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.

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.