Almost there...

That sigh of relief has not yet arrived, but we are almost there.  Just about two weeks to go and we can breathe again.  But we have come a long way from the rocky start of this round, and things continue to be stable.  We'll take that!

My bubbles are really something!  And, if you can believe it, BOTH of my expanders have REACHED CAPACITY!!  Yup, we have met the 500cc goal for each expander, even though we have 2 fills left in this round!  Precisely, my expanders are currently at 545cc (left) and 500cc (right).  So while we have had a small share of problems over the last 10 weeks, God has certainly graced me with good volume.  We continue to pray that I do not develop any sort of infection or skin damage, and that the skin recovers nicely after surgery as well.  Your prayers for these things are appreciated as well.

Check these bad boys out...

We often get this question: "How in the world does Joshua sit down?"  And the answer is: "Just as he always has."  It's true - these expanders have not impeded me AT ALL.  I sit, I lay, I run, I play.  I do all the things I always did and I don't even notice these jugs.  They don't bother me in the bath.  They don't bother me in the car seat.  They don't bother me in bed.  Or anywhere else for that matter.  That said, I don't always choose to sit on my bottom.  It's just easier to sit on my knees.  But when I have to sit on my bottom, it's no problem.  What a relief that has been.

The real challenge is going to come AFTER this next surgery.  While there isn't much nevus left, this is going to be a big one.  It's a matter of getting to the area that we've been afraid of getting to all these years.  It has to be done; no doubt about that.  But I have a feeling I'm going to like it even less than I like the other removal surgeries I've gone through.  Please pray for me to have a good recovery, good healing, and good pain management.

Because we are still proceeding cautiously, we will probably combine the last two fills into one and just do it mid way through the rest of this round.  My expanders are very tight, and are not softening up to let much more saline in anyway.  So the plan, as long as Dr. B approves it, is to wait about 10 days, do one more fill, and be DONE!  We see no need to push the limits here.  Volume is good.  Skin is beautiful.  And we want to keep it that way.

We leave 2 weeks from tomorrow for surgery on June 13.  As I said, we are almost there.  Almost.  We'll let you know when we make it.