Lucey has discovered Leg*s...It looks like she is following in her brothers' footsteps. Andrew helped Lucey put this little ice cream shop together. Lucey and I have put several creations together 0ver the past few days. A nice quiet activity for a girl who is recovering.Lucey's surgery: (I'll make this simple)
She had a macrostomia repair. The corner of her mouth did not form. It happens rarely. It has also been called a lateral facial cleft. The corner of the mouth is made up of skin, several different muscles and mucosal lining. It's not just a cosmetic issue--for some, eating can be difficult. Speech is impaired because not all the sounds can be formed when facial muscle is not in tact. For babies, sucking is not easy. Lucey had some issues although she handled it very well with coping skills she developed and some reminders from us. The procedure took 2 hours. It was not a simple surgery and that area of the mouth is so sensitive. The inside of her mouth has so many stitches and the outside has stitches, glue and then the strips are glued on to keep the repair together. Two days ago she was doing something....I'm not sure what....we were in the car and when I went to get her out, she had blood all over her face, hands and fingernails. I ran her into the store bathroom (not the best sanitary environment but what's a mom to do?) and cleaned her up and got a close up of what was going on. My heart sank. It looked red and swollen. I washed it well when we got home, trimmed the strips since they were hanging there and she knows not to touch it anymore. I took her to our pediatrician and she thought she looked fine. She took a culture of it to see if there was in bacteria growing. I feel so much better. No signs of infection!
The second procedure was the removal of her ear remnant. This also took two hours. As I described before...there was a lot of cartilage under her skin. Our surgeon talked to us about moving her remnant, in stages, up to the proper location of where her ear should have been to use that tissue in an ear reconstruction later. I'm not sure that would have been possible. It would have been another 4 surgeries and it was a gamble that the tissue would be usable in the end. We didn't really consider it at all. She needs so much other surgery so we made a prayerful decision for Lucey...later, a prosthetic.
Lucey's surgeon surprised us....he told us how he over lapped muscle and tissue when he took off the ear remnant to "bulk up" her face a little. A little extra facial reconstruction. It really does look great. He knew we were concerned that the ear remnant removal would make her indented face stand out more. He was concerned about this too and talked to us at length about it. We are so pleased with her outcome...so far. (Hoping she didn't tear her lip a few days ago....we will know more in two weeks when we go back for her post op visit).
Lucey's surgery was quite extensive but, you would never know it by the way she was running around just 48 hours later! Amazing. She is still running around her and I have to remind her to slow down.
Those of you who are going through something similar with your kiddo, I'd be happy to answer any questions you have. I know my knowledge is limited but I will do my best to share what we know.
xoxoxo
Beth
I'm so glad to see Lucey is doing so well after her surgery! She is one tough girl.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't even taken Hannah to a specialist yet, and I dread the time when there may be surgeries, but it will be nice to have someone who's been through a similar situation.
I'm looking forward to seeing Lucey's progress. I hope everything continues to go well and I'll keep y'all in my prayers.
I am so impressed with the pictures you have posted. There really is a noticeable difference, and it is very striking. Lucey is now even more beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I have told you or not, but I do medical transcription for ophthalmologists, and one of my doctors is a pediatric ophthalmologist. He does extremely nice work, and in a round-about-way, it was because of one of his surgeries on a little boy from Korea, that I found our Ruthie.
I was delivering some operative reports to the surgery center, and I began to talk to the mom, who was sitting in the waiting area. She and her husband had 5 other children, and yet they had taken a very big risk in adopting a little boy with many, many physical problems. One of his birth defects was having been born with only half a face - one eye, one nostril, half a nose, a deformed mouth, one ear. He was in surgery for the beginning of eye socket construction to insert a prosthesis. This mother was love personified, and I cried when she told me about this rejected baby that nobody wanted. The orphanage workers would barely touch him. It caused me to go to their adoption agency's website, and it was there that I saw Ruthie on the SN's list. In retrospect, I think she was mine from that very moment.
Just as a sidenote, I ran in to that Mom and her little boy several years later, and he is doing fantastic. Still has many surgeries ahead, but for a child who was not expected to live, he is truly a miracle - and such a sweet personality.
I just cry when I look at these little "rejected" children, knowing that every one of them has a unique God-given personality. I often think that if China really knew the treasure they were ridding themselves of, they would snatch all of these children back in a heartbeat.
Okay - I'll get off my soapbox now! Lucey is so blessed, and I know that you are too!
I am so impressed with the pictures you have posted. There really is a noticeable difference, and it is very striking. Lucey is now even more beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I have told you or not, but I do medical transcription for ophthalmologists, and one of my doctors is a pediatric ophthalmologist. He does extremely nice work, and in a round-about-way, it was because of one of his surgeries on a little boy from Korea, that I found our Ruthie.
I was delivering some operative reports to the surgery center, and I began to talk to the mom, who was sitting in the waiting area. She and her husband had 5 other children, and yet they had taken a very big risk in adopting a little boy with many, many physical problems. One of his birth defects was having been born with only half a face - one eye, one nostril, half a nose, a deformed mouth, one ear. He was in surgery for the beginning of eye socket construction to insert a prosthesis. This mother was love personified, and I cried when she told me about this rejected baby that nobody wanted. The orphanage workers would barely touch him. It caused me to go to their adoption agency's website, and it was there that I saw Ruthie on the SN's list. In retrospect, I think she was mine from that very moment.
Just as a sidenote, I ran in to that Mom and her little boy several years later, and he is doing fantastic. Still has many surgeries ahead, but for a child who was not expected to live, he is truly a miracle - and such a sweet personality.
I just cry when I look at these little "rejected" children, knowing that every one of them has a unique God-given personality. I often think that if China really knew the treasure they were ridding themselves of, they would snatch all of these children back in a heartbeat.
Okay - I'll get off my soapbox now! Lucey is so blessed, and I know that you are too!