GCMN - Surgery Round 5

Apologies first of all for the lack of blog posts, life has been busy.

Apologies also for the crappy phone pics. Despite me packing 3 laptops, a tablet, & chargers, 2 phones, 4 suitcases, 2 back packs, a satchel & clothes for 3 days............... I forgot to pack our camera.



Thursday last week was a busy one. Mr C had to be at the new Royal Children's Hospital for pre-Op check in at 12 so we had all bags packed and ready the night before. Mamma Bear's parents were watching Mr B, Mr T & the 3 Girls and Miss M was coming with MB and I to the hospital.



We made excellent time and had the children at the inlaws by 9:30 leaving us plenty of time to switch from the bus to the mirage and headed into the city. After arriving about an hour early, Mr C was fasting so we had to hold off on brunch instead MB snuck off for a salad roll before we explored the new hospital. I have to say so many things are improved about the new RCH. Parking is ample, its reasonably easy to find your way around, there are plenty of activities for children from large touch screen computer games to a 2 story aquarium, playgrounds icecream shops and much more.



As midday approached we headed up to pre-op and signed in. There used to be multiple waiting rooms on the one floor for surgery there is now one large waiting room, the seating wasn't very well thought out and with 30 odd families crammed in it felt very loud and busy. C was content playing with a couple of transformers I had bought earlier and when they became less exciting he played games on my tablet.



The nurse saw us first weighing him and asking the usual questions before the anaesthesiologist saw us, it was the same doc from C's last op and was very friendly. We were 3rd in line so we were given a pager so we could go for a walk but as we were about to leave it was suggested we should hang around as it would be sooner than expected.



By About 2:30 we were being called in. We changed C into his theatre gown and were greeted by Tony Pennington (his surgeon) along with the anaesthesiologist and one of the plastics registrars. It was discussed and agreed that along with further serial excision of C's Cheek, temple and eyebrow they would also remove the dog ear in his crown from the last op (which was making his hair stand on end). 

Pre-Op Thumbs Up

MB took some snaps before saying goodbye and I headed down the corridor towards theatre. Some gas and anaesthetic and pretty soon C was snoozing so I kissed him and left.

Most times when C is under we grab a bite to eat and hang around the waiting area but because this time MB had arranged to stay and Ronald McDonald House we walked down the road and checked her in and chilled out for all of about 10 minutes before heading back.



We timed it well because we were only waiting what seemed like about 10 minutes before the doc came out and gave us the feedback that all went well. Within another 10 minutes we were by C's bedside in recovery. Some times they have used full dressings on his head other times they have left the sutures exposed, this time they had dressed his temple, eyebrow and cheek and had left the sutures exposed up through his scalp to his crown. He was super groggy coming out of the GA and also on morphine. He was trying to eat an icypole but was clumsily missing his mouth. We were able to start talking to him and soon we were on our way up to the ward.

Recovering on the ward

 The new rooms are really nice, spacious, with seating for a few people plus a chase style couch doubles as a bed for parents. Each room has its own bathroom with dozens of chanels on TV including games and other activities. We kicked back and waited for the drugs to wear off. As soon as he was lucid C wanted food so we started with Jelly and a drink followed by some yoghurt which he brought up pretty quickly.

We left him happily watching TV so I could walk MB to Ronald Mac house and on my return C was already looking for more food. Its hard watching the little ones go all day without food then as soon as they can eat again they go too fast and end up bringing it all up. He did so again with the second serving of food and drink. We decided to leave it til morning so we sat up and watched several episodes of mythbusters on his Laptop while MB and I emailed one another.



I ended up falling asleep at about 1am and slept comfortably although I was woken pretty regularly by some machine in the corridor beeping. I got up around 4:30 and decided to stay up. By 7 C was awake and looking for food. He ate a bowl of corn flakes followed by a bowl of rice bubbles then a bowl of wheat bix, and more importantly kept it all down so I was hopeful we could go home that morning.

Our youngest son and youngest daughter

After a surgical review and some visits by random channel 7 celebrities (of which we had no idea who they were) we had the all clear and headed home.
 

After checking out we played games

Today is 5 days on and we have a Gp Appt to redress the temple/cheek/eyebrow area and a plastics review (and assuming sutures removed) next Monday. C has been propper spoilt (as always) and has truely impressed me yet again with his strength and courage.

GCMN - the road so far

So Mr C started Prep today (well all the billy lids started school but I digress) I suggested talking to the teachers about his nevus, ops, scars, satelites and what not.

So I threw together a bit of DBPP and ended up with an interesting photo log of his journey so far.

Had to share

Catch-Up

Its been a while since I last updated, there are a few reasons.........

The first is that I've been online less and less.

The second is that its been a fairly shite few months with little blog-worthy excitement to note

The third is that priorities have been elsewhere

In a series of kicks received lately the first was the loss of my licence. This (while entirely my fault) was a real pain in the proverbial. I had received a few speeding fines on my motorcycle and amassed 12 demerit points inside 3 years meaning I could either lose my license for 3 months or last a year with no demerit points and keep my license. Given all my indiscretions were on 2 wheels I was confident that I could last out 12 months restricting my motorcycle use and opting for the car more. I last 10 months and unfortunately as turned out ended up being done......in my car.......on the way to get my vasectomy. I was speeding, I was nervous, I explained to the cop where I was going but they didn't seem to phased so I copped a fine and about 2 months later had the pleasure of handing in my license. Its been ok, better than I thought I'm lucky that where we live is a short walk from a bus stop. Had I been living on our land I'd be screwed (it is 8km from the nearest bus stop). I don't mind catching a bus then a train into work, or a train home however the bus home is a little testing, there isn't a lot of leg room for people over 6'6 nor are some of the passengers the most civil. My commute has gone from 75-90 minutes to usually just over 2 hours, this sucks, it means I get home later, have to get up earlier and arrive home more tired than I normally would be.

The licence situ has also led me to deciding to sell my Ducati, while I find the hypermotard the most fun bike I've ever ridden I do need to settle down a little, I had decided to get a more cruiser oriented bike when I turned 40 but now i'm content to sell the hyper then get a harley of some form as more of a project, While I love riding bikes I also love wrenching on bikes just as much so a project will keep me occupied for a while.

On the home front this pregnancy has hit MB for 6. Her energy levels and health were very low for the early months of the pregnancy and as the months went by she didn't seem to improve, actually I started to see her go backwards, no energy, very snappy at first I think we both put it down to pregnancy hormones but certain key indicators raised alarms we suspected that she was suffering antenatal depression. She is now taking medication and speaking with a PANDA specialised psych and has been improving with every week. I've been trying my best to make sure that the house is in order with washing and folding and cleaning kept on top of. I don't want to go into any more detail and probably won't mention it any further but I thought it worthwhile to mention it as it doesn't receive the same recognition as postnatal depression. I do hope after bubs has arrived and we start regaining some normality around the house MB can too.

I've been without full use of my left hand for almost 2 months now. I was breaking up pine kindling for the fire a while back and went to snap a piece by hand, the wood didn't snap but it hurt my hand, I stopped breaking wood thought nothing of it. A day later my had started to get more sore the more I used it another day later I couldn't move my thumb and by the next day I couldn't even do up the buttons on my shirt. I knew something wasn't good so a trip to the ER and although nothing was broken I still required plaster to treat a torn thumb ligament. I was stuck in plaster for a few weeks then saw a surgeon who decided that it was only a partial tear of the thumb UCL and didn't require surgery, but would need to be braced for 4-6 weeks. I have my 4 week review next Friday so here is hoping its all good, its (my thumb) still numb in places and gives me a twinge if I overdo it but all in all has improved especially this last week.

On the NEVUS front....... (sorry I don't post about it enough I realise quite a bit of my traffic hits orginate from google searches regarding NEVUS). We had a bit of a scare last week, Mr C developed a strange lump on his ear, it was probably about 10mm X 3mm X 5mm and sort of resembled a blood blister but was blue in colour. It seemed to come from nowhere, neither MB nor myself had spotted it the previous day. C didn't recall hurting his ear or catching it in the garden or any other activity It really scared me, I spent hours googling images of melanoma finding things that looked identical or totally different and everything in between. MB snapped a few shots and emaild them to C's dermatologist who was very quick to call back and explained that the likelyhood of it being melanoma was very low given the speed in which it developed. Five days later and its now reduced in size and appears to be healing up. We are still taking regular photos and will continue to monitor it but it was certainly an unwanted extra stress. C is still on wait at teh RCH for his next nip/tuck job for his eyebrow, this has perhaps been the longest we have waited for any of his surgeries, which is fine but I can't help but worry it will happen right about the time bubs #7 arrives (just because we don't do anything by halves).

Perhaps the biggest surprise is that Mr B, Mr T, Miss L & Mr C are all attending school next year. We have enroled them in a nice country school just down the road from where the new house will be. It's small, about 70 students in total. We met the principle about a month ago. Mr C has already done one prep orientation day as have the other children in their prospective classes. B will be going into grade 6, T will be going into Grade 4 and Miss L Grade 2. As with most small country schools all classes are composite and we really got a sense of closeness and community from the place, the boys know some other students through their basketball and the plan is for all the children to attend when C has his prep orientation days. I won't go into the events and thinking behind this move just yet, i'll save that for another day.

That is about all I have, til next time......

Tissue expansion, nevus & the many changes faces of C

Seeing though C has finished his tissue expansion i'm re-tagging all my nevus related posts as..... well nevus as it will be ongoing. Whilst there wont be any more rounds of expansion there will be more surgeries. Nips and tucks as I call them, to fix up his eyebrow, his cheek etc etc.


We've been on the waiting list for the next op for over a year now. The waiting for his first op was excruciating but all ops since I've swayed more towards a "whatever,whenever" attitude. Its not like its something to look forward to, taking your child to hospital, having to sometimes restrain them as they go under and comfort them after they come out. I try not to think of it, just casually remind C with a stroke of his cheek that we will see the doc again to sort that out.I recently went back and looked through our old photos from when he was born, it blew me away just how much he has changed. His nevus has lightened considerably and I cant help but feel anxiety about the what ifs. What if we left it, his hairline would be more natural, he'd have both eyebrows but then I also look at him now and see the changes for the better. Maybe its in my mind but while he still never feels the cold he doesn't seem to overheat as much as he used to. I know the expansion wouldn't have created more sweat glands just spread them out over his scalp but I like to think its made a significant improvement. MB sees it more than I do..


Self Portrait


I joke with family and friends and say he is my favorite, I know i'm not supposed to say such things but he and I share a closeness that I don't have with my other children. I still feel guilt for the emotions I had when he was born. I think that my guilt combined with what we've been through together makes me show him extra favoritism and lenience when he misbehaves. He really has turned into quite a cheeky little boy, spoilt by his father for sure and you know what? I wouldn't change that ever.


Some of the shots give you an idea of where he is at and can show his scars, man it was tuff trying to find imnages


Showing the hypertrophic Scarring
We've decded that he is best with longer hair so when it gets some length this time around we will start taking him to the hair dresser (as opposed to me shaving his head) and get them to shape it to suit his scars and skewed hair line

Looking Back 5 years its quite a surprise to me the various color changes within the nevus I think it definitely got darker after birth then lightened up. Maybe its just me

Dark

Lighter
DarkUntil Next Time....

Yowser

According to my post log I haven't made one in over a month, so without getting into the inner details here is a recap of the past month at the house of Fun.

• I finished up at my old job, I was given a $150 JB voucher. I will not miss that place, just the awesome peeps I worked with.
• Miss H turned 1, we took her to Healesville sanctuary and then had a gathering of about 50 people, I cooked a spit roast. It rained so most of the children were confined to quarters.
• The Garage flooded, and wet all the carpet downstairs, it smelt like wet dog for the best part of 2 weeks.
• I caught the train into the city. My first time in 8 years
• I started my new job (more on that later)
• Giftmas came with new bikes, transformers, dolls, vintage lego yada yada
• New years came, I actually almost didn't make midnight, I was dozing off in bed as I heard one of the local parties count down. I must be getting old
  
• Mamma Bears Brother, his wife and 3 children moved down the beach so we took in some coastal R&R
• We drove to Adelaide for the Nevus conference (More on that later)
• We drove back from Adelaide
  
• The garage and downstairs flooded again (yay) Not as bad as the first time but still a weeks worth of carpet dryers.

Thats about all I can think of in terms of highlights, so here are some happy snaps in no particular order.


Flood #1
Day at the sanctuary
Miss H on her first birthday
With some ugly mug...
Yay for keeping up with 6 children
Sheesh a smile??
Mr C with one of the other attendees at the Nevus conference, was great to get a point of view of an adult who has grown up with CGMN, he was truly one of the nicest guys i've ever met and and we cant wait to catch up again.
Sunrise somewhere between Melbs and Radelaide
Me at about 3:55am
A perspective shot to see how white my legs are
Fun at the beach
Until next time I promise updates will start coming in more frequently now.