Another Appointment Down in the Books!

Today I had to dust off my Medical Journal that I have kept since the day of our first appointment at Sick Kids with Keziah, as we were headed back there this morning. I have recorded every question, answer, comment and concern in this book as it has traveled with us through the last 3.5 years of surgeries and appointments. What's kind of neat is that for today, not only did I have questions, Keziah is now old enough to have her own. And so that was also written down :o)

Thankfully the traffic wasn't too bad. We even got to see this!!! You certainly don't see a Lamborghini every day! So we took the picture for Nathan Lincoln.

So the appointment. It was a follow up yet from her last surgery back in April, 5 months ago. We didn't see Dr. Zuker, as he is now retired. Well, so called retired. He was actually doing surgery today! But we met with his colleague, Dr. Wong. What a great and fantastic doctor she is as well!! We are so thankful to begin a relationship with her now. She has been involved with Keziah since the start, but more in the background, following Dr. Zuker around. She will now be who we see.

Overall, things are healing well. We asked about the brown spots, especially near the corner of her eye that are still there, and she reassured us that the spots will fade yet. It is all still healing. It takes about 8-12 months for things to really heal up.....which is when the redness will also start to fade. The redness really comes and goes. Below you can hardly see it, a picture taken a few days ago. Other times, it is very, very red.

There is a bit of drooping that is happening. There is a heavy fold of skin that goes from under her eyebrow down to the corner of her eye, extending down, which is causing the eye to droop. You can really see it here (see how red the scar is under her eye? This picture was taken tonight):

So there is a minor surgery in the future. We signed the papers, which are good for a year, and plan on taking care of the fold and droop within the next year. Her last surgery around the eye was only 5 months ago - like I mentioned earlier, it takes 8-12 months for everything to settle. We would like to give it some time for this to happen. So that means it may droop further in the next year, but knowing something can be done for her about it is reassuring. So we will probably look at a surgery date either Spring or early Summer. Revisions are common, especially as things settle and her head continues to grow.

In the mean time, we will continue to massage the scars twice a day, and enjoy the sparkle that lights up every room she enters!

 

I'll end off with a few comparison pictures.....this was right before the surgeries started (ack!! Those eyes!! Be still my heart! So thankful those haven't changed at all!!!). I don't know about you, but I always find it so amazing to see where we started and how far we've come.

This was a year ago:

And this was today while we waited to see Dr. Wong:

In a different perspective.......this was 3.5 years ago:

This was today:

Wow. Someone has been doing a lot of growing!!! But when you see the two pictures, you can see how long this journey has been. Yet while it's been long enough for a little girl to grow from her daddy's wrist to above his elbow, it's been a blessed one. Has everything gone right? Nope. But the fact that this girl was excited to go today, yup, you read that right, excited, tells us that it has been an experience that has made us grow in so many ways. We praise God for being with us every step of the way.