Good-bye Drain! Good-bye Weekly Appointments!!

Yesterday, Tuesday,  March 18th, we once again woke up early and nosed our way back to Toronto. I do believe we could put our car on auto pilot now. It has pretty much been trained to go that way. Well, it'll have to be untrained as we don't have to go back until June! Yay!! That's 3 months from now!!! We have been going to Toronto weekly since November. And now, no more. We are so thankful!

But back to yesterday - the day to say good-bye to her drain. Keziah was a little nervous as she knew she had to put on the mask to help her fall asleep. She despises the mask and the smells that come from it to knock her out. But she did it!! It was the first time I was there with her. She stated this for the last few days, that she would like me to be in the "sleeping room" with her.

Man, if you've never seen your child be put to sleep or watch them come out of it, wow. It is quite something. Thankfully that while this was the first time for me with her, it was not the first time overall. Years ago, I was with my niece (Hi, Robin!!:o) who was 5 or 6 at the time, and she had to be put to sleep. So I have seen it before. But yeah, it isn't the most fun thing to be a part of. Especially when your child is foaming at the mouth, jerking all over the place and looking like she is gasping for breath.

But, 10 minutes later and she was already eating a freezie. It was an orange one because as I found out, "It's the colour of Winnie the Pooh." Oh. I always find it so neat to know what's going on in their little minds and what makes them choose particular things :o)

Nurse Steve helping Keziah as she was still feeling a bit wobbly:

Because we were done so early (by 8:30 am), we thought we'd hang around the hospital a bit longer so that we weren't sitting in traffic to go home. So time was well spent in the play room, much to the delight of this 4 year old!

And then we enjoyed breakfast together:

Just before we went home, we paid a visit to our very special friend, Ms Valentina. She was pleasantly surprised to see us, but had a bunch of beautiful pink bravery beads ready for Keziah. After big hugs, we said our good byes and off we went, back home to relieve Oma from this rascal :o)

And so, here she is, 2 weeks post surgery. She is healing up nicely. Her hair is coming in where it was shaved. There are a few open spots, but Dr. Zuker was not concerned:

Her incisions:

Yup! She is looking great!!

And still has whacks of hair! Here it is all in a pony tail.

As I stated at the beginning, we won't be back until June. This will be a follow-up, as well as setting something in place to deal with under and beside her eye. Her eyebrow will be last, which he figures he won't touch until next year.

So that means, other than a post or two before June, this will be the last one for awhile. I do have another blog that you are more than welcome to read, but it is not about her birthmark; it is just our family blog. If interested, you can find it here: Helder Happenings.

Keziah would like to thank you for all the love that has been shown to her by you. We would also like to thank you for the many different ways in which you showed your support. I am so thankful I started this blog 2 years ago, not only to keep everyone updated, but through the blog, we have "met" many individuals and families that have a nevus owner. There are plans in the works to have a gathering in Ohio sometime in July or August that we plan to attend. We look so forward to this!!

Above all, we praise God for watching over His little lamb the last 2 years on this journey. We have seen His protection time and time again, which continues to humble us and be filled with gratitude.

So if nothing happens from now until June, this blog will be fairly quiet. Thanks again so much for reading, and the Star of the Blog says Good-Bye (for now!)

 

Has it Really Only Been Less than a Week?!

I was going to update a week post surgery, but a number of people have been asking how Keziah is doing. So I figured I would do one now.

Just a quick question........Keziah had surgery just a few days ago, right? The reason I ask is, well, the pictures will tell you; other than the drain coming out of her head as well as looking like a grease monkey (thanks to the Polysporin), one would never know she had surgery. She has picked up right where she left off - happy, spunky, and no pain.

Here she is, the day we got home, climbing on the counters to get things out of her reach. This is just over 24 hours since she came out of the recovery room. Crazy girl.

The next day, Lincoln came home. Guess who was the patient, laying on the couch, being attended to? Nope, not Keziah. She was the doctor :o)

It truly has been amazing in seeing how quickly she recovers. It's actually quite funny - this afternoon at lunch, she was crying because of a teeny tiny little scratch on her finger. And yet she hasn't shed a tear about the very long incisions that are covering her head. What a girl.

And a few close ups of her incisions. The handiwork of Dr. Zuker amazes me (and many others). You cannot see a single stitch. All it is, are seams. As one stated, Dr. Zuker is the Michaelangelo of surgeons. And he is right. I have seen many incisions and nevus removal, but I have yet to see incisions without stitching.

These pictures were taken 3 days post surgery. You can hardly see the incision along her hairline and down her ear (don't mind the matted hair - tomorrow she'll get to enjoy her first shower since surgery, so it's still all plastered with Polysporin. It also makes it look like she has very thin hair, but it's the hair sticking together in clumps.)

Keziah has withstood the cleanings of her incisions like a trooper and each time it gets easier. Twice a day we pull out the saline water, Q-tips and Polysporin (soon we'll be switching to Vaseline as that is easier on the skin). Someone else was feeling he needed a cleaning as well (his nickname is "Me, too!")

So, as you can see, recovery is going very well for this girl.

Thanks for all the love, care and concern that you have shown to our precious daughter!

We are Home!

It is 1:45 pm and we are resting at home comfortably. We are so thankful for that, especially me, who is down and out with a chest cold :o( Not great timing, but oh well, it could be worse.

Before I post pictures, I just want to warn that there are a few that show her incisions, blood and stuff. So if you are of the queasy group, this would be the post to skip. Or push your down arrow over those pictures real quick :o)

Tuesday morning dawned bright, early and frigidly cold for us as we headed to the hospital:

We've been through this routine before a few times, and so the nerves were at bay. Keziah was great while we waited for Dr. Zuker, smiling and playing with her stuffies to pass the time away.

Everything went routinely well. The only time I got a bit emotional was when they went over the risks of the surgery. They said because it was a scalp surgery, there is a risk of losing a lot of blood and so she may need a blood transfusion. Up until that point, I had the "this is old hat", "been there, done that" kind of attitude. But once that was stated, it really hit home that as much as we may be used to surgeries (this being her 5th one) and stuff, risks are risks, and what she was about to have done was not a small procedure.

And then, just when I gained control of my emotions, off she went, on her own with the nurse. So much for keeping it altogether! So many emotions at this point -  sad, scared, uncertainty, as well as so much pride with how well she has been handling everything.

The surgery took 5 hours and we were able to finally see her just before 2 pm in the recovery room. 

So here are the results! (this is where you would scroll down real fast if blood is not your thing). As you can see by the first picture, there is a bit of nevus left just above her ear (looks like a triangle). The rest is all off her scalp. He also took off all the nevus that was down in front of her ear.

To compare, below are some 'before' pictures. Remember, everything inside the "circle" is all nevus. You can also see the nevus in front of her ear.

Dr. Zuker did not get anything off around her eye and temple like he had hoped, due to swelling and it being already so tight. There is also an incision from the top of her skin graft (grafted 2 years ago) down her hairline, down to the front of her ear.

And the incision starts at the top of her head:

There is also quite a large fold of skin at the beginning of the incision on the top of her head. This fold will even itself out as the skin settles:

But, despite all the stitches and stuff, Keziah was alert all afternoon, resting comfortably. Opa Helder was able to visit us (Oma couldn't because she was busy running after a handsome 2 year old :o).

Later in the afternoon, my mom and dad came to visit and brought supper: Swiss Chalet! Thanks, mom and dad!!

We weren't the only ones enjoying our supper. So was Keziah :o) Before we knew it, there wasn't a crumb left on her plate. Someone was hungry!!

Keziah had a great night and woke up famished!

By 8:30 we had a visit from Dr. Zuker already, and he was very pleased with everything. And we were pleased to hear that we could go home already!

And that is where we are now! Home. With very thankful hearts. The plan is to take it nice and easy today, but my heart will not completely be at rest until the last member of our family joins us, which will be tomorrow. Yay!!

We praise God for making all things well! And we pray that Keziah's recovery continues without a hitch.

We are back at the hospital in 2 weeks to get the drain out. We will then talk of what is next on this journey. Keziah is happy that we will be back soon, as she was quite disappointed that she didn't get to play in the playroom this time.

Thanks again to all of you who have shown support in so many ways!! May God bless each of you.

Update

It is now later in the afternoon. Keziah's surgery went well - taking 5 hours. Most of her freckle has been removed from her scalp except a smaller section behind her ear. Dr. Zuker did not get anything off by her eye and temple area due to swelling. He was not comfortable to fiddle with that with the swelling and chose to wait until next time. We are thankful for this - we'd rather a cautious surgeon than an overzealous one! :o)

Keziah is now resting up and handling things very well. If this keeps up, then hopefully/maybe we can go home tomorrow.

Once home and settled, I will update the blog, which will include some pictures.

Thanks so much for the many prayers, thoughts and support shown!!

Twas the Night Before Surgery....

.....and all through the house
not a creature stirred,
not even.....the loudest of them all. Because, well, he isn't here :o(

That's right - Lincoln is already shipped out to Nathan's parents for the next few days. We miss him already so much! But we know he is so loved where he will be.

Keziah is sound asleep, wearing the pjs she wants to wear to the hospital:

Yes, this girl has absolutely no problem with what is coming tomorrow. We've talked about it lots, and she has already told me what she wants for supper at the hospital. Any guesses?! :o)

The only thing she has mentioned that she doesn't like is the smelly stuff that puts her to sleep. She thinks it stinks! But other than that, it is all good to go!

We dropped Lincoln off this afternoon, so we took Kez out for supper tonight. I have noticed that the day before her surgery, I am in the mood to give her anything and everything she would like. She could ask me for the moon and I'd try! Good thing she hasn't clued into that yet, but that is how I feel.

Once home, we gave her a shower, knowing this will be the last one for a week or so. You can really see her bubble, especially the back of it, when it is wet.

 

Speaking of washing her hair, I have noticed that some surgeons shave all the hair off so they can see everything. I did ask Dr. Zuker if he would and thankfully he said no. He'll only be shaving off where the incisions are. Phew!!! I did take pictures of her hair just in case.....

 

So, tomorrow we say good-bye to her bubble. She doesn't mind that it is going, except she likes it when turns pink:

 

We have found that the bubble added to her looks, in a neat kind of way. I've always done her hair so it is always out of her face, which made her look like she had a fancy do. It does give me a glimpse of what she might look like in her teens, with big hair!

 

Here she is with her hair down, which gives a whole new look!

 

Bubble or not, freckle and all, this girl is beautiful! We pray that God will watch over her tomorrow, that He will guide the hands of the doctors and that recovery for her won't be too rough.

 

Ps. 121

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—

he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you—

the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

6the sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm—

he will watch over your life;

8the Lord will watch over your coming and going

both now and forevermore.

 

I'll let you know how things are going as the day/week goes on.