Her incision is looking better and better each day. Since getting the release to allow her to return to being in public, we are surprised about the boldness of people's curiosity. Doesn't bother us... we love telling her story and opening up a conversation about God's mercy and healing in her life. We were at Moe's eating a few days ago and one of the employees began cleaning the table next to us. As he passed, he stopped suddenly and just blurted out "what happened?". My first thought was, "uh-oh... what kind of mess had Mia made on the floor" (and if you could have seen how much she had smeared on her face, you would have thought the same). Then, I realized he was asking about her incision. I must admit, it is still in the scary looking phase. We still have not been able to scrub it or do much more than pour water over it in the bath, so it still has the dark markings of dried blood and healing skin. And the fact that it is cut in a zig-zag makes it even odder. We were recently at the house of a high-school friend of Drew's and one of the kids stood over Mia with obvious confusion and curiosity. As I approached her she says, "So tell me what happened to this kid.". I explained Mia's surgery as best I could, and she replied, "well, I hope she grows hair fast to cover those marks cause it is creeping me out". Out of the mouths of babes. I got a good giggle out of that one.
We are all getting use to the crazy zig-zag. Maddie still calls her "zipper head", but it is slowly becoming a part of normal life for us. I am also gradually getting use to the new shape of her head. It suits her so much, and even think it made her look a little more like me. After years of being told how much Maddie looks like her daddy, I relish in every comment of Mia looking like her mommy.
As her scar is healing, it is beginning to turn colors and I do my daily observation to check for infection. I worked with heart patients (post by-pass) and saw scars every day, but adult chest scars sure look different than infant head scars. And when it's your baby, every little red or puffy area has greater concern. There was a small thumbprint size area on top of the incision where is was soft. It was a little discolored and did not feel hard and uniform like the rest of the incision area. I watched it each day and was encouraged by the fact that it didn't have the look of an infected area, wasn't painful and she wasn't running fever. Just when I began to get really concerned, we got a phone call asking if we could move up our appointment with Dr. Strait (neurosurgeon). A prayer was answered! So, this morning the moment Dr. Strait walked in the door I skipped the normal greeting and pointed him to the squishy spot on her head. He immediately dismissed any problem. He explained that it was an area where Dr. Sargent had made a cut for remodeling in the bone and was an actual space/hole that would harden and close in another 4-6 weeks. Exhale and smile. That's exactly what I was waiting to hear. I'm sure Mia was happier to know it was a normal spot so her mommy would stop shoving her head under a light and poking at her.
After commenting about how excellent her shaping and incision looked, he totally released us from his care. We will continue to see Dr. Sargent, but as far as he was concerned, there were no neurological issues.
We go see Dr. Sargent in 5 weeks, and then I imagine the appointments will begin to slow down. She will continue to see him until she is at least 4 years old, but will eventually be released from his care as well. Even though it breaks my heart that she had to go through all of this, I realized how blessed we are that is was a condition that could be repaired and fixed. There are so many precious children with conditions that have no fix, and I that is a sobering thought to me.
Thanks again friends for your prayers. You have no idea how much of a blessing you have been in our lives!
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