannon (my 18 yr old daughter) and I met Mary and Molly at the hospital Sunday at 5:00. I was upstairs in the ward hallway when I received a call from Shannon, who was lost getting to the correct parking lot (a mis-turn made by Kevin later that night and Mike yesterday). Her one-sided conversation was cute, "Mom, so where exactly are you in the hospital? I don't know what to do--oh, here comes an ambulance--maybe it's Mary--wouldn't that be funny? Hey, it IS Mary--hi Mary!" So Shannon and Mary escorted the space machine holding Molly up to our ward. I need to digress and brag about Shannon here--since only 2 people were allowed with Molly at any given time, I spent the first 3 1/2 hours with Mary at her bedside waiting for Kevin. Once Kevin arrived, the three of us tag-teamed the room. Shannon patiently spent that entire 6+ hours sitting in the hallway and running errands for us. She completely filled an entire locker (NO FOOD OR DRINK IN THE ROOM) with Trader Joe goodies, made a special trip to Target for a special pacifier, and essentially waited on us hand and foot. She didn't even get to see Molly till much later that night!


Anyway, Mary was so unhappy the first day with how cold and uncompassionate it seemed there, but a few things happened yesterday which brought back hope. The first was yesterday morning after she and Kevin were kicked out during rounds. She and I walked back into the room together and there sat Molly's nurse snuggling and rocking Molly. Human touch--yippee! Later in the morning, Kevin and Mary were told that the assistant surgeon would speak to
them about noon--by now we had chips on our shoulders and thought, "yeah, right--it might happen by 5:00." At 12:03 he arrived! Over an hour later Mary and Kevin came out of the meeting with him looking pleased, relaxed, and informed. They really liked him! Another yippee!
Mom and Dad arrived shortly thereafter, Shannon and Luke (now 15!) brought up sandwiches, I went with Kevin to check into the Ronald McDonald House, and all seemed well. Kevin is delighted that the House is within walking distance of the hospital (even though he has to walk through a giant mall) 'cause driving is a pain. The walk looks like it would take 10 minutes.


I hope he and Mary got a chance to sleep a bit last night (they also havemtwo "sleeper" rooms about 25 yards from Molly). There will be tons of support during the surgery--Marilyn called last night and said she and Malcolm are coming down, Dad and Mom will be there, Brendan and I will be there, and I'm sure Gretchen and Dan will also be present. I'll take up my camera today and catch a picture of Kevin trying to eavesdrop and sell classified information about other babies (we've been cracking up at how we can't be in the room during rounds). I'll also get a
shot of little Molly and lovely Mary. :) I've frozen all of Mary's milk for her and I think she's trying to decide if she's going to donate it or keep it for future use. I'd better stop typing and get up there!
Have a wonderful day with N & N!
Kathleen