It's Looking Good

Chicago, known to some as the Second City, will now be known our family as the city that gave me a second chance.  We arrived on Monday afternoon, just about 16 hours before I reported back to Highland Park Hospital for a double surgery.  Dr. Bauer met us bright-eyed and ready to go at about 6:50 Tuesday morning, and again emphasized that he did not expect the same complications we had the first time around.  A few minutes later, we met the ENT, who agreed that we were making the right move by having tubes placed to help protect the expansion process.  At 7:30 a.m - prompt as always - the nurses took me back.

Little Superhero, decked-out
and ready for surgery



Ok, I might not actually be able to fly, but I will ace this surgery with flying colors!



Let's GO!

After surgery began, daddy went back to the hotel to wait for my sis to wake up (a family friend had graciously stayed with her while they brought me to the hospital), and mommy went to the waiting room.  A couple of hours passed, and Dr. Bauer came out to report that surgery had gone fine.  The ENT placed the tubes without incident, while Dr. Bauer removed the little bit of scar tissue that developed after my infection, and placed two 500 cc expanders.  He said we should aim to fill each to about 700 cc.  We have a bit of a head start on this, as Dr. Bauer already filled each with 80 cc.  Also, at mom and dad's request, he adjusted the location of the ports from last time because they were previously in my bottom -- now that I am working on my walking skills, I tend to plop down on my tush and it didn't seem like a good idea to have the ports there.  The ports instead were placed closer to my thighs.   

You can't actually see the ports, but my thighs really bruised up from getting them in.

I was so happy to see my mom in the post-op area (the PACU), but she could see that I was very uncomfortable.  As soon as she got me in her arms, I went to sleep, and pretty much stayed that way until the next morning - nearly 24 hours later.  Of course, I did have periods of waking during the day and night, but I was extremely fussy when awake.  Notwithstanding the painful cries, mom could tell that things were good because I took my bottles fervently, slept peacefully, accepted my meds without issue, and even held a toy or two.  And, of course, I smiled at my sis -- she always makes me feel better.  But because I did feel so uncomfortable, we decided to stay overnight, and I slept belly-to-belly with mom that first night, which helped my recovery along.

By the next morning, I was acting much more myself, even smiling and poppin' out a few giggles. We went home (you know, home sweet hotel) Wednesday morning, and I have steadily been getting better.  My cries became fewer and far between, I needed less pain meds, and I started to work on my mobility by Thursday. And believe it or not, even though I hadn't been able to crawl or stand up since Tuesday morning, by Friday evening I was back to walking again.  We had the first dressing change done at Dr. Bauer's office, and Mim said that my incisions "look better now than they ever did last time." 

In these two pictures,
you can see my new little bumps

The bottom line here is that we have hope... real, sustainable hope that I will continue to heal, that we will be able to expand, and that Dr. Bauer will remove my nevus. While we have been excited and ready to get back and try again, we have also been skeptical about the success of this re-do. But we followed Dr. Bauer's every recommendation and listened to his every opinion, and the road ahead is looking good.

I'll go in to Dr. B's office one last time on Monday before we head home, for another quick exam and some more reassurance that it is going well.  Mom and dad also need a little refresher course on how to do my expansions, since they didn't actually get to begin them last time.  So long as I heal up and don't develop an infection over the next week or so, we should be able to begin my expansions next weekend, which will continue weekly until we return for my August 4 excision surgery.  Thank you all for your continued support and prayers.  We see God's work first hand right here in this miracle.

Definitely feeling better.  It's magical
how different I feel after this surgery
as compared to that first one.