4 Month Post-Operation

Today marks the 4 month mark since Keziah had a good part of her freckle removed. 4 months ago already! That means she has been without her freckle longer than with those big ole expanders! Remember those??!

Unreal. I cannot believe that she looked like that at one point. Just the other day I was flipping through this blog and came across the blog where I had each "fill" pictured (find it here: Observations and Reflections ) It left me breathless and in tears. But it also left me with a sense of awe as to how much strength we were given at the time. Sure I noticed her cheek and forehead while going through it all, but not to the extent as I do now when I look at the pictures. Now I can really see what others saw back then. Wow.

But here we are, 4 months later. Her healing continues to go very well without infections. The only complication that is developing is her droop. Now it is quite noticeable compared to a month and half ago. And it will continue to droop more and more as time goes on, until we meet Dr. Zuker in May, where he will deal with it as well as the rest of the birthmark on her face (which by the way is NOT face paint!!! Do you know how often she has been asked what is painted on her face???).

Her skin graft is looking amazing!!!

Most of her scars are not too pronounced except for the ones in her hair. She has quite the wide scar where there isn't any hair growing, which leaves it quite noticeable. The big wide scar is like a backwards "C", going from the top of her head, around and down to meet the top of her skin graft.

And a top view

So doing her hair can be a bit tricky if I want to "hide" the scar. That front chunk of hair in the "C" likes to fall forward and so the only way to have it cover the scar is to pull all the hair back. Even with two simple braids on either side of her head doesn't hide it as that hair in the front loosens and shows the gap.

But really, it's not that big of a deal. All things considering, dealing with a large scar like that and a droopy eye is nothing compared to what others have to deal with. I belong to a nevus support group, where parents and nevus "owners" can gain support from one another, whether they go through removal or not. And let me tell you, what Keziah's birthmark looked/s like is nothing compared to what others have. And the same with the whole process.....we have had nothing but success, whereas others have had one complication after another (and serious ones, too!!). Lately I have been going through a bit of guilt as to how well things have gone for her. I pray my guilt doesn't take over my thankfulness.

Although her face has changed from birthmark to expander to hardly any birthmark, one thing hasn't changed, and that is her beautiful and contagious smile!!