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.