Two months post-op
So it has been just a little over two months since H.'s surgery. And I wanted to share an updated picture with you.
Her eye is a little less swollen, but there is still some swelling. I notice it particularly underneath. I have been using that to judge how much swelling in her face still needs to go down. We still have one more month that the doctor told us to expect the swelling to abate, so everything seems to be on schedule. The scars are a little less noticeable and we are continuing to massage them. (Here's my instructions from our plastic surgeon... you cannot massage too much or too hard. The future appearance of scars really seems to hang on this one thing. Oh, and sunscreen.) I am hoping that her eye will come down just a little more as the swelling goes down.
One thing that may never be able to be fixed is the hang of her mouth. There are a few nerve endings and muscles there, but not a lot. It's a chicken-and-egg problem as to whether because of the tissue overgrowth caused the lack of muscles and nerves to develop or whether the lack of muscles and nerves is just a part of the overgrowth. It doesn't really matter at this point. The doctor is hoping that by removing so much tissue and weight that what little muscle and nerves are there will have a chance to start to grow and function. Of course, God can regrow those things will little problem, so we'll see what happens.
I thought it would be interesting to put up an older photo by way of comparison. Here is one of the photos from when H. was told she had a family. (I love this picture, by the way.)
We're getting there.
________________
Don't forget...
Her eye is a little less swollen, but there is still some swelling. I notice it particularly underneath. I have been using that to judge how much swelling in her face still needs to go down. We still have one more month that the doctor told us to expect the swelling to abate, so everything seems to be on schedule. The scars are a little less noticeable and we are continuing to massage them. (Here's my instructions from our plastic surgeon... you cannot massage too much or too hard. The future appearance of scars really seems to hang on this one thing. Oh, and sunscreen.) I am hoping that her eye will come down just a little more as the swelling goes down.
One thing that may never be able to be fixed is the hang of her mouth. There are a few nerve endings and muscles there, but not a lot. It's a chicken-and-egg problem as to whether because of the tissue overgrowth caused the lack of muscles and nerves to develop or whether the lack of muscles and nerves is just a part of the overgrowth. It doesn't really matter at this point. The doctor is hoping that by removing so much tissue and weight that what little muscle and nerves are there will have a chance to start to grow and function. Of course, God can regrow those things will little problem, so we'll see what happens.
I thought it would be interesting to put up an older photo by way of comparison. Here is one of the photos from when H. was told she had a family. (I love this picture, by the way.)
We're getting there.
________________
Don't forget...
Comments
hugs,
janet and gang