The Last Surgery--One Tough Cookie

B. had her final  surgery this summer (we really hope). She had her lower jaw moved forward to meet up with her upper jaw, and for the first time in her life, her teeth come together, making it easier to chew food properly!  She also wanted some work done on her hands, so bends were formed at the fused 2nd joint of her fingers on her right hand, and the webbing between her thumb and index finger on her left hand was deepened. She really knows how to have fun sporting a cast on her writing hand, a bandage on her other hand, and her teeth rubber banded shut for 6 looooonnnnnnnggggggg weeks.  She did it though!  One finger is still working hard to heal up properly, but everything else is looking grand.  She only has to have rubber bands on her teeth at night and the time for the braces to be off FOREVER is fast approaching.  Yahoo!  We just can't wait to have another B.O. party (Braces Off).

Miss B. doesn't realize what a tough cookie she is. Everyone told her how tough she was when they saw and heard about her surgery. She just nodded in agreement. But I don't think she really thought about the tough cookie she is.  She told me in the middle of it, "Sure, I'm tough...but I'm tired of being tough."  Yeah, being tough over and over again sometimes often stinks.  But, as Miss B, has shown, it can be done.

I've overheard B's peers talking about having broken their foot or torn their ligament or gotten stitches, while B listens silently and just nods.  Surgeries have just been a way of life for her, often something she did every summer in her early years.  And yet she goes through them and then relearns how to use her mouth to form sounds or work her fingers to have beautiful handwriting.

B, you are tough. You have done some amazingly tough things. There will be more tough things to go through in life, but I know you will keep going, being happy, and seeing the happy in life. Now, always seeing the happy can be tough, but, hey, you already do tough things.  Besides, you are one tough, sweet cookie.  Don't you forget that.