Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Smile surgery: Domo heads home

The 9-year-old girl who can’t smile because of Moebius syndrome – but now has the means to learn – has said her good-byes to the good people at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

Dominque Piotrowski and family are now en route to continue her long recovery process in the comforts of Fairport Harbor, with a likely overnight stop to give Domo and her 2-year-old sister Aleena their first glimpse at Niagara Falls.

Papa Piotrowski updated his Facebook page Monday with details of the family’s weekend: a visit to nearby open markets, an Irish Day Parade that went right past their hotel, and some purse shopping at a three-story mall.

Dr. Ronald Zuker granted Domo permission to leave the city with flying colors Monday as long as she avoids caffeine and chocolate. Following the rules, her dad said she has temporarily switched to decaffeinated coffee –- which she prefers mostly black.

Needless to say, despite some lingering pain, Domo is back in the building.

"She’s been a pied piper. It’s just like nonstop, soon as they brought her off the morphine and told her she could do things – she’s just blah blah blah blah blah blah blah," Quentin said. "Dr. Zuker told her she was good and she wouldn’t have to stay here much longer, and she was just yacking at the mouth."

"As our last promise we ate lunch at Tokyo Sushi, where our chef would treat us like Gods and make us our last meal in town," he wrote on Facebook. "We had our times with her when she could not go to the pool with a slide, eat chocolate, drink soda or have one of her favorites, coffee with cream. Too funny: my sushi, coffee, sardines and smoked oyster girl. What a pallet."

Hospital staff removed the drainage tube from behind her ear; Quentin will snip the plastic hook’s sutures in about 10 days. Rehabilitation won’t start until healing is sound under the watchful eye of a Zuker associate in Beachwood.

The next time Domo sees Toronto will be a month or two from now, during an all-expenses-paid trip so Zuker can study her progress and potential. Until then, she’ll have to remember her favorite surgeon by a pig Webkinz stuffed animal from his couch, a surprise, which she promised would be his namesake.

Quentin said his chatterbox daughter talks a mile a minute to the doctor who pioneered and conducted her "smile surgery" – nothing short of amazing, considering her tough recovery, but certainly a sign of maturity.

"Her aspirations of becoming a doctor, I just hope they stay with her," Quentin said. "She’s very in tune to what the doctors do when they’re messing around with her. She studies it, watches, and she’s very intent on trying to figure out what they’re doing, even if she doesn’t like it."

McKinley Elementary, expect your pint-sized hero back to class Monday.

-- Sandra M. Klepach, SKlepach@News-Herald.com

Above, Domo goofs with hospital staff; plays pool with her mother, Trinity; leads her family around the hospital; and still finds time for Dr. Zuker. Pictures provided by the Piotrowski family.


Anyone unfamiliar with Domo's case can catch up online:
02/15 Looking forward to her smile (featuring video)
03/11 Family all smiles following surgery
03/12 Doctor: 'Smile surgery' looking good for FH girl
03/12 Smile surgery: Domo on Day 3
03/14 Smile surgery: Domo on Day 5
Quentin welcomes News-Herald readers to use Facebook to befriend him or Join the Cause for more updates and pictures.

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