Healing well

What surgery? With a hat on, you almost can't tell that Leah had surgery at all!

All continues to go well with Leah's recovery from her first surgery. We are almost two weeks in, and have turned the distractor 11.5 mm so far, which is just shy of a half of an inch. The swelling has gone down considerably, but it's still difficult to see the progress we are making because the shape of the distractor is changing the shape of her face. In the photo below, however, you can see the cut on the right side of her skull, which shows the area that is being advanced every time the distractor is turning.

Her pain seems to be diminishing substantially, though her sleep patterns are still off. Before the surgery, she was sleeping through the night, but those days are over! At this point, she wakes up two or three times per night, though most times she can easily get back to sleep. Hopefully we will see some improvement in that area in a few more days.

On Monday, we will send her first set of photos to Dr. Taylor. He will have a look at them and determine whether or not we need to keep turning the distractor. Most likely he will say that we should continue, since we are probably half-way, or even a third of the way, done. We do have a few questions for him as well. I am a little concerned that the front part of the distractor is poking through the front part of her skin, near her face, and while I'm sure he will assure me that it doesn't hurt her, I can't imagine that she doesn't notice it. I am also going to ask him about the shape of her skull, because while the front part is coming forward, it still seems too flat on one side, and I can't imagine how the distractor will address that. Dr. Taylor has mentioned the possibility of putting Leah in a helmet after the second surgery, and as I see her skull move forward but not change shape, I am guessing that we have a good chance of needing that in the end. 

Otherwise, Leah is healing very well. Her incision looks great, and even the site of the distractor is looking good. It continues to bleed, but not nearly as much as it was in the first week post-surgery. We have started to keep hats on Leah all the time, and she is getting quite used to them. It also helps Emma and John deal with the distractor, which they still find difficult to see. We haven't taken Leah out of the house yet because of the substantial risk of infection, but when people come over, the hat helps them as well. And of course, we had her wear a pumpkin costume with a hat for Halloween, to keep trick or treaters who came to our door from thinking we were using the baby as a seriously disturbed practical joke!