The Patch Job

Thank you all so much for being gracious and patient as you waited to hear how things went on Thursday! It was a very long day again, then I was finally back to work on Friday, and Saturdays usually like to sit around at laugh at the girl who thinks she's going to get everything done on her list. 

So...yea...it's Sunday for 5 more minutes so I'm counting it as a respectable response time. 

That sounded better in my head.

Although it was nothing compared to the 15 hour surgery, we still had quite a bit longer wait than we'd hoped. We went in planning for 3 hours...it ended up being about 6, start-to-finish. However, we have great news to report...and even more pretty cool pictures to share some time. (That'll be like in 5-10 years when we're all just sitting around the fire, throwing back some smores, and talking about the good ol' days. For right now...don't ask.)

We had some different options presented to us when we arrived for "Take 2." The resident said they'd be going in, removing the sections of the implant that had pushed through, and attempting to recover them with a new flap for improved blood supply and additional skin grafts, if necessary. I say sections, plural, because 2 more popped through just on the drive up to the city. 

Please tell me someone else was in tears just reading that. Because I was...in tears, I mean...when I saw them peaking through. For the love. Once again, we find weak old Eva...WAAAAAY out of the realm of "we can handle this," and she's replaced with some chica who just nods her head and acts like this is all chill and stuff. 

Chill girl says, "So what if that doesn't work?" Resident looks as though he's surprised that chill girl has asked a follow-up question, yet he responses with...

"Well, if that doesn't seem like it will be enough, we may have to remove the implant and replace it with another one..." (looks from parent-to-parent and continues, probably so he can get out of there as soon as possible...)

"...and if THAT doesn't work, we may have to remove the implant altogether and...

Start. From. Square. One."

That was the moment chill girl...who wasn't actually chill, mind you...should've been nominated for an Oscar. 

I actually couldn't begin to tell you much of what was said after that point. Just that we nodded and said something to the effect that we'd be getting everyone to pray that option one would suffice. Duh. 

So that's what we did...sent word to family what was going down, and people starting praying. 

When it was all said and done, the surgeon met with us and let us know that the best case scenario had happened! He was able to take a flap from behind the ear to provide generous blood supply and then take an additional, yet small, in comparison, skin graft adjoined to the previously healed ones and recover the lower portion of the implant.

He also checked the inner ear, for good measure, and found that the ear canal was holding, for the most part. He did add some packing back in there to provide more support. He also recovered the new ear with the pink molding, with instructions to do nothing for a couple weeks. 

Incidentally, he also had to shave a portion of that side of Zane's head again. Zane is none-too-thrilled. If he'd just agree to a mohawk, everything would be fine! But NOOOOOO he has this party-on-the-side, skin-head-on-the-other-side thing going on. That is a battle we will fight another day. Or never. Because I'm just tired. 

We were able to head home after waiting for Zane to finish bossing the nurses around and demanding noodles...

"Are you ok, Zane?" No.
"Are you in pain, Zane?" Yes.
"Where?" Nowhere.
"Can I get you anything?" Yes. 

"What's that?" Noodles. 

And on and on...back and forth...sideways and...whatever...you get the point.

So the happy couple (sounds better than the exhausted couple at their wits end) journeyed on with their patient. 

Headed home, you say? 

Nay, verily.

Olive Garden. To get the boy his noodles. 

And the boy and his noodles lived happily ever after.

The End.

Wait...that's not exactly how that went down...but pretty close. If you're wondering what you pray for at this point, it would be that the whole kit and caboodle does what it's supposed to do...that we don't have to continue with additional patch jobs...that the ear will heal quickly and well...and that the main character in this story will not lose his ever-living mind as his recovery time grows.

In all seriousness, Zane is really struggling with attitude more than anything. He's frustrated and aggravated about the whole deal and just wants to get back to normal. Every now and then, he'll say things like, "I wish I didn't have this surgery." He will be grateful one day, but that day isn't today...or tomorrow...might not be for awhile...so please pray for endurance and patience as well as the healing. 

We will keep you posted once the new bandages come off sometime next week. Thanks so much for the continued prayers and encouragement. 

The Saga Continues...

Buckle up, friends. All hands in the moving vehicle at all times. No, for real...hang on tight. We're in for another bumpy ride.

Unfortunately, we had a significant bump in the road to recovery today. As we mentioned before, Zane has been feeling great! No pain meds for quite some time now, great updates at the post-op appointments, and an overall sense that all was going according to plan. And that was exactly what was happening...until today.

The major complication we'd been praying against became obvious this morning. The Med Por ear "popped through" the skin graft. As I was applying his morning ointment and drops, I noticed a visibly white piece of hard material. After talking with Landry...who's been in charge of all that while Chris and I were away...the scab over that part of the new ear just fell away last night. So the scab had either been covering up the extrusion, or it actually happened sometime during the night.  

I immediately called the hospital to see if they'd want us to come in before our next scheduled post-op next Tuesday. The nurse asked me to take some pictures and send her a quick email. Within a few minutes, the surgeon was calling me. I was right...the new ear had indeed popped through the skin. He wasn't surprised about the location of the extrusion as this was the area at the bottom of the flap that wouldn't have had as much blood supply as the rest of the ear. He talked some more to his staff and then called me back to say he wanted us back up at the hospital tomorrow...for a second surgery to repair the issue. He's planning to use some more skin behind the new ear to pull over and cover the Med Por. He's also hoping that because we're catching it very early, the new skin graft will hold. 

His major initial concern is a high risk for injection at the extrusion site. He called in some more antibiotics, oral and topical, to fight against that.

So...here we go...this time we're looking at roughly a 3 hour surgery and sleeping in our own beds when it's all said and done. I hope he's right! Compared to the 15 hour surgery and the overnight chaos, we'll take it! :) 

Once again, we are so thankful for each and every one of you and all the prayers offered on our behalf.