Fill #4

Another fill behind us. We are 1/3 of a way done. I know what you are thinking....it's that large and only 1/3 of the way done?! That's not even halfway yet!

(this picture was taken before today's fill)

Some have asked whether they'd (being the doctors) will think it's full enough and won't need many more. We asked today and they are going to continue right up till August with the fills. They'd rather have too much skin than not enough to use. Besides, it's rare that there is ever too much skin.

Today definitely had its ups and downs. We start by gearing up for the hospital already a few days before we go, talking about it etc. Keziah was fine on the drive,always on the lookout for the big tower and wind turbine. The difference being today was that she fought me when I had to put the numbing cream and bandaids on. So I knew what was ahead for us once she would have to go through the procedures. The cream doesn't hurt, nor does putting the bandaid on, but she has developed a real fear of the bandaid because it pulls some hair out everytime we take it off. But once I got both on, she was fine, even excited when we arrived at the hospital because of the "hills" we get to drive down in the parking garage!

While waiting, there was another little girl and she quite liked Keziah's froggie backpack. Apparently Keziah is pretty protective over it! She was NOT impressed :o)

The actual procedures themselves went over quite rough. Holding down your 2 year old, with her kicking and screaming isn't very easy physically, but most of all emotionally. She was VERY upset. Anytime the doctor touched her, she screamed. So yeah, it was tough. It's hard too for us as the parents to try not get upset because we don't want her to see us like that, but it just seemed today that the harder I tried, the more I failed. Those tears just kept coming.

Depsite her being so upset, they still managed to get 25 cc's in each expander. Once done and she was sitting up, we all noticed that the forehead expander was leaking. The fluid was coming out of the port, out of the needle prick hole. So we had to stay there for quite awhile to see what that was all about. Thankfully the trickle slowed down after an hour or so, which shows that it was probably just some of the saline around the port (under the skin) that didn't get into the tube that takes it to the expander. If it did not stop leaking, that would mean a setback, in that the port is faulty and is not self-closing. That would mean surgery in where they would have to start over by replacing the forehead expander with a new one. We are SO thankful that by the time we got home, it pretty much stopped leaking. Phew!!!

Because of Keziah's reactions and her anxiety is getting worse with each fill, they set us up with a Child Life Coach. While waiting for the port to stop leaking, this Child Life Coach spent a lot of time with Keziah, playing with her. Her name is Shaindi (Shane Dee) and she will be with Keziah most of the time from now on to ease her anxiety about all this. This was an answer to prayers!!! The pictures will show what she all did:

If you know Keziah, you will know that she is a very easy and engaging child. She is not really shy and is quite verbal. And so, being introduced to Shaindi and playing with her was no problem at all!

Blowing bubbles!! Nevermind the size of her cheek....look at the delight written on her face! Just 10 minutes earlier she was not having fun at all, but obviously she recovered!

Playing a fish matching game together

Here Keziah is counting to 10 for Shaindi. It looked so cute as she counted her fingers!

I debated whether to add this picture or not due to what her cheek looks like, but it's a fact: that's what it looks like. Let me tell you, that big bad wolf in the 3 Little Pigs story thought he could huff and puff?! He's got nothin' if compared to her!! :o)

Shaindi then introduced a doll for Kez, and they re-enacted what all happens to Keziah; they do this to help kids prepare for what is all going on. They also get the kids to pretend they are the doctor, which makes them feel they have control over the situation.

Here Shaindi is putting cream on the doll, just like I do with Kez.

This is when we saw Keziah's fear of the bandaid. As soon as Shaindi took it out, Keziah backed up and pulled her hands to herself. She would NOT touch the bandaid and most certainly would not put it on the doll.

Helping her dolly to blow bubbles.

We had to chuckle at one point. Shaindi took out her Ipad and asked Keziah what song she would like to hear. Keziah's eyes lit up and said "Holy, holy, holy!!" You can imagine the confused look on Shaindi's face! I quickly explained what that song was but said that finding "Jesus Loves Me" would be just as well. :o)

All said and done, the 45 minutes with Shaindi was so worth it. Keziah left the hospital with her new doll in hand and was a tired, but happy camper.

And I knew one day all those little lotion bottles I've collected over the years from hotel stays would eventually come in handy! You can guess what we did all afternoon! That's right, her dolly needed lotion on her owies quite a few times :o) This was all initiated by her. And instead of using bandaids, we are now working with saran wrap, which is going over so well. We will continue doing this with her and so hopefully next week will go a little easier for her.