Getting better, one day at a time

Mia is definately improving everyday. So far she's only said that her cheek has been hurting a couple of times, but when she says it hurts you can tell. Those big tears in her eyes just breaks our hearts. We saw the dr who did her surgery Tuesday last week. He was very pleased at how well Mia was doing. He said that Mia's cheek is still pretty swollen and will continue to decrease over time. Our next appointment is in 2 months so good news all around. We then saw Mia's eye doctor on Thursday. Once again, good news that her vision is impoving. Now that her cheek is smaller and not such an obstruction to her field of vision, she is able to wear her glasses again and have a larger area for her eye to see. Two more months and we will visit him again too. Meanwhile, Mia has been enjoying life between playing with Addison and making cookies with mommy, she is so bubbly. Mia was so excited over the weekend to see all the snow we got. Unfortuantly it was so cold out that she was able to play outside to long. Hopefully it will warm up into the teens so we can play. Not only that, but Santa is only a few days away from his visit. Mia is so excited this year for Santa. For those of you that saw her reaction to Santa at the benefit, she had an ear to ear smile and was jumping up and down. Thats a huge 180° from the years past, you couldn't get her within 15' of him. And of course, everything she see's on TV or in the store is "Thats what I really want for Christmas!".

1 Week Update

Well its been one week since Mia's surgery. She is doing pretty well and her swelling has gone done enough so her smile is really starting to show. For the most part, Mia has bounced back and enjoy's playing with her dolls, working on her puzzles, putting a build-a-bear together and taking an occasional nap. I would have to say the hardest thing was Saturday night. We woke up to her wimpering and when I pulled her covers off of her face, there was puke everywhere. Thank god that we have her sleeping in our room, otherwise I don't know what would have happend to her. I'm so gratefull for Brandy because I am worthless when it comes to puke patrol. We are not sure why she got sick but we think it might have had something to do with the drainage running down her throat. Mia was up about 4 times that night and then she didn't eat at all on Sunday. This morning she finally started eating this morning but once she finished there was blood on her lips. Mia has a checkup next Tuesday with the doctors who did the surgery and then Thursday is a check up with her eye doctor. She still has a long way to go but is doing better every day. Her spirit really shines thru!!

Home at last

We were able to get home alittle after noon yestarday. Mia was pretty tired when we left but once we got home, she really got into playing with her kitchen and watching the Grinch. She is doing pretty well, still swollen but it doesn't seem to bother her to much. Mia does get tired after a few hours of playing so she then takes a nap on the couch. Its a full house tonite with all the kids home and they miss their sister. Noah was sad that to see that her face was puffy & bruised. We told him it would take a couple of days to get the swelling down. Such a caring big brother, he definatly loves his sister.

Coming Home

It was a long night but Mia did very well. They just took off her IV so she is free to roam. The main thing Mia wants to do is to go play. There is this big play room with a doll house, a Mia sized house, a Wii, some coloring areas and a pool table. She was able to play there for maybe 10 minutes yestarday before they called us back. Ever since then all Mia has wanted to do is go back. Poor little girl was so sad last nite when we walked past it but it was closed. She is so excited to be able to get up and walk around and she bouncing and marching around. Mia is all changed and ready to play before we head home. Hopefully the roads are nice for a quick trip home.

Recovery

After 2 hours of some well needed rest, Mia woke up and had some apple juice and a Popsicle. As you can see, her face is pretty bruised up and swollen. They tell us it gets worse before it gets better so we have hope. She is sleeping again but this time with an ice pack to help keep the swelling down as well as sitting up. This time when she woke up she ate a cup of Jello. Apparently I wasn't feeding it to her fast enough because Mia grabbed the spoon and started feeding herself. The doctor just happened to come in a the same time she was enjoying the Jello. He was surprised at how well she was eating after everything they had done to her today.
One of the questions that we had was if Mia would lose any movement in her right cheek due to the nerve they had to cut. The doctor reassured me that the two were not related and she would not lose any muscle movement on that side. What a huge relief. We were very upset to her that she will never have any feeling in her cheek but then to not have any movement too... I was about ready to freak out. So we are just grateful that she will not have to go thru life with that too. Mia is still fast asleep right now and has an order of pancakes and a chocolate shake ready for her when she wakes up.

She's out...

We just spoke to the doctor who did the surgery. He said everything went as well as it could have gone. The roof of her mouth was lasered and went very well. They were able to go thru her mouth to remove the mass in her cheek. Once they got in there they found that the main nerve for her cheek was intertwined with the mass. They had no choice but to remove that part of the nerve, which means that Mia will never have feeling in her right cheek. There is a slight chance that with her age Mia may develop some nerves there but it is more likely that the other nerves would be alittle more sensitive. Also, with the size of the mass, it was putting a large amount of pressure on Mia's orbital bone. Over time, it may have deformed her skeletal structure and cause even more permanent damage. The doctor thought that it was an excellent decision we made to remove Mia's mass and to laser the roof of her mouth. I'll update again later with an update on how she is doing.

She's in...

Well... they took her into surgery about 45 minutes ago. They said it would be approximately 2 hours 15 minutes of time for the operation. Then after that she will have to be in recovery for about 1 hour or so. Once they are done, they are going to let us know how it went and I"ll probably post again after she is out of recovery.

Twas the night before surgery....

Well the time has finally come for Mia to have surgery. It was a good thing we decided to drive up to the hospital the night before, due to the 7" of snow they are expecting here by morning. Mia's favorite restaurant is Red Robin, so we trekked out thru the snow and slush to go. She had her usual there, Mac-n-Cheese & melons. Yummy!! A quick bath and some bedtime lotion, she is primed and ready for bed and the big day ahead of her. We would like to thank everyone for calls, voice & text messages and emails of support and concern. She goes in for surgery @ 9:45am and as soon as we have any information I will try to post as soon as possible. Till then, keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Love the Silvers

Surgery Info

We received the call from the hospital:
We will need to arrive between 8-8:15 and surgery is scheduled to begin about 9:45am.
The surgery is going to be at Milwaukee Children's hospital and as of now she will be spending 1 night in the hospital.
Please keep Mia in your prayers!!

Benefit Night

The benefit Saturday nite was a huge boost to our hearts. We cannot believe the amount of friends, family and supporters that came out. With no parking available after 1-1/2 to 2 hours and no room to move once inside, it is very difficult to find words to express our feelings. We are so deeply moved and touched by everyone's thoughtfulness and generosity. We hope that everyone had a chance see Mia and just watch how full of life she is, you would defiantly see were Brandy and I find our strength. She really enjoyed her "birthday dance party", however she is not sure if she wants to have another birthday party like that cause she "didn't get any presents". At the end of the nite, Mia was exhausted from running and playing around. She did want to go back on Sunday because "everyone is still there dancing". Our family would like to thank all of "Mia's Angles" for their hard work, thoughtlessness and genuine concern for Mia.

Benefit Night - Video

Here is a video from WREX 13 about the benefit last nite.

WREX - Benefit Video

Newspaper Articles

Today there were stories published in the Rockford Register Star and the Belvidere Daily Republican, that talk about Mia and the benefit. We would like to thank Kevin Haas @ RRStar and Kristin Rosa @ BDR for these articles.

http://www.rrstar.com/homepage/x1751715242/Benefit-dinner-to-help-with-girl-s-rare-surgery

http://belvideredailyrepublican.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1376&Itemid=26

First Post

Greetings and welcome to our blog about our little princess, Mia! This is our first post and we are happy to share our journey with you. This weekend is the benefit dinner for Mia. We are looking forward to seeing friends and family there.