Julian's third craniectomy happened on March 29th, 2011.

Rory got sent off to her grandparents' homes for the week and we managed to fly down to Oakland for the surgery (which was an ordeal, as Pablo is still unemployed, I'm in school, we're paying a ludicrous amount of money for COBRA and have no place to stay).  It was nice to see Sue again, though:

We got situated in the Family House (which is like a big dorm for families whose kids are undergoing surgery) and Jubie tucked in to a book, all smiles and happiness as always.

As always, we Tried to make light of the whole thing, dressing Juju up to look like his plastic surgeon, Dr. Toth:

And adding the now-customary sharpie on the head before surgery (this one says "Third time' the [charm]."  We've found that laughing keeps us from going absolutely nuts:

Surgery went  quickly and well, and he was out cuddling his stuffies as soon as it was possible.

He started to swell up pretty quickly, though, and pretty soon he couldn't see too well.  Still, he had a cell phone to play faux-tetris on, and he was still in a pretty perky mood:

This was the first time he ended up with black eyes, though, so even after the swelling was down and he was snuggling Papa, he looked pretty beat-up:

Still, his mood never really seemed to wane, except when one nurse "forgot" to give him his pain medication because, you know, he didn't ask for it verbally.  Um, the boy is not really verbal, he actually signed PAIN, and he's on an every-6-hour pain med order!  She might have gotten the rough side of my tongue and a report to her supervisor.

His long hair preserved, he finally ended up on a plane back home (which he loved) and we got ready to head back to what passes for a normal life here in Portland. 

Plus, he makes helmets look good!