SURGERY #10, part 2

 Hard to believe there's more to our story after the last blog post, but I'm popping back on here to give the remaining surgical update. This will be much shorter...promise. For real. I really do.

After another 5 hours, Dr. Owen came to meet us with an update of his own. I'll attempt to summarize again, for sake of simplicity. 

First, Dr. Owen made a vertical incision on the back right side of Zane's head, stretched the skin forward, and moved it behind the ear to attempt to bump it out. He also added a double layer of skin graft to same location for extra "padding." Then he braced it with that same pink foam from his prior surgeries and stitched it to his head again. (Z will be so not happy about that last part...at all. The doc should never have promised Zane he wouldn't need to use it...because y'all know good and well that Zane will never let him live this one down.)

Secondly, he took cartilage from his left ear to add to the right lobe and also took more skin grafts from the groin to cover that. The lobe is a little more square than he’d like but hopefully it fixes itself as it "shrink wraps" or it will be an easy tweak later. Incidentally, our impression of the skin grafting was that it would be minimal this go-round, and while I'm sure that is true, relatively-speaking, we were pretty surprised to see the incision looking pretty angry, hip-to-hip again. Bummer. That was definitely the largest amount of pain for Zane last time so we will just be praying for quick relief there. 

Third, we also thought incorrectly about the tragus, assuming he still had to build it completely. However, Dr. Owen said that he’d previously placed cartilage for the tragus in an earlier surgery, but it hadn't stayed where it was supposed to be. So today, he pulled it back toward ear canal more and stitched it there to keep it in place. Hopefully, it will obey. 

Lastly, Dr. Owen did have to leave a single drain tube like that first surgery a few years ago, when he had 3 different drain tubes. He said there was just too many things going on to not give it some more time to drain out. And so, of course, that means we’re staying overnight. This is one of those, "barring any significant complications," that would keep us from indeed having an OUTPATIENT surgery. For the love. If I had a dollar for every time...but yea, we all packed a bag anyway because Carr fam jam. Still, we should be able to break out tomorrow morning as soon as that drain tube is removed.  

The recovery outlook is bleak in Zane's mind, of course, but we're trying to see all the positive. He will need to lay pretty low for a couple days, so he's excited about significantly more screen time and the wait staff. 

As I mentioned, he's got the pink foam on the ear, covered yet again with the Glascock dressing...also known as the cone from..."not a nice place." :/ He'll have to continue to wear that for at least the first couple weeks until we have the post-op for Owen. Hansen's post-op is usually a month, but we're primarily watching for extreme dizziness. Little man will have to forego outside recess and pe for the next month or more, as well as no trampoline. Wait...what...ugh. The skin grafting and cartilage harvesting areas just have skin glue and are open beyond that. 

Whew. That was the simplified version. He's already back to being...Zane. One of the residents was trying to check his vision by having him follow his finger. At one point, he failed to do so and kept looking forward...at his movie. Before the doc freaked out, I got onto Z to follow the instructions. He dryly said, "I am. I'm multitasking." :/ And THEN, when the floor nurse asked him to rate his pain, he said 9. Hang on, dude. Roll with me here. About 45 minutes ago, you said it was a 5, and you've had pain meds. Your pain went UP after the meds? I'm grilling him about his responses, while the nurse is trying to make sense of things and record notes, and then he finally says, "Mom, I was just being dramatic." Good grief...on steroids. Matter of fact, can I get some medication over here?!? Sheesh. 

Unfortunately, no update to give on the hearing of the right ear. It's packed pretty well in there and was mucho groggy until just recently. So we'll know more in the days ahead...but definitely once all the packing comes out.

On a final note, be sure to stay in the hospital long enough for someone else to clean up the projectile vomit. Done and done. Good thing he said the chicken Alfredo was terrible and only took a tiny bite...because holy spew-fest, Batman. You're welcome. You'll thank me some day. 

SURGERY #10: THE MAC DADDY OF THEM ALL

Well heeeeeeey there...it's been awhile...again. As I scrolled back through to check on my last Zane-update, I realized I say that a lot...too much..."it's been awhile." In my defense...pandemic quarantine was...well, in a word...busy. We had 9 people living in our house, a graduation, a wedding, and just well...it's been chaos. Mind you, this is my kinda busy...lovin' every minute of it...Chris, not so much. More on all the other happenings in life at the Carr Castle will have to be another time. :/ We get it...your life is more organized...that's why people enjoy visiting the circus, not living in it. And yet, here we are. Any whoooo...

I wanted to bring you all up to date on Zane, the surgery king. It's hard to believe that in his 12 short years, he's had 10 surgeries. Yes, he wants to compare to his mother's and see who wins. Yes, it's him. No, I'm not going to tell him. I have to have something, people. Let me have this one thing. 

Regardless, when we last left our little hero, he was waiting to grow and mature some in order to make the decision whether to proceed with the inner ear surgery that could possible restore  hearing to the new ear (guess I should actually use a better word here than "restore" since he's never had hearing in this ear, but you feel me). Primarily, the reason being that this surgery came with significant risk of permanent hearing loss. At the time, we were told we could at least get Zane fitted for an in-ear or over-the-ear hearing aid, as a temporary bandaid or potentially a permanent solution, should we choose not to have the stapedecotomy. 

Just to cover my info-sharing basis...after multiple visits to the hearing aid clinics and the big wig surgeons, we hit a complete standstill. The clinicians that actually make that work said that Zane's ear canal wasn't shaped properly/normally so as to fit a hearing aid. Yea...the ear canal that didn't even exist before that time. The big wig doc insisted that the clinic should make it work. The clinic said the doc should've shaped it better. :/ So then we tried for an over-the-ear option. But the clinic said his ear didn't bump out enough to hold the device...you remember the ear that was built from composites and covered with his own skin?!? The other big wig doc said they could make it work. Again, the clinic said nope...you need to shape it better. :/ :/ Double yikes. No bueno. After we went back and forth a couple times, we realized that all the eggs would likely need to be in the Stapedecotomy basket. Also, if you've been around for many of these road trips on the Carr ride, you'll recognize the name of Dr. K. She was our first intake doc when we first arrived on the steps of the Otolaryngology Clinic back in 2013. She not only performed that first surgery for the side cleft but has continued to guide Zane's overall care since. I bring her up now because in a checkup visit this past February, she again brought up the wearing of the old Baja hearing aid on the head strap. She explained that new research has shown that the advice they'd given patients/families like ours, all these years, had been incorrect. She said that the "single-eared" kiddos actually are suffering long-term by not having the benefit of their "surround-sound"...suffering academically, socially, and career-wise. These kids actually don't even realize what they're missing out on, which shows itself in poor job performance, poor academics, and difficulty in social situations. No longer was she going to say as long as he had one healthy ear, he'd be just fine. That's just not accurate anymore. 

SO...we began to try to have Zane wear the Baja, with the glasses, with the mask...it went really well. 

When the opportunity came to start discussing this next surgery, we did so with urgency and confidence that we needed to proceed. We were pleasantly surprised to hear that medical advancements since we last discussed the surgery would provide another possibility if this doesn't work. You'll remember that Dr. Hansen had told us the risk of permanent hearing loss should something go wrong...so an "option B" possibility was all the more reason to not delay. In the meantime, Dr Owen said he would like to try to again address that stubborn earlobe and bump out the ear, which have seem to conquer his best efforts in the 3 previous surgeries. He'd also build up that tragus since he was in there.  

Aaaaaand so now...here we are. Zane would rather never have another surgery. Duh. BUT we've been talking with him about being on "Team Zane" since that fateful discussion with Dr. K, back in February...trying to get him to think about 20 year old Zane and what will improve his quality of life...and make decisions for his long-term good! Those are hard conversations with our bigs...you can only imagine what we're asking of from him, in all his Zane-ness. :) But every now and then, he catches it...even if he didn't come up with it on his own. Baby steps. Some days we're crawling..."buuuuut...hey!" (Zane's favorite new retort fits well here.)

Thankfully, I've already got an important update to share, even as Mr Z is still in surgery at this moment. We met with Dr. Hansen just a little bit ago as he went first and had the "easier" portion, time-wise. In short, here's what he shared with us:

Actually part of the stapes bone was missing, and the footplate was what was fixed. It was actually so thick, they couldn’t get a laser to break through. They had to drill  a small hole in that. Then they attached a prosthetic to the 1st hearing bone and positioned it through the drilled hole in that foot plate. So the vibrations should pass straight through to the ear drum now. He said it went as good as it possibly could, everything looks great, and he’s super optimistic that Z will be able to hear from that ear now. The canal has held, and there doesn't seem to be any scarring from previous surgeries so there's nothing standing in the way.

Friends. It worked. It stinkin' WORKED!!! It's packed for now so sound will be muffled, but he should be able to HEAR that it's muffled!! The mighty hands of God are overwhelmingly powerful, and His patience with those of us whose foundation is shifting sand is humbling. 

We covet your prayers as Zane goes through this low-key, low-activity recovery process...

Lord Jesus, please let him be able to eat solid foods. Signed, your super-weak servant, Mother of the Year.

...but we remain trusting in the promises of God to walk with us in the storm and so thankful for His goodness, faithfulness, and compassion to our family. Bless the Lord, o my soul.