Surgery #.....Who Knows?!

Another surgery is behind us.......and we do believe that this may very well be the last one until her head/face is done growing. Yay!!!

Today's surgery was a delicate yet minor one, especially compared to what she has all been through in the past 4 (!) years. When dealing with the eye area, it's always a bit tricky.

Getting ready for today actually started last night. We stocked her up on food after supper because we knew she would not be allowed to eat after midnight, and her surgery wasn't going to be until 3:30 the next afternoon! So she enjoyed a chocolate pudding, a snickerdoodle square, a cookie and a slice of bread with chocolate, all before she went to bed. I don't think she mind at all....do you?! :o)

 

 

And because she didn't have to wake up early, she got to stay up to watch her (and my!) favourite show on the Food Network: Chopped

Before she went to bed, she listened to a video message from her nevus friend who lives in England, Isabelle. Hi Isabelle!!! Thanks for the well wishes!!

 

Due to the "No food" rule, she was quite thrilled to have Ginger Ale for breakfast! Certainly something I didn't think I would *ever* say: go get a pop can from the fridge for breakfast. But alas, it was said this morning!

 

We dropped Lincoln off at his little preschool and then killed some time at Walmart and Value Village, where a KinderSuprise and a baggie of little toys ended up coming home with us

Before we knew it, it was time to go. So she quickly changed into her favourite shirt, one that reminds her of a very dear little boy who lost his life due to complications of his congenital melanocytic nevus which became cancerous. She met Christian 2 years ago and he and Christian's mom (Hi Tanya!!) are never far from her thoughts and prayers.

Once at the hospital, we found out that we were given the wrong time.....but it was good!! 'cause instead of her surgery happening at 3:30, they were ready for her at 2:30!!

Keziah was quite nervous this time, becoming very quiet and unsure. We could really tell she is getting older and knows exactly what's coming. But again, when it was time to go, off she went on her own. What a girl!!

 

 

Can you tell which file is hers?! Not sure why it's in the "E" block, but there it is - that big fat one.

While waiting, we met up with another nevus family - Hi Karen and Scott!! Their little girl was having a tissue expander placed. It was neat to meet and chat together for a bit. We pray that Alanna's recovery goes smoothly, as well as all her fills.

Around 4:30, Dr. Zuker and Dr. Wong came to let us know that all went well. They excised a tiny bit of nevus (it was a very thin line down the side of her eye), did a Z plasty on her scar on near the corner of her eye, and then also did a very deep "hook" stitch to lift up the droop of the corner of her eye. That deep stitch will hopefully hold in place for a very long time, preventing the corner of her eye from drooping.

After they left, the anesthesiologist came to have a talk with us......she threw him for a loop because she was co-operative and completely fine until the mask (to put her to sleep) came out. She absolutely freaked out. He ended up putting the tube of the sleeping "air" in between his fingers and then cupping her mouth and nose with his hands, which worked and calmed her down. But her freaking out really shook him up and bothered him. He was really concerned that she will now be fearful of coming back to the hospital, that this "event" will leave her with a very negative experience. We did reassure him that her freaking out was something she does - she did for every single fill when dealing with expanders, and yet 2 minutes after the fill, she was happy, and week after week, she was eager to go back to the hospital. This reassured him somewhat, but yeah, it really didn't sit well with him. Wow. What amazing, caring and compassionate professionals Toronto Sick Kids hire!! We knew she hated the mask.....next time I will give them a "head's up"......I just never did as I didn't want to say it in front of her, causing her to get all anxious. But I shall pull them aside next time (and doing an IV instead of the mask will also cause her to absolutely freak out, so that's not an option either)

Anyway, she woke up in recovery and about 1/2 an hour and two freezies later, she was wheeled out to the car to go home, hugging her bear that apparently also needed an eye lift :o)

 

Once home and settled she wanted a piece of jam toast.......

.....only for it to all come back up about 20 minutes later! She hasn't thrown up after a surgery since her very first surgery, so this was a bit of a surprise. We know it can happen, but it hasn't happened in 4 years, with lots of surgeries in between that first one and today's. Those eyes - such a sad look!!

She did give me this soft smile but then promptly threw up. Darling beautiful brave girl we have.

So as you can see by the pictures, not much change is obvious. We can see the "eye lift" and can tell the difference....but it is hard for others to notice right now. It'll swell up a bit but not too bad, with her hoping to go back to school in a few days.

The one thing they did not do was touch her scar on her scalp. It is quite wide again due to her head growing. The placement of this scar and the leftover nevus is there from that "failed" expander a couple of years ago. If that expander had worked, the scar would be in her hairline and there would not be any nevus behind her ear.

We will deal with that years from now when she is done growing....possibly with excisions or even doing hair transplants. For now, we will keep her hair long and do different hairstyles to cover it.

 

We will be back for a follow-up in a few weeks. Then the steri-strips will come off and the swelling will be down, and the work that was done today will be a wee bit more obvious.

We are thankful once again for the talents of Dr. Zuker and Dr. Wong. We are thankful for safe travels. We are thankful to my parents for taking this blue-eyed-full-of-life boy - he's talking on the phone with my dad, "So opa, when Keziah goes to the hospital, I am coming over to your house. We will wrestle first and then you can read me a book." :o)

And we are thankful for all of you, with your many thoughts and prayers!

"See" you in a few weeks once we have the follow-up!

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.