One Month Follow Up and Plans for Next Time

Little Miss Keziah here had another appointment today, just a follow up from her surgery that happened a month ago.

It's amazing how quickly you forget things when you aren't dealing with it weekly for expander fills, like traffic and long waiting room times. But with a computer and especially Opa there with us, that sure helped to pass the time away today! (even Patches, in his doctor's outfit made by Aunt Jenn, took in some computer time ;o)

After a long wait, Dr. Zuker came in and had a look at Keziah and the work that was done a month ago. Needless to say, he is very pleased with how well she is healing up, and so are we.

The scars will continue to lighten in colour as time passes by. We massage them everyday for a few minutes which is very good for scars. It doesn't necessarily matter what type of lotion/oil to use, it is the actual massaging that really helps a scar to even out in texture and colour. We will do this everyday for at  least 6-8 months.

So, for next time, Dr. Zuker is planning a surgery for April of 2015. In this surgery, he will be using skin from the back of her ear to place along her eyebrow, where it is not as dark but still dark. He will also make the eyebrow really skinny and shorten it. He will get rid of what is left under her eye, and he will also fix the gap on her scalp, which is quite large and has no hair.

And then, well, that could be it, depending on how things settle and heal. So she will still have a skinny sliver of the nevus as an eyebrow, which means she will continue to need sunscreen and a hat. Once she is older, she can decide what she wants to do with the sliver of nevus. By then, medical technology will have advanced like it usually does, and we can see what is available. For now, we plan to keep the eyebrow with the nevus, just a really skinny and shaped one.

And what does Keziah think of all this? Well, she has needed lots of reassurance that Dr. Zuker will *not* take all her freckle away. She wants to keep some of it. And that is no problem with us. There is also some freckle left behind her ear. So she still has a part of her freckle with her :o)

So with surgery not happening till April, that means this blog will be quiet again. Good thing I have my other blog to scratch my writing itch. :o)

Thank you once again for following her on this journey of removal, as well as for all your thoughts and prayers that were on her behalf. Most of all, we are so thankful to God for giving to us and her what we've been in need of on this journey: wisdom, encouragement, strength, healing, stamina, health and well, all of you near and far. So many people have helped,from sending us a message of well wishes to taking Keziah under your wing (Miss Valentina :o) to being willing to take Lincoln to making the drive to Toronto when Nathan couldn't make it. You are all greatly appreciated and pray that you also see God's work in your life, and look to Him in good times and difficult moments.

If you have any questions at all, do not hesitate to contact me here in the comments or email me (find the address under "Contact Me"). I will do my best to help give an answer to your question(s).

Keziah wishes you a wonderful and safe winter - or summer - wherever you live! And we will catch up in a few months again. Take care!!

Ottawa....Here we Come!!!

The following post is a bit long, so grab yourself a coffee and enjoy!

Nathan had a two day conference in Ottawa last week. When he heard about it, he asked if we wanted to come with him and make it a bit of a holiday. I told him I was interested but only if he could find us a suite, meaning, a kitchen, so I didn't have to drag the kids out by myself every breakfast and lunch. He found one and booked a suite at the Minto Suites. It was fantastic!!

We figured we would leave after our trip to the hospital, seeing as we would be done a big chunk of traveling, not distance-wise, but definitely traffic-wise. And so we went. We made a brief stop for lunch and then arrived in Ottawa by 4ish. We almost had to cancel our trip after our lunch though because of this:

No, not because of food poisoning but because of expenses!! I didn't see the price of the sandwich until after it was toasted and wrapped up for me. Gulp! Let me tell you, I ate every bit of this $10.29 dried out sandwich and licked the wrapper clean! I knew any crumb I left represented a dollar and would be like throwing money in the garbage! So heads up if you plan on stopping at any OnRoute places along the 401 corridor. I suggest you take a out a loan.

Once at the hotel, we settled in and made ourselves at home. I knew the room would have carpet and so I gave Keziah some princess shoes to wear (our house has a lot of tile. I can only handle so much clack, clack, clack!!). Keziah LOVED them and had fun wearing them, as well as trying to put them on daddy's foot. No Cinderella here!! :o)



Slaving away in the kitchen...


....as my family waits patiently for supper (I thought cheese would be good enough but apparently not :o)


'scuse me? When did YOU get so grown-up looking??!


We were on the 21st floor and so we had a fantastic view! "Mom, the people look like ants!!"


We had fun one morning watching these two guys climb up the building beside us and hang a huge Canada flag.



So while Nathan was at the conference, we passed the time away in our new "home", playing, swimming in the indoor pool and walking to a nearby park. I took this jumperoo thingee for Lincoln and he loved it!



He also loved the clicker for the TV. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I think once this guy figures out how to crawl, we are in t.r.o.u.b.l.e. Look at that mischievous glint in his eyes!!


We celebrated Father's Day a day early. Keziah found the card and ran to give it to her dad! I hadn't even had a chance to write in it yet! Oh well, Nathan was thrilled and so was Kez!


On Saturday, we spent some time at the Agricultural Farm. Keziah had a great time, being only afraid of the cows. She petted everything else and was even brave enough to pet the "statue" cow :o)



Oreo, the rabbit!


Tractor and combine fun! Fun for dad that is. Kez wasn't too keen on the first one as it made a lot of noise.



Back to the animals. Keziah loves anything to do with "babies" and so she couldn't wait to see the baby calves!


Just can't stamp the "farmer" out of him! (yes, there were stations to wash your hands other than in calves' mouths :o)


Lincoln was a bit young to enjoy the sights and sounds of the animals, but he had a good time anyway, sucking on his fingers.


"See? I am brave!!"


There was a great park here as well, which Keziah and Lincoln enjoyed! I sure had to keep on eye on this boy or else most of the sand would have gone in his mouth! Wouldn't hurt, I guess. Give the digestive system a good clean-out.



This child's smile is so infectious!


The weather was so nice we also hit a beach on the Ottawa River.





My parents had rented a boat on the Rideau Canal and so we met up with them one afternoon. We enjoyed the boat ride through a couple of locks. I think this was the first boat ride ever in my life that my dad's boat didn't break down!! :o)




Lincoln, relaxing and snoozing to the sway of the boat. He'd make a good "Moses":







The little wading pool where they had docked their boat:


Her expanders keeping her afloat!! Kidding! (but I wonder...Don't worry, I am not going to try :o)


And that brings us to Monday, the day we headed home. After we got these monkeys up


we packed up and left our little home. I think what Keziah will miss the most are the rides we had to take in the "elegator".

We had a great time (as long as we don't focus on peoples' reactions as we continue to take her out in public...a post for another day) and are thankful for this time we could spend together.

Gearing Up!

The weekend has passed and wow, what a weekend it was! Just the weather in itself made it feel like it was the July or August long weekend! We had a great weekend, visiting our relatives, I mean, the zoo in Brantford on Saturday. It was actually quite hot, so the highlights were the little animal show and all the plastic Little Tykes play equipment rather than the tigers and lions who were too hot and sleepy. Oh well, there's always next time! Keziah went with some of her cousins and had a good time!

This is about as close as she would get to feed the goat. She was brave enough to pet it though.

At the little animal show, she was much braver and had fun petting a snake:

a lizard:

and an alligator:

These little furry creatures were cute but too young to pet:

Keziah had a great time keeping up with her cousin, Conall.

On Monday, we spent the day with our very close friends, Jenn and Jay and their kids. We checked out the Eramosa Caves together. I think I am glad I had the excuse that I had to stay above ground with Lincoln, and Jenn was ever so kind in saying she didn't mind to stay with me :o)

Keeping mom happy as we wait for the others to come back up:

So as you can see, we are still taking Keziah out. Many people ask us if we will or not. To be honest, taking her out in public is MUCH easier than taking her to places where people know her, like church (or another sister church), family and friends. You see, the people in public have always stared at her ever since day one, so really, there is no difference in that environment. The people close to us know what she looked like before and so are taking in the changes as best as they can. We have heard from many that last week's fill really had them in awe (for lack of a better word) as to how big these things will get. I think that last fill-up just really hit people a bit more as it is really becoming obvious.

Keziah's Aunt Jenn made something ever so special for Kez; she sewed a doctor's outfit for Patches, Keziah's stuffie that she takes with her to the hospital!

Isn't it adorable??! She is one talented, caring and crafty person! We LOVE it! Keziah says "THANK YOU, AUNT JENN!!!"

And so today, with Patches and Kez dressed in their doctor outfits, they set out to help the baby that needed lotion and bandaids. We worked with saran wrap again to keep the lotion in place. I was able to put the lotion on her "owies" as well as saran wrap, so hopefully she'll let me tomorrow. The difference I noticed today was that if I used the word "cream", she became anxious. If I used the word "lotion", she was okay with that.

Here she is checking her baby's temperature with the thermometer:

Working the lotion and saran wrap, first on her hand, then on her head:

Although we won't be using those bandaids (tagaderm) anymore, I still wanted to work with them with her to help her get over her fear of them. At first she was hesitant, but once I reassured her that we will not be putting them on her and that they'll be staying home tomorrow, she went ahead and actually put it on the doll and took it off! I saw this as a big and positive step!

Just checking to make sure her baby's heart is still beating after taking the bandaid off :o) It was so cute because the whole time she was working with her baby, she would talk softly to the baby with encouraging words like "it's okay, it's just me, Keziah." or "I will hold your hand, it's okay." :o)

I am so proud of her! She did very well today with it all! I know tomorrow will be another story, but for now I feel we made some improvements as we gear up for the hospital.

We ask for your prayers, that Shaindy will be available to help her tomorrow and that we don't have a complete repeat of anxiety from last week.