A Month Later

A month has now gone by since Keziah's surgery. Her healing continues to go well, although in the last few days we've noticed that some of her incisions have opened up a bit. So we are back to applying Polysporin on those parts. And speaking of Polysporin, thanks to all who gave me advice as to how to get that stuff out of our clothes. What I tried and it worked was Dawn dishsoap (thanks, Val!). A reader of the blog also told me that it got Aquaphor out as well, another greasy ointment. So that is good news!!

Here is what her incisions looked like a week ago:

Today, there is a teeny tiny split in her skin graft and the larger opening is on the incision in her hair. As for the pinkness of the skin graft, Dr. Zuker did say it takes about 8 months or so for the incisions and skin graft to lose that colour.

Our goof!

When we go to see Dr. Zuker in September, we will ask about the skin puckering between her eyes, closer to her left eye and eyebrow. We will also ask about the forehead part of her skull. There is now quite a ridge from where the expander was. The expander has made a dent into her forehead bone. We aren't sure if they can do anything about either of them but we'll see. Below you can see the puckering of the skin by her left eyebrow. You can't really see the dented forehead. I can but that's because I know where it is. It's the shiny part in the middle of her forehead and it goes down on an angle.

Keziah does not really talk about what all has happened in the last months. It's not a matter of her not wanting to, it's just that she's moved on. The only way it shows that she's been through something is when she plays doctor. Good thing she usually has a willing patient! This guy is a champ for putting up with all her antics! :o)

One time she wanted to put on her doctor's outfit so she could play with her Playmobil hospital kit.

We are so thankful that there hasn't been any complications so far. We will keep on top of those opened spots so infection does not set in. We are also very thankful that emotionally, she seems to have handled everything well. She does NOT like anyone to touch her face and is very protective over it, but that is to be expected. There is that thick coarse hair that continues to grow on her eyebrow and to cut them is quite the ordeal for her. But hopefully over time, she will gain confidence that it does not hurt for me to do that.

When I had surgery as a child (tonsils out), I had nightmares for quite a few years about it all. I was concerned that Keziah would too. She has always struggled with night terrors and in the last months she has felt the need to sleep walk, but so far none of her night terrors are about the hospital or doctors or anything of the like. It's the typical "there are elephants in my room!!!!" kind of night terrors, with her eyes as big as saucers (bigger than my eyes, and if you know me, that's BIG!). As heartwrenching as it is, trying to help her to see that there are no elephants (or whatever it is that particular night) in her room, I am so thankful that they have nothing to do with the last few months.

(now that I look at that above picture, I think you can see the dented forehead a bit better. It's where the expander laid on it and the bone had formed around it)

We are loving this summer and it is never far from our minds that the if the initial dates stuck, we would just be finishing up our last fill, with surgery happening sometime around now. It makes us so grateful that it all happened in late June instead.

Nooooooo!!

This guy just doesn't clue in that he is my last baby and so he is supposed to take things slow. Nope. Here he thinks he is just the cat's meow by rocking back and forth on his hands and knees.

And this is what my foot looks like from knocking him over to keep him from crawling.

(before you call the authorities, I AM KIDDING!! I stubbed my little toe. Boy, it's amazing how much you use that little toe for balance and walking. You don't realize it until you can hardly use it!!)

14 years ago today....

....we looked like this!! (no comments from the peanut gallery please!! :o)

14 years of marriage. Wow. Actually, if including the years we dated, which is 3 years before marriage, Nathan and I have been together for half my life!!

And to this day, this man remains to be the flip to my flop, the water to my ocean, cheese to my macaroni, hagelslag to my bread and beat of my heart.

I am not going to say every day was peaches and cream; there were definitely some tough moments and trying times. Mostly he was peaches but the cream (me) often would sour quickly. But through all the ups and downs of life, I am so thankful that God has placed the two of us together. Nathan is everything I am not and so we balance each other out very well.

We chose this Scripture text for our wedding 14 years ago and we pray that we will continue to rely on His Word in our marriage for as many years as the Lord will allow us.

 "For this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our Guide even to the end." Ps. 48: 14

Ahhhh! Appointment-free Summer!

When we started the process of removing her birthmark, we were preparing to be housebound and appointment-tied most of the summer, with surgery being late July or early August. But thankfully, because the filling up went so well and her skin stretched so nicely, surgery was bumped up (or is it back?) to the end of June. Now that everything is healing so well, we have been able to enjoy a summer we wouldn't think we would have: appointment free! We are so thankful.

Just over 1.5 weeks ago, her skin graft was "revealed" looking like this

Since then, all that scabby looking brown skin has come off and has left behind very pink, fresh looking skin:

Her surgeon mentioned that I could put Vitamin E on her incisions and skin graft to help with the scarring, but after a few days of that I noticed it was leaving her skin very "pimply" and rashy looking. And so we've stopped using Vit. E. and are now trying a different lotion. I've read somewhere that it's not actually any lotion or oil that helps the scars, but the massaging done when putting the stuff on is what does it. So we'll see.

With no appointments, we've been able to fill our days with other activities, starting off with sleeping in:

and being wakened up by a younger sibling:

Keziah is now allowed to swim and so we are in the pool almost every day, which has been so nice as the weather has continued to be quite warm.

(notice we've gone from water wings, life jacket, blue ring and noodle down to just a life jacket? :o)

Now that she can swim, we can have people over to enjoy the pool with us!

(these two were inseparable and it is so handy that Kathryn is 2.5 years older than Kez. Makes my life a lot easier! I don't think I did a thing for her the whole time Kathryn was over!!)

"You ARE going to catch me, right Uncle Jay??" Yeah, I am not so sure I would trust him either, Kez. :o)

And if we aren't swimming, we are loving the a/c in the house. With the humidity being the way it has been so far, we are thankful for the blessings of a pool and a/c. I must say though, despite the a/c in the house, my heart continues to melt when I see moments like these, of her reading to her brother. And if her brother isn't a willing participant, there is always her doll!

If the pool pictures haven't told you it has been warm, sunny and very summery, maybe these next two pictures will:

So yes. We have been relishing our days, enjoying every moment of our freedom and spending lots of time together. We especially like it that we don't have to drop this monkey off anymore

                                           (any guesses as to what HE is doing??!)

and are able to spend some good quality time together. And who says the bonding isn't as good if your baby is bottlefed?? I see some serious bonding happening here!!

I'd post more but after seeing that above picture, I now better clean up the mess my heart just made on the floor as it has melted again. We hope you are also enjoying your summer!

Two Weeks Later

Be still my heart.

Keziah continues to heal up nicely. The skin graft looks great with it having lost almost all the patchy brown skin. It just flaked off. So now the skin is quite pink.

Does anyone have any tricks or tips on how to get Polysporin off clothes?? We have lost a number of clothes due to this and just washing them doesn't get it out. Thanks!!

Skin Graft: It Took!!!

And the good news just keeps rolling in!!  This morning, after having a fit in her daddy's arms, Keziah snored like a baby for about 1/2 an hour, the time needed to remove the drain and gauze from her. And the result? A very nice looking skin graft! Dr. Zuker was very pleased with how it looks and so are we. Now remember, when you look at the pictures, it is still a little raw looking, but over time, the incisions will heal up and the scars will fade. But we are so thankful for how it looks today. Often when dealing with skin grafts, the grafted part is a different colour, and even texture, than the skin surrounding it. However with her skin grafts, the skin colour pretty well matches with the rest!! We are thrilled! So here are some pictures. Again, just a reminder to you faint-hearted. There is blood and stuff so, well, don't look too close :o)

Here is a picture of the drain behind her ear. We are happy to say "good riddance" to that thing!!

In this picture you can see where the birthmark is still on: down her ear, a bit behind her ear and all on the side of her head.

Good bye to the icky looking gauze!!

And heelllloooo skin!!

She thought her toe looked pretty cool!

After 2 freezies and an apple juice, she was all ready to go home!

And here she is tonight:

I don't know about you but I find it very hard sometimes to see if there really is a difference. I mean, I know there's a difference, but I forget where the birthmark was and how big it was. I question "Was there any on her forehead to begin with? How far down her cheek was it again?" And then I look at old pictures of her and realize, wow. There sure is a difference.

So, in a nutshell of the past months, Keziah has gone from this

to this (note not only the expanders but her milk moustache that she is so proud of!):

and finally to this:

Now that is what you call a transformation!! Amazing. We praise our heavenly Father for watching over us every step of the way. He gave strength when needed, wisdom that was sought, solutions to help through some of the conflicts and encouragement to keep on going. He used many of you as well and this was shown in so many different ways, from meals to babysitting Lincoln, to cards, calls, emails, gifts, and prayers. We look forward to being able to return the favour by now having more time to help others in need.

A big part of Keziah's journey in the removal of her freckle is now behind us. We have a follow-up appointment in September. From there we will see what we do with what's left in her eyebrow. We aren't sure what to do, whether to just leave it or do more skin grafts. The other option is also to wait a few years. Medical technology advances at a fast pace and who knows, maybe in a few years there will be a new procedure.

At this time we would like to thank ALL of you for taking this journey with us.  Although we did not respond to too many comments individually, we read each and every one of them and loved them. Your love and support through the comments helped us a lot.

I have enjoyed writing this blog. I have found it quite therapeutic. As for continuing, I am not too sure. I will definitely update the blog as the healing continues, but I am still debating whether to write about our life or not. You see, I find that blogs can be very decieving. I can put up whatever I want and it can give to you the impression that things are all honkey-doorie here. For the most part, that is true. We do have fun as a family. But like any other family, we have our good days and our "not so good" days. We have days that to obey our God and to do His Will is "easy" (not on our own but only with the help of His Spirit), but there are plenty of days where disobedience and selfishness takes root and prospers.

We all know the situation where you are yelling at your spouse and/or kids and the phone rings and what do you do? You answer it all sweet and nicely like nothing was happening. Or, we've all (I'm sure) experienced the crazy Sunday morning rush: get dressed, hair done nicely, eat breakfast, find the Sunday shoes, the Bible and Psalm Book, money and oh yeah, don't forget the candies, all the while being impatient and snarky to those around us, only to walk in to church all nice and orderly and sit in the bench like you have everything under control and "all together". Yeah, I don't want my blog to be like that. I don't want it to be false. (honestly though, you don't really think I yell at my family do you??! :o)

But what's holding me from giving up the blog-writing completely is that I feel we have a lot to share and if somehow we can help someone else through our blog, we find it could be worthwhile. We've also met some people along the way and who have taught us a lot. And we love to learn and are always eager to learn more. We have journeyed a few roads and are still walking them. We have and are still walking the path of infertility (no, don't be fooled. Adoption does not take away infertility.). We've walked the road of adoption. Twice. And actually, we continue to walk this road as Keziah (and in a few years, Lincoln) becomes more aware of what being adopted means. We've also had and are still walking (but nearing the end) of the road of medicine. And through all these roads, we are also walking the path as God's children. As much as we tend to stray, He will not let go of us. He claimed us, thankfully. And it is He that has made the roadmap of our life, giving us the tools necessary to follow Him and to one day, meet Him when He either decides to call us home or when Jesus comes back again. And that is how we find life so liberating.