See her in that photo?
That's about three hours after surgery on her right knee, the one injured by a student the week after school started in the fall of last year.
It's taken this long for the school's Workers Compensation program to figure out that physical therapy alone is not going to put her knee back in place.
The surgery today was to have begun at 11:15 AM, but was delayed by an earlier patient and didn't actually start until about 2:30 PM.
I left Savannah about noon, wanting to make sure I arrived at her house shortly after 1 PM, to make double sure I'd be there when the girls arrived home from school on the bus.
Michael joined me there and together we let the dogs out and waited - waited for word from Chelsea about the surgery status, waited for the four little once-blonde girls to get there, waited.
When the girls came home, all were allowed to have a snack, then it was homework time for Miyah and Chloe.
That coincided with word from Chelsea that the surgery had gone well, with the doctor having success in getting the meniscus back in place, mending the tear in it, and removing all the torn cartilage in the patella.
Within another hour, they were on the way back to Hinesville from Jesup.
Michael went back to his house with Leila and Alyssa, to make dinner for all of us: spaghetti with meat sauce, as well as garlic toast, all arranged by Christina this morning.
I stayed with Christina's girls.
We went for a walk, as the girls told me the park was within range.
No, not quite, but we did have a nice jaunt, being mindful of the traffic as we neared each intersection along the way.
Dinner was set for 6 PM, so we headed over and the girls played with the feral cats.
To my great surprise, Chelsea and Christina showed up there!
Christina even managed to get up his front porch steps!!!
The reason she's lying on the couch is that she's still loopy from the anesthesia, as well as a preemptive dose of pain meds administered post-surgery.
Poor Chloe is a little concerned about her Mama, but I think she and Miyah both were very relieved that Christina would be home when we returned.
So she was, too, having again climbed up steps by herself, and was set up on the recliner, with icy air bathing her swaddled knee.
The girls were very helpful with their evening routine, too, doing what they were supposed to do, with no lollygagging and no picking on each other.
I had asked Christina to write up a schedule for me, and she did, so the girls and I - and the two dogs - know exactly what is required of us.
I'm glad dinner at Michael's had been set up so I didn't have to worry about what to cook.
That was really nice of her to even plan for us.
I guess I forget sometimes that she's a grown woman, now in her fourth decade, and has been taking care of others for most of her life.
Now, it's my turn to help take care of her.
I went out a few minutes ago and bought ice for her knee-cooling machine, with plenty to get us through tomorrow morning, too.
Speaking of which, that challenge for me gets started at 6 AM.
Time for me to get to bed.
Not that I won't return to sleep after the girls board the bus in the morning, but, still, I need to be awake to make sure they get up, get their meds, get dressed, get lunches.
Meanwhile, I'm very proud of Christina for doing so well so far.
Very proud of her.
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