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!

Surgery #7 Come and Gone

Tuesday seems quite awhile ago already, and it is exciting that we have passed 3 days of recovery without any complications.

Before I post pictures of Surgery Day and the days after, I warn you........to put it bluntly, she looks pretty beat up. In fact, with Lincoln in a cast, and Keziah walking around the way she looks right now, I don't dare step foot out the door for fear of people calling the Children's Aid Society on us!

Also, if you are looking for big results, well, you'll have to wait a bit for that.  It will be more obvious in a number of months from now. There is a whole lot of healing that needs to take place before we can truly see if the desired results are there. All we know is, while she looks like a beautiful mess right now, Dr. Zuker was pleased with how surgery went, and he was able to do skin grafts under her eyebrow, shorten the eyebrow with skin grafts, excise the rest under her eye and thin out her scalp scar.

After 3 years and 7 surgeries, one's file gets rather thick.

All dressed up in her hospital garbs, sporting a brave face as we wait for our turn for the OR.

 

 

And there she goes. All on her own - knowing full well what is waiting for her. Her bravery makes us tear up every time.

Surgery was just over 3.5 hours, and we got to see her after an hour in recovery. By 6 we were in our room and supper was ordered and delivered. The head wrap is to protect her ear, where the skin was taken off of for around her eye.

Saying good-bye to daddy, then enjoying a treat she remembered from her Aunt Michelle, who was taking good care of Lincoln back at home.

 

Keziah slept well that night and woke up hungry! Nothing like bacon to cure all owies!!

Because she was doing so well, the IV could come out, which she was glad to do herself (mostly). Shaindy came to visit her, and then off to the Craft Room to wait for Daddy and Lincoln to take us home!

 

 

Once home, we rigged her bed so her head would be elevated the way Dr. Zuker asked, and she has slept well every night home so far.

Keziah's eye continued to swell up, with it being pretty much closed Wednesday and Thursday, with it looking like she found some of my eye make-up. Today we are excited to see that second brown eye peek through!!

 

Despite some uncomfortable moments (itchiness, crusties in the sore eye, finding out that tears have salt.....which hurts the owies more!), this girl manages to take everything in stride, ready to be goofy and showing that beautiful smile of hers!

We go back to Sick Kids for 7 am Tuesday morning, for Dr. Zuker to take off all the gauze under her eyebrow (you can't really see the gauze as it is all bloody and stuff...), the steri-strips under her eye, as well as her head wrap. She will be put out for all this. We pray that the skin grafts have taken by then and that the healing continues.

Thanks again for all your prayers this week! It has been a tough one in some regard, but one that is now behind us. We thank God for carrying us through the past few days.

Surgery #7 Around the Corner

3 more nights sleeping and we will be heading back to Toronto Sick Kids for surgery #7 for our girl. She is okay with going. She already has her supper picked out, as well as what flavour of the "sleeping smell" she wants. She has not shown any reservations at all. We find that amazing, and we praise God for that.

With surgery coming up fast, Keziah had to have a doctor's check up to make sure all is well. I was surprised to find out she is 48 pounds! Yet, if I think about it, I shouldn't be.....this girl is growing like crazy if I go by her jeans (when will summer start so I don't have to worry about her jeans being too short?!). She is probably down a few pounds since the check up though as she is just getting over the stomach flu.

We have to be at the hospital at 10, with a 12:00 surgery time. I don't know how long surgery will be, but the plan is for Dr. Zuker to take off the skin from the back of her ear and use it for skin grafts up and around her eye. He will then take skin from another part of her body and stitch it to the back of her ear, to replace what was taken for her eye. Confused yet?! :o)

Dr. Zuker will be keeping a sliver of her birthmark as her eyebrow, thinning it quite a bit, as well as shortening it. Right now her "eyebrow"/birthmark goes down past her eye:

He will also excise what is left under her eye:

We are thankful for no expanders again, but are trying hard not to get too nervous about the results of this surgery. Again, the risk of her eye being distorted is there. It is such delicate surgery. But we are relieved to know that Dr. Zuker will be doing this, and we are at peace knowing that God will guide his hands.

Dr. Zuker will also see what he can do about her scars on her scalp. The one, as you can see, has widened considerably. This is due to her head growing. While he may be able to make the scar thinner, it will most likely widen again as her head continues to grow. Once her head is done growing, this is where she will have some scar revision done. For now I am able to hide the wide scar most of the time in how I do her hair.

So, all said and done, she is booked in the hospital for 3 days: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. But we are really hoping that she is able to come out on Wednesday because we have to take Lincoln to the hospital on Thursday to the Fracture Clinic...more about this here. Never a dull moment when  you have littles!!

This surgery is exactly 3 years from when she had her very first surgery to start this removal process. We are really nearing the end - with this surgery possibly being one of the last ones, if not the last until she can make her own decisions when she gets older Yay!!

 Although this girl sheds a tear or many at the tiniest scratch, she becomes this valiant warrior as soon as it has anything to do with hospitals and her freckle. It doesn't make sense to me, but man, are we ever proud of her!!

We'll update once we are home from the hospital! We ask for your prayers again this coming week, and we thank you all for your love and support.