Home!! And Just a Few Pictures......

....well, maybe not just a few. How about a whole bunch?!

Before I post some pictures, do note that the less birth mark there is to take off, the less of a change or difference you will see. Right now, it may look like there is no difference when you compare the before and after, but once those steri-strips come off in a week or so, we will really notice the work Dr. Zuker did.

Keziah had no problem going to the hospital on Tuesday morning, even with knowing full well what was about to happen. She was smiley before we left, and in the car, she did what she does best: sang her little heart out :o)

 

Just after 12 noon, Dr. Zuker came by to talk with us. Keziah was excited to give him her crafts that she carefully made for him. You can tell by his reaction that this man "gets" kids. He patiently sat through her little spiel, describing every little thing on her picture :o)

And then, off she went! On her own!!! We clearly see God's presence surrounding her as she does this without a problem. It brings tears to our eyes every time we think of how brave she is.

Finally, late in the afternoon, we could go and see her. Here she is, making sure her class pet, Penny (who desperately needs a wash because she went camping with us, too!) was near her. Penny was given to her to borrow from her teacher and classmates :o)

So, if blood and stuff makes you a bit queasy, don't look too closely at the next pictures. Under the steri-strips are the incisions, so right now it looks like the nevus is still all there. But Dr. Zuker was able to remove most of the nevus under the eye (leaving about 2 mm); he removed everything off her temple. He did this all by doing something like a facelift, cutting the skin under her eye, up her temple and down by her ear and then lifting the cheek flap up. And you know what?! He used all original scar lines, so Keziah has no additional scars!!

 And then the plan was to work on the end of her eyebrow, but seeing that it was already pretty tight, he left that alone and worked at the beginning of her eyebrow, starting by her nose. He excised her eyebrow, making it skinnier till about halfway (which now makes the rest of it look pretty bulky, but that will be taken care of next time). He then lifted the brow a bit, so it now actually has an arch to it. This means that now you can see the lighter nevus under her eyebrow a lot more than before.....but that also will be taken care of next time.

Although she came out of recovery around 5, by 6 she was asking for her broccoli.

And like the last 5 surgeries, Opa came to visit, bringing us a homemade meal made by my mom.

2 hours out of recovery, I knew things were looking really up when I hear, "Mom, is there anything on my nose?!" with a mischievous glint in her eyes :o)

And this morning, that happy glint was still there! Good morning!!

Life is great at the hospital when you have funny nurses, yummy breakfasts and an IV pole you get to drive!

  

 

And before she could order food for lunch, the hospital thought she better be discharged!! Dr. Zuker thought she might be staying in another night due to her eye swelling, but as you can see, so far the swelling isn't so bad at all. So after saying good-bye to Child Life Specialist Shaindy, we went home.

So, here are some BEFORE and AFTER pictures for now:

BEFORE and AFTER of the FRONT:

 

BEFORE and AFTER of the SIDE:

 I will update in a week from now, once the steri-strips come off. Until then, know that this girl is very thankful for all your thoughts and prayers! I read each one to her, and she loved hearing what you had to say. Thank you so much for remembering her these last days! We are so thankful to all of you, and most of all to God for blessing her with such a strong and brave spirit. See you in a week!