Implanting The Expanders

On March 29, 2012, Solana had two tissue expanders implanted into her scalp. During the operation they put 20ml of saline into each expander. We were told this is standard practice, that if they are able to start the expansion process during the operation they will, and that it also will let them know immediately if there is any defect or possible problem with the expander. In Solana’s case, some bruising started to occur on the right side, in the same area that had been torn by the self expanding expanders in June. They watched the area closely and the next morning decided to remove all of the saline in hopes the bruising would subside. Thankfully, the bruising did go down after this.

After the tissue expanders were implanted.

 The bruising.

This really concerned me. Having your child go through surgery is scary enough, but when complications start to arise immediately afterwards it can throw you into a panic. I broke down crying to my husband explaining I don’t think I can handle much more of this. To date, Solana had undergone six surgeries and she is only four years old! Not just that, but when your child’s spirit is nowhere to be found it really exasperates the situation. For the record, Solana is out going, energetic, silly and extremely loud, so watching this child in bed who is quiet, lethargic and needy was worrisome. As her personality slowly returned, my spirits would lift. We both also rely heavily on our faith to get us through these situations. We continue to pray and surrender and give our precious daughter to the Lord.

Solana was released the next day.