Our week

It is now a week ago that we were waiting, waiting, waiting as the doctors intricately took off her birthmark and replaced it with the expanded skin. A week later, the healing process continues to go well. Here's the week in pictures:

Still swollen on Monday, looking all beat up but still smilin'!

The swelling didn't stop her from enjoying her friends and cousins coming over. It's actually quite funny because all the other kids were given the "riot act" by their parents: no running, no jumping, stay calm around Keziah. But who is running, jumping and bouncing from wall to wall? Keziah!! "My friends are here!! My friends are here!!".

As the day went on, her swelling started to slowly go down and we could see those sparkly brown eyes start to peek through.

Tuesday she woke up and came to the thrilling realization that her head now fits into her bowl! With the forehead expander now gone, she can drink her cereal milk again. :o)

Spoiled, I tell you!! This girl has received SO many gifts in the last three months! Here she is with a very large gift bag packed full with all kinds of stickers, books, colouring books, crayons, etc.etc. all from Nathan's employees. What generosity!!

Something's caught her eye in there!! Looks like she is about to fall in as she is digging for it!

Ahhhh, yes. I would risk falling in the bag for that, too!!

At night, Keziah met her new baby cousin, Addison. She was so excited to hold her!

Wednesday was a turning point in the cleaning department. We rigged up a shower head that can be held in the hand and she LOVES it. And so the cleaning has gone a lot more smoother! We are so thankful for that, seeing as nothing else was working. Even the threat of going back to the hospital wasn't working!! By Wednesday, the swelling was also really going down, leaving behind this gorgeous girl!

Less than a week from surgery, this is what she looked like:

And you can tell what she's been through by just watching her play. Below she has her baby in Lincoln's carseat and is on her way to Aunt Karen's house (where Lincoln was while she was the hospital). The picture underneath that one, she is laying in bed with her baby at the "hosible".

BUT, the definite high-light of the day for her was when she received flowers from her Uncle Nick!

She was SO thrilled!! You see, Nathan had come home with flowers for me the other day. Seeing that, she went out in the backyard and also picked me some flowers.

But these were her very own flowers! Just for her!! Uncle Nick made her day! She was so excited!!

And so we've come to today, Friday. It is H.O.T. out there and it is almost not fair that we have this teasing us every time we look in the backyard:

She can't go in until her drain is out. I even told the doctors that it was a salt pool, but still no go. It's been a bit tough because last year, on July 18th I broke my wrist and was in a plaster cast until September. So I couldn't use the pool then either. And now we are having quite the heat wave and still can't use it. Oh well.....July 11th is not that far away!! And then c'mon over and enjoy it with us!!!

Daddy, being the best daddy that he is, went out and bought this little pool for her to keep somewhat cool in this +35 degree weather.

And so we made him this:



We are so happy with the results of her surgery, with it being only a week ago. She continues to heal well and hasn't had any pain medications since last Saturday. The drain is the biggest "concern" right now, with it slowly inching its way out of her skin. I did call the hospital today about that because now there is a part of the drain I can see which I couldn't see before as it was under the skin. But they told me as long as the bulb on the end still has suction, we are okay. And it does. The drain is draining excess fluid out of her cheek or else it would stay in a pocket in her cheek. We look forward to Wednesday when the drain comes out, as well as the gauze coming off. We pray that the skin grafts "took" and is healing well.

This girl would like to say again a BIG thank you to all of you. She has been remembered by so many people in thought, word, prayer, through cards, little gifts, visits and phone calls. Although she won't remember all of this, I do plan on turning this blog into a book eventually (once the journey is over), where all your comments will also be listed, so she has something to look back on when she is older.

 I hope to do a post on Lincoln as he just had his 6 month check up this morning. Let's just say it's no wonder I have a sore back from lugging him around!!! :o)

The rest of our stay at the hospital

Keziah woke up Saturday morning, chipper than ever. She was very happy to see Daddy again.

So was I as I was so tired (how many times can YOU use the words 'so', 'was' and 'I' in a sentence??! :o). Thankfully he could take her to play so I could catch up on some much needed sleep.

As the day wore on, her face started to swell.



But that didn't stop her from enjoying some visits with her friend Kate and Kate's family, as well as with Aunt Jackie and Uncle Ed.

And if people weren't visiting her, they were calling her!! :o)

And if there wasn't anyone visiting or calling, there were always the nurses ready to have a chat with Kez.

By Saturday night, Keziah was starting to tell the nurses how to do their job. "My heart is here. You need to put the 'mermometer' under my arm. Give my arm a hug (blood pressure). I do it." But when asked if she wants to be a nurse, her reply "No. I want to work with baby animals." I'll have to teach her the word "veterinarian".

Sunday came along after a fairly good sleep. She only woke up (a few times) to go to the bathroom, and even then, it wasn't really that she had to pee. It was because she liked pushing the IV pole. Stinker. However, by Sunday morning, that is when I woke up to our china doll!

"Mom! I can't see your eyes!". Umm, sorry dear, but it's the other way around. I can't see your eyes!! :o)

But despite her eyes pretty well closed up, she was still quite the happy camper. I just love this picture....2 of my 3 favourite people!

I don't know how she could see to play on Daddy's ipad , but she managed somehow! It even looks like she is sleeping!

CHEESE!!!

After quite the ordeal of washing her hair (took 4 of us. Gives you an idea of how that went), we were packed up and on our way home! Yahoo!!

On our way home, much to Aunt Karen and Uncle Doug's disappointment, we picked up this handsome fellow that we missed so much!!

And we were back home by 1:30 Sunday afternoon. We are so thankful to God for everything. There is so much to be thankful for!! We pray that He will continue to bless Keziah's healing and that there may not be any infections. She has a LOT of stitches/incisions that need to be washed and cleaned twice to three times daily. And we don't have extra hands to hold her down while doing this, so it can be a very trying process to get through. It is one that leaves her exhausted and sweaty from crying and screaming, and me all tense and close to tears, feeling the weight of infection on my shoulders and that "I just can't do this anymore" feeling. It leaves Nathan feeling helpless as he holds her down, wanting to distract her to no end but nothing works. Please pray that things will go smoother for her in this, and that we may be given the strength to carry out this task for the next few weeks.

In another day or two, I'll update as to how things are going and how the healing is happening. Lincoln also just gave me an earfull to remind me that it's been awhile since he's had a post. He is, afterall, 6 months old now!!  BOO!!!!!!

Pictures of Surgery Day

I will let the pictures do the talking. It'll give you an idea as to how surgery day went. Do note that there are going to be pictures that show blood and stuff like that, so if that gives you a queasy stomach, you were warned :o)

Friday, June 29th started early in order to get to the hospital by 7. As we started the day, our nerves were there, as well as a lot of anxious thought. How humbling and comforting it was then to head to the hospital, watching the handiwork of God that morning through His sunrise. What a way to show us that if He can make the sun rise and set every single day, how much more will He care for His little lamb.

We arrived at the hospital bright and early and then waited. The hospital has been undergoing some renovations and so we were waiting in a brand new room, with very comfy chairs, as well as undersea murals painted everywhere! (hmmmm, looks like mom and dad found the 10 beer calming medicine! :o)

Still smiling!!

Just after this picture is when she exclaimed "Dad, I am high!". Although it took awhile, apparently the calming medicine was finally kicking in! The nurses howled! Oh, it was so funny!

She was quite thrilled with going into the wheelchair. That is, until she realized they were starting to push her away from us. She then started to get worried, trying to get out but because of the "10 beer" medicine, she didn't have the strength to figure how to get out.

The surgery started around 9 and went to 4. Yes, a very long time to wait. She then took forever to wake up in recovery so we didn't get to see her until 5. And once we saw her (after walking by her, not recognizing it was her on the bed), we were in awe. Her face looked so tiny!!! We got used to the birthmark very quickly but those expanders we did not. And so to us, that is the biggest change: that the expanders were gone and her face looked so little. This is when the "bloody" pictures start.

Oma and Opa Helder spent the day with us, helping us to pass the time away. Here they are, checking out Keziah's new face. 

Keziah recovered from surgery much better than last time, with no vomiting incidences this time. She was also a lot more alert. She was pretty comfortable with her thumb and her blanket (note: on her head again :o), and snuggling with mom.

Oma and Opa Gelderman came as well, again bringing some Swiss Chalet for us. Mmmm-mmmm-mmm.

Keziah had a good first night with no crying or discomfort. Actually, she did not receive any pain meds since surgery until the next morning at 10:30. That I find amazing!! She was awake a lot throughout the night, but that was to chat to anyone who would chat with her, especially the nurses as her own mother was just not in the mood to talk all night long. She was also hungry most of the night. Thankfully Aunt Karen made us some raisin bread and she enjoyed that.

Below is a close up of her wounds, with over 100 stitches holding everything closed and in place.If you look close,   If you want to look close, you will see she has an incision around her eye and into her eyebrow. Then under the gauze is the skin graft. There is also an incision down the side of her face to her ear (that darkness is not hair but birthmark still, but doesn't it look like it's her hair?). She then has quite a few incisions all in the top of her head. So once it's all healed up, she won't have many scars at all, with the most being by her skin graft. We are amazed! You can also see the drain tube behind her ear and taped to her shoulder. The gauze and drain come out on July 11th.

And just because that picture above is a bit greusome, we will end today's post with this picture below again. I will post more pictures of the following days at the hospital in a day or two.

Drum Roll Please.....

....introducing KEZIAH, a girl with a new face but still the same old spunky personality that we all love!!!

Amazing, no?! As you can see it's all off her face except for in her eyebrow. There is still a shadow around her eye but they didn't want to make the incision too close to her eyelid for fear of distortion. What's under the gauze are two little strips of skin that was leftover from her cheek expander. July 11th we go back to have that removed as well as her drain (which is behind her left ear).

And the incisions look like they were sewed with a sewing machine. It is unbelievable how neat they look. God surely was guiding the doctors' hands in order for them to be able to do such meticulous work.

I will post more pictures later, but for now I'll just leave these two with you. Thank you for praising God for all this!! He sure did have His little lamb in His hands!

Race

When we were given background information on Keziah's birth parents, we noticed that they covered a lot of races between the two of them. Asian wasn't listed but if it was, we would know what Keziah would have looked like. With her dark hair and olive colour skin and now this morning with her eyes almost swollen closed, she looks like a little oriental girl! :o) This morning she says to me "Mom, I can't see your eyes!". She thinks it is quite funny.

The doctors are thinking of discharging us today! We shall see!!