Four months Post Op

Thankfully we have had no incidents this past month. The scar area is still red and sometimes changes in shades of redness, which makes me nervous; however we have not seen anything alarming. Thank God. When I look closely at the area you can see blood vessels which is causing the redness that you see (I am assuming, of course). My thought is because the skin is so thin you can see the blood vessels much more easily than with “normal” skin. Either way she is happy and healthy and we are so grateful for this blessing. As long as things progress well we will not see the surgeon again until March 2013.

Three months Post Op

So it has been a little over three months since her surgery and things are looking well. Her scar has healed well, but it has started to spread like the doctor advised might happen. When the expanders are removed and the skin is stitched together the skin naturally wants to pull back into its original place which causes the scar to widen. We are watching the area and will address it later on, if ever. From her last check up with the surgeon everything looks good and he doesn’t even want to discuss options or do any kind of surgery for at least a year. This will give her a break from the hospital and surgery procedures. We are thankful that the “big” surgery is completed and we can discuss possible further options at a later date. We are thankful that she will be able to start school next year and will have some sense of normalcy. Praise God.

 

 

Two Month Post Op

 

 

One month Post Op

So far things are going good for Solana; PRASIE GOD! She got the ok to swim two weeks ago, so she’s been swimming at school and we’ve been taking her to the pool on the weekends – trying to jam pack summer into the last few weeks. One thing we have noticed is that the incision area has been become increasingly pink. We are not sure if this is related to swimming, perhaps it is irritating it. I emailed the Dr. but he is on vacation, so we’ll have to wait for his reply. We don’t have any real concerns right now. She is doing great and her hair is growing in. I worry sometimes that her hair might hide a problem underneath so I check her head every day when we get home. Today she had two little puss pockets that I drained and put hydrogen peroxide on. I’m hoping my diligence will help her once this is really all healed, probably in a few months or so.  

2 ½ Weeks Post Op

On 7/20, Solana had her first post op checkup and the Dr. said Solana looks great. (Thank the Lord!) We were very happy to hear that! We had started to notice her skin changing colors as it heals and the dissolvable stitches start to dissolve. I noticed specifically in an area that looked like it may be puss, but the Dr. checked it out and said it was not – it was just part of the skin. Because it started to increase in the days after our appointment I decided to (once a day) put a small amount of hydrogen peroxide on the area to help keep it clean. For the most part it is all gone now and the stitches have almost dissolved completely in that area. I still keep the stitches moist with Neosporin as the Dr. said this would help the stitches dissolve quicker and to help protect again infection. I will probably stop once all the stitches have come out. I would estimate there are still about 45% of the stitches still in place.

She was upset at me = the reason for the “mean” face

One Week Post Op

It has been a week since her surgery. Things are looking good. The first few days after major surgery is always the scariest, but thank the Lord she has been healing well. She went back to school on Monday and has had some difficulty transitioning, because she had become used to being home with me each day.

There is a small area on the front right side where there is still glue and the Dr. said there was not enough skin to make it there, but they did try and implant some hair follicles there.



We are home now

We were released yesterday, which is great news! All of her vitals were stable and she was eating, drinking and going to the bathroom on her own. Very little fluid was coming out of the drain, so that was removed in the afternoon and we were released shortly after. She was more tired than normal, but some of her personality was starting to come through.

She has ‘would care’ that she doesn’t enjoy too much. We can’t get her head wet for a few more days so we clean it softly with gauze and water and put antibiotic cream on the stitches.