Worse First, Better Later

Between surgery date and bandage removal date, Keziah enjoyed a week under the careful and watchful eye of Dr. Lincoln:

Keziah handled being "under wraps" quite well, but she was very thankful when Tuesday rolled around for her to go back to Dr. Zuker, get put out and have it all taken off.

 

So off we were by 5:45 am. It certainly isn't too often that you get to paint just after 7 in the morning!

By 8:00, the team was ready to go. And so was she. Off she went again, chose the same sleepy smell (orange) as before, and 15ish minutes later, all was done.

Now, this is very important for you to read: for a skin graft to look good, it needs to look terrible first. After seeing the pictures, you may very well think, "Well, doesn't that look worse than the birthmark?!" or "You can't even tell there's a difference so why bother put her through all that?!"

Well, you are right. At first. But when we think of her first skin graft a few years ago, we are confident in how her skin grafts will look in a few years. Let me remind you what her other skin graft looked like from 3 years ago:

 This is what the skin graft looked like 2 months later:

And this is what the first skin graft looks like today, almost 3 years later:

So, please keep this in mind for the following pictures :o)

As I was saying, about 15-20 minutes later, someone was waking up, with all smiles, eager for some freezies!

 

After another 20 minutes to spend in the playroom (with Opa!!) to make sure all the wobbliness had left, we were able to go home:

Let's do some Before and After pictures so we can see the differences this surgery made:

Here she is, before and then after of the skin graft placed around her eye last week:

Before and after of the skin grafts down the side of her eye, shortening the eyebrow:

 

Before and After of the excision done under her eye:

 

And the before and after of the scar revision done on her scalp:

 

The skin grafts came off her ear, and to keep that incision sealed, she goes to bed with a sweatband around her head, so her ear won't fold over as she sleeps and rolls around:

 

So even though the skin grafts all look a bit rough right now, we couldn't be any happier for her! Her eye shape looks great - not too droopy or pulled open. The excision under her eye is amazing!! Plus, Dr. Zuker is pleased.....which makes us pleased as well.

Her next appointment is a follow-up one, for May 7th. And you know what?! That could very well be the last one!!!!!

Now, I ask you: how in the world do you thank a man that has made such a difference in someone's life?! I have 3 weeks to think of something.....

It also gives 3 more weeks for this girl to heal up some more. We pray for continued healing - that nothing gets infected (the ear is starting to get pretty red and swollen with some pus), and that we can soon close the door of this removal journey. We praise our God for blessing this journey thus far!

Surgery #7 Come and Gone

Tuesday seems quite awhile ago already, and it is exciting that we have passed 3 days of recovery without any complications.

Before I post pictures of Surgery Day and the days after, I warn you........to put it bluntly, she looks pretty beat up. In fact, with Lincoln in a cast, and Keziah walking around the way she looks right now, I don't dare step foot out the door for fear of people calling the Children's Aid Society on us!

Also, if you are looking for big results, well, you'll have to wait a bit for that.  It will be more obvious in a number of months from now. There is a whole lot of healing that needs to take place before we can truly see if the desired results are there. All we know is, while she looks like a beautiful mess right now, Dr. Zuker was pleased with how surgery went, and he was able to do skin grafts under her eyebrow, shorten the eyebrow with skin grafts, excise the rest under her eye and thin out her scalp scar.

After 3 years and 7 surgeries, one's file gets rather thick.

All dressed up in her hospital garbs, sporting a brave face as we wait for our turn for the OR.

 

 

And there she goes. All on her own - knowing full well what is waiting for her. Her bravery makes us tear up every time.

Surgery was just over 3.5 hours, and we got to see her after an hour in recovery. By 6 we were in our room and supper was ordered and delivered. The head wrap is to protect her ear, where the skin was taken off of for around her eye.

Saying good-bye to daddy, then enjoying a treat she remembered from her Aunt Michelle, who was taking good care of Lincoln back at home.

 

Keziah slept well that night and woke up hungry! Nothing like bacon to cure all owies!!

Because she was doing so well, the IV could come out, which she was glad to do herself (mostly). Shaindy came to visit her, and then off to the Craft Room to wait for Daddy and Lincoln to take us home!

 

 

Once home, we rigged her bed so her head would be elevated the way Dr. Zuker asked, and she has slept well every night home so far.

Keziah's eye continued to swell up, with it being pretty much closed Wednesday and Thursday, with it looking like she found some of my eye make-up. Today we are excited to see that second brown eye peek through!!

 

Despite some uncomfortable moments (itchiness, crusties in the sore eye, finding out that tears have salt.....which hurts the owies more!), this girl manages to take everything in stride, ready to be goofy and showing that beautiful smile of hers!

We go back to Sick Kids for 7 am Tuesday morning, for Dr. Zuker to take off all the gauze under her eyebrow (you can't really see the gauze as it is all bloody and stuff...), the steri-strips under her eye, as well as her head wrap. She will be put out for all this. We pray that the skin grafts have taken by then and that the healing continues.

Thanks again for all your prayers this week! It has been a tough one in some regard, but one that is now behind us. We thank God for carrying us through the past few days.

Surgery #7 Around the Corner

3 more nights sleeping and we will be heading back to Toronto Sick Kids for surgery #7 for our girl. She is okay with going. She already has her supper picked out, as well as what flavour of the "sleeping smell" she wants. She has not shown any reservations at all. We find that amazing, and we praise God for that.

With surgery coming up fast, Keziah had to have a doctor's check up to make sure all is well. I was surprised to find out she is 48 pounds! Yet, if I think about it, I shouldn't be.....this girl is growing like crazy if I go by her jeans (when will summer start so I don't have to worry about her jeans being too short?!). She is probably down a few pounds since the check up though as she is just getting over the stomach flu.

We have to be at the hospital at 10, with a 12:00 surgery time. I don't know how long surgery will be, but the plan is for Dr. Zuker to take off the skin from the back of her ear and use it for skin grafts up and around her eye. He will then take skin from another part of her body and stitch it to the back of her ear, to replace what was taken for her eye. Confused yet?! :o)

Dr. Zuker will be keeping a sliver of her birthmark as her eyebrow, thinning it quite a bit, as well as shortening it. Right now her "eyebrow"/birthmark goes down past her eye:

He will also excise what is left under her eye:

We are thankful for no expanders again, but are trying hard not to get too nervous about the results of this surgery. Again, the risk of her eye being distorted is there. It is such delicate surgery. But we are relieved to know that Dr. Zuker will be doing this, and we are at peace knowing that God will guide his hands.

Dr. Zuker will also see what he can do about her scars on her scalp. The one, as you can see, has widened considerably. This is due to her head growing. While he may be able to make the scar thinner, it will most likely widen again as her head continues to grow. Once her head is done growing, this is where she will have some scar revision done. For now I am able to hide the wide scar most of the time in how I do her hair.

So, all said and done, she is booked in the hospital for 3 days: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. But we are really hoping that she is able to come out on Wednesday because we have to take Lincoln to the hospital on Thursday to the Fracture Clinic...more about this here. Never a dull moment when  you have littles!!

This surgery is exactly 3 years from when she had her very first surgery to start this removal process. We are really nearing the end - with this surgery possibly being one of the last ones, if not the last until she can make her own decisions when she gets older Yay!!

 Although this girl sheds a tear or many at the tiniest scratch, she becomes this valiant warrior as soon as it has anything to do with hospitals and her freckle. It doesn't make sense to me, but man, are we ever proud of her!!

We'll update once we are home from the hospital! We ask for your prayers again this coming week, and we thank you all for your love and support.