One down
H. had her first tissue expander filling this morning. She did great. While she is willing to do just about anything we ask, and we have explained to her how all this works, I can tell that deep down she is really wondering at our judgement and if this is a good idea. I admit, on the face of it, it seems a bit crazy.
How this all works is this: The first surgery was to implant the balloons under her skin in two places. These balloons each have a port which is also under the skin. The saline is then injected through these ports. First, lidocaine (it numbs the skin) is applied to the places on skin under which the ports are located. Once the skin is numb, a needle, which is attached to a long tube which is attached to syringe filled with saline, is inserted into the skin at the port. The saline is injected and you're done. This time, since it was the first injection, the nurse only put in 20 cc of saline into each port. Even that was enough, though, for H. to feel her skin stretching a bit. It didn't hurt, but did feel odd.
Since we have gotten home, she has been playing with the skin where the balloons are, pressing them because they are fairly squishy. This has completely wigged out various brothers and sisters, so I imagine I will be seeing her doing it more. There's nothing like the ability to gross out your siblings.
So, things are going well so far. I imagine that H. will be less and less happy about the whole thing as the balloons continue to increase in size. I'm really, really glad that we have our big Arizona adventure right in the middle of it because it will be a good distraction. Of course, this means that I am the one who gets to put in the saline. I'm just beyond excited to get to stick needles into my daughter's head. Not. Plus it means I get to add a whole other list to the items we need to pack.
What's is like to have a boring life?
How this all works is this: The first surgery was to implant the balloons under her skin in two places. These balloons each have a port which is also under the skin. The saline is then injected through these ports. First, lidocaine (it numbs the skin) is applied to the places on skin under which the ports are located. Once the skin is numb, a needle, which is attached to a long tube which is attached to syringe filled with saline, is inserted into the skin at the port. The saline is injected and you're done. This time, since it was the first injection, the nurse only put in 20 cc of saline into each port. Even that was enough, though, for H. to feel her skin stretching a bit. It didn't hurt, but did feel odd.
Since we have gotten home, she has been playing with the skin where the balloons are, pressing them because they are fairly squishy. This has completely wigged out various brothers and sisters, so I imagine I will be seeing her doing it more. There's nothing like the ability to gross out your siblings.
So, things are going well so far. I imagine that H. will be less and less happy about the whole thing as the balloons continue to increase in size. I'm really, really glad that we have our big Arizona adventure right in the middle of it because it will be a good distraction. Of course, this means that I am the one who gets to put in the saline. I'm just beyond excited to get to stick needles into my daughter's head. Not. Plus it means I get to add a whole other list to the items we need to pack.
What's is like to have a boring life?
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