Worse First, Better Later

Between surgery date and bandage removal date, Keziah enjoyed a week under the careful and watchful eye of Dr. Lincoln:

Keziah handled being "under wraps" quite well, but she was very thankful when Tuesday rolled around for her to go back to Dr. Zuker, get put out and have it all taken off.

 

So off we were by 5:45 am. It certainly isn't too often that you get to paint just after 7 in the morning!

By 8:00, the team was ready to go. And so was she. Off she went again, chose the same sleepy smell (orange) as before, and 15ish minutes later, all was done.

Now, this is very important for you to read: for a skin graft to look good, it needs to look terrible first. After seeing the pictures, you may very well think, "Well, doesn't that look worse than the birthmark?!" or "You can't even tell there's a difference so why bother put her through all that?!"

Well, you are right. At first. But when we think of her first skin graft a few years ago, we are confident in how her skin grafts will look in a few years. Let me remind you what her other skin graft looked like from 3 years ago:

 This is what the skin graft looked like 2 months later:

And this is what the first skin graft looks like today, almost 3 years later:

So, please keep this in mind for the following pictures :o)

As I was saying, about 15-20 minutes later, someone was waking up, with all smiles, eager for some freezies!

 

After another 20 minutes to spend in the playroom (with Opa!!) to make sure all the wobbliness had left, we were able to go home:

Let's do some Before and After pictures so we can see the differences this surgery made:

Here she is, before and then after of the skin graft placed around her eye last week:

Before and after of the skin grafts down the side of her eye, shortening the eyebrow:

 

Before and After of the excision done under her eye:

 

And the before and after of the scar revision done on her scalp:

 

The skin grafts came off her ear, and to keep that incision sealed, she goes to bed with a sweatband around her head, so her ear won't fold over as she sleeps and rolls around:

 

So even though the skin grafts all look a bit rough right now, we couldn't be any happier for her! Her eye shape looks great - not too droopy or pulled open. The excision under her eye is amazing!! Plus, Dr. Zuker is pleased.....which makes us pleased as well.

Her next appointment is a follow-up one, for May 7th. And you know what?! That could very well be the last one!!!!!

Now, I ask you: how in the world do you thank a man that has made such a difference in someone's life?! I have 3 weeks to think of something.....

It also gives 3 more weeks for this girl to heal up some more. We pray for continued healing - that nothing gets infected (the ear is starting to get pretty red and swollen with some pus), and that we can soon close the door of this removal journey. We praise our God for blessing this journey thus far!

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.

Say What?! Oh, and a Surgery Date.

Hello!

It's been a few months, hasn't it? I hope this finds you well! And I also hope you don't live anywhere near me - for that means you are living in the frigid temperatures like I am. -25 degrees Celsius is awfully cold.

Seeing as it's been a few months since I've updated, I thought now would be a good time. Keziah is doing well, happy and loving all the snow.

But it's not only an update I want to give you, I also want to ask you a question:

See that picture above? Would 'zombie' ever enter your mind by looking at her?!

 

Yes, there's a story to my question. The other day, I brought Keziah into the walk-in clinic due to a very tight chest, thanks to a lingering cough for over a month. The doctor walked in, took one look at Keziah and said,

 

"What do we have here, a zombie visiting us?"

 

I was somewhat taken aback. Well, actually, I was kind of stunned - so stunned that I didn't even reply back! You know why?! Because I wasn't sure what he was referring to....in fact, it took me all day to admit to the reality that he really was referring to her birthmark.

 

All day, every time I thought about his comment, I shooed it away thinking that there was no way his mention of her looking like a zombie was because of her birthmark. I convinced myself all day that he called every patient a zombie, and well, that was just his way of saying hi to someone.

 

It wasn't until I spoke of what happened to Nathan later that night when I faced the reality that he really did say that because of her birthmark. I never said anything earlier to him because I just couldn't and wasn't ready to connect the two: birthmark and zombie. But by saying it aloud, I was faced with the question: why else would he have said it?

 

Really?! Really???!!

 

As I laid in bed that night, with tears in my eyes, I was at first angry with myself for not putting that doctor in his place. But then, I was thankful I didn't. Why? Because then Keziah would have noticed that something was up, that he was saying something about her birthmark. You see, she has no idea what a zombie is, and so she never connected the two. She just giggled at what he said. If I had made a big deal and told him off, she would have clued in very quickly that he said something about her birthmark.

 

So while I am glad she never clued in, that still doesn't stop me from crying about it all. Even though she had no idea, my mama heart is very angry......angry that he said it and angry that I never put him straight.

 

It also makes my heart sad for our beautiful girl. She is 5.5 years of age......there is going to come a time when she will start to notice how many people point and stare at her. So far she is unaware, but I have a feeling not for long. And that makes my heart sad, knowing that she is coming closer to an age where reality sets in and she starts to notice how much negative attention she gets because of her freckle.

 

We continue to pray for wisdom. She is a very happy, confident girl, full of life and very caring. We pray that we are given what we may need in the days, months and years ahead, so that she may always know she is beautiful, inside and out. She still loves her freckle, but is looking forward to when people will stop asking her about her shiner.

 

Speaking of that.....her next surgery (and last?!) is booked. It is to take place on Tuesday, April 7th. That leaves us with just under two months before we have to think of it. And she already knows how she'll spend the next 8 weeks.......with her best friend, her brother. I will update the blog again once April 7th gets closer, to go over what Dr. Zuker hopes to achieve. Until then, take care and thanks for reading!

 



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!!

One Week After...

Well, it's been 9 days since Keziah's surgery to remove a little part of her nevus around the bottom of her eye and up the side of her face. Just yesterday the steri-strips came off and we were able to finally see what Dr. Zuker did. It will still take the incisions and then scars a number of months to heal up, lighten in colour and blend in. But so far we are pleased with last week's results.

So, a week ago, this is how things looked. It was hard to see much of a difference due to the dried blood looking like her nevus:

About 5 days later, her eye was a bit swollen still, but she was feeling great!

It was also then that I saw some bruising. You can hardly tell in the picture, but all down in front of her ear around the tape, it was quite yellow for a day or so. She always bruises yellow - never any other colour.

But despite the bruising - she was still smiley!

And then finally, yesterday we took all the steri-strips off and tada!

I know, you are probably thinking - um, is there even a change?! A difference?!?! All that for what?! Well, let's pull up a picture to compare, and then maybe you will see it. Or not. Some have told me it's hard to tell because they never see her birth mark to begin with, so they really can't tell the changes, which is pretty cool. But here is a before:
*edit: you know what?! We just noticed something, comparing the next two pictures: Dr. Zuker also dealt with the very wide pink scar between her ear and hairline, pulling her hairline down towards her ear. Whaddya' know.....we didn't even notice till now! So you probably can't even see it, seeing as *we* didn't even notice!

And now:

 

Yes, there is still some under her eye, but Dr. Zuker didn't want to get it all now just in case it pulls the eye open. He said he will get it next time, once the skin has healed and relaxed again.

We are ever so proud of this girl - a girl who never had a single pain med since being in the Operating Room. That blows our mind. No Tylenol. No Advil. Nothing. She bounces back like there is no tomorrow. We are so thankful to God for that.

Her incisions seems to be healing well, which is good so she can go back to school next week again. Her brother sure has enjoyed her home again.....and she has enjoyed being at home as well. Maybe a little too much because she doesn't want to go back to school. But I know once she is back again, she'll like it.

Our next appointment is in November, where Dr. Zuker will check how things are healing, and then we plan the next (possibly last?!) step in this journey. Till then, take care and thanks for reading and traveling with us on this journey!!