Fill #6 - And a Breakthrough!!!!

Hello to you!!

This morning we were back at Sick Kids for another fill. Keziah was again excited to go, waking up early, saying,
"It's okay that I am up already, right mom? Because we are going to the hostible today."

 When we got there, we had lots of time, so daddy got to enjoy a treat: a Starbucks coffee. The girl behind the counter saw Keziah and gave her this as a treat:

Nothing like a sugar high before 9 in the morning! No wonder she likes going to the hospital every time ;o)

We didn't have to wait too long to see Dr. Zuker, but long enough to build towers together.

Here she is waiting patiently to give Dr. Zuker her latest picture for him. I do believe this man's front of his fridge is getting fuller than mine. Unless he does what I do with some of her creations.....;o)

As you know, Keziah does not enjoy her fills. At all. It's not that it hurts; when I asked her last time what she doesn't like about it, she told me she can feel the water go into her bubble and it is cold and that is what she doesn't like. I never thought of that, but it must be such a weird sensation!

To distract her the last number of fills, we have used child life specialists, bubbles, watching Franklin on the iPad, games, etc. Nothing worked, much to everyone's frustrations. Kicking, screaming, crying was the name of the game.

However, there was one thing that we never tried. Not sure why I didn't think of it sooner, seeing as I had read others from our support group doing this. Well, today we tried it. And let me tell you, today's fill was the BEST FILL EVER!!! Not a single tear, flinch, blood-curling scream; no kicking, sweating and squirming. And that, my friends, is what we call a break-through!!

So what worked?

I wrapped up a little present really well, and had her unwrap it during the fill.

And it was the best distraction for her!! While she unwrapped her little present, Dr. Zuker filled her bubble. She was just absolutely thrilled with her new pair of socks, a necklace with a puppy on it, and butterfly candy.

And we were thrilled with how well this fill went. Now why didn't I think of this like, 17 fills ago?!?!?!!

Things went so well, that Dr. Zuker was able to put in 60 cc's! 20 more than usual. So here are the results:

Someone is trying to look all angelic-like. It's a bubble, honey, not a halo on your head :o)

Our beautiful, smiley and very brave girl, who loves her new necklace!

We are SO thankful we may have found a way to get the rest of her fills done without too much more drama.

 

And so the bubble continues to grow. We have about 4-5 more fills to go before removal. We pray that it will continue to go well. Keziah has just figured out that when she moves her head quickly, she can feel the water swish around in her bubble. I don't know if I find that gross or fascinating. I had heard about that before from another nevus mom. I'll let you know if I can actually hear it....once I dare to get close enough without getting squeamish from the sound. :o) I know, it's just water, but it's the idea....

 

At this time, we would also like to pray for Dr. Zuker, who will be travelling to India and will be there for the next 3 weeks, putting smiles on children's faces as he works with Operation Smile. What a blessing he is to so many people!