Thursday, May 7, 2015

And That's It.....For 6 Months

Well, we woke up this morning, a month after Keziah's last and final surgery, prepared to say "Good-bye" to someone who has been a household name for the last 3 years - so much so that Lincoln thinks anyone, including himself, who sees a doctor must see Dr. Zuker :o)

Keziah was happy to go back to the place that she absolutely loves, despite everything that she has been through there.

We packed up some gifts for him and Ms. Valentina (who unfortunately wasn't there today), and headed off to Sick Kids. Usually it's me taking the pictures, but she took the liberty of snapping some shots of The Big City, using her Leap Pad.

Our drive time was an hour (!) and what we thought would be a very long wait time, was not! In fact, only one book was read and then in walked the man of the hour.

Before we could give him our gifts and express our thanks, Dr. Zuker had a good look at her eye and skin grafts. To hear him say, "Perfect" is such a blessing! He was very impressed with how it all looked. Yes, it needs to settle down yet but for only being a month old, the skin grafts look amazing. It is so nice to see a surgeon pleased with his work....especially when it's your daughter's face we are talking about!

Keziah did have an uncomfortable moment, as a staple had to be removed from her head. I found it a couple days after all her head wraps came off.....it's right there, pretty much center of the picture.

And then it was time......time to say good-bye, or so we thought. But actually, no! He wants to see her in the Fall, just to make sure things continue to go well. He'll also have a team of others with him to do the "hand off", to explain what was all done, the results, the processes etc. etc.

Phew!! That meant I didn't have to pull out my Kleenexes just yet! I have 6 months to go yet before we really cut the ties.

Nevertheless, we still gave him his gifts :o) He was thrilled!! It was hard to come up with what to give him.....but we stuck with things we learned about him over the past 3 years, of things he liked: my baking and his love for his dog (which has since passed away, but thankfully his secretary just got a puppy, so the dog treats and toy will be going to her!). We also learned, from a little bird, of something else he liked and so gifted that as well, much to his delight!

Before we left, we snapped a picture of him with our beautiful girl. What a gift he has been to our family! We praise God for placing him on our path.

Dr. Zuker has done amazing work on our daughter. He started with our daughter just over 3 years ago, with her looking beautiful as ever, beauty that included a very large black freckle:

 3 years later, through all his handiwork and talents, as well as the blessings of God, she still looks as beautiful as ever, beauty with just a little freckle (which she is so thankful to still have!) :

And through it all, by the grace of God, those eyes and that smile never did change!!

I have plenty more to write, but this will be for now. I will update the blog in a month or two, to document the healing of the skin grafts. Until then, once again, we thank you ALL for the support you have shown via prayers and comments. May God bless you like He has blessed us *by* you.