New pics

Seems are going well. Everything seems to be healing and Robbie is having no problems. The medpor is still dark but has already begun to start sinking in and taking shape. Behind the left ear is looking nuce and that problem area is closing of and healing. As for the scar on the tummy all I can say is wow.

Back South

We are heading south again for a post op with Dr Roberson on to remove Robbies canal sponge and the sponge behind the left ear. All is good and his ear is looking better each day. He has what appears to be a lifted area on the skin from behind the left ear where Reinisch replaced the skin. I am hoping when the sponge gets removed it isnt going to be a big deal and will heal with some ointment and TLC. I know how the first skin didnt heal and had this issue but I am still not going to panic about it yet. I am also praying like crazy that the canal is going to look great and no infections. I will post pics soon after I give the little man a good bath

with no sponges :)

Unwrapped

Well I put on my brave mama face and started cutting away at the head wrap. I took lots of deep breaths before I pulled off the last of the guaze and to my surprise it was not bad. Bruised yes but not as swollen as I imagined. Right away I noticed that all the ugly scars were gone from the back of the ear and the frame work did look smaller. There is no more poked out frame work in front and let me just say wow and phew!!!! I emailed Dr Reinisch as far as how to bathe and care for it and I am sure some more of that dried blood will come off after I give it a good wash. I took pictures from every angle I could until the little guy had enough. Also I took a picture of the stitches. LOL, Robbie was not shy at those shots and I had to do the covering of certain areas lol.

I am very thankful to both doctors and am going to move forward with a positive attitude. I am also still trying to figure out how to keep Robbie from bumping anything.

Better

Robbie seems to be more relaxed this morning. Tom kept him in the other room last night and he slept in the middle of him and Trevor. Brianna and I had the whole king bed to ourselves and I slept like a baby all night. I woke this morning and went to check on Robbie who was sitting up in bed just staring in the dark. I picked him up and brought him back to my bed and we spent 15 minutes trying to turn on the tv. (the hotel is upgrading and it is a tough remote to figure out.) I asked if he was hungry which he was so I went to the hotels breakfast and got him yogurt, oatmeal, and dry cereal which he had a little taste of it all. Robbie isn't complaining of any pain and besides moving very slowly (not walking on his own yet) and a dry cough that I assume is still from the breathing tube he seems to be ok. I checked his sutures this morning and there is some drainage but we were told that would happen. I am surprised of the way the sutures go. I will still get a pic to post of it when I can.
Not sure what we will do today. But am definitely not looking forward to the drain tube coming out tomorrow. I know that is one of the worst parts as far as pain.

Awake!

Robbie woke around 6:30 and was not very happy. He complained about both ears the tube in his neck and the groin area all hurting. He had a few sips of apple juice and 1 bite of jello and another dose of meds. He got sick about 30 min after and has had only 1 small sip of apple juice since. Poor guy! We went outside for 10 min and watched brother and sister swim from the balcony.

Daddy and Trevor snuck to Ross when they got dinner and bought 2 more ps2 controllers so all four of them could play a video game together. Robbie seems pretty content at the moment sitting on the couch playing a game. I hope to get him back to bed in a bit for hopefully a well rested night.

Done

We got to see Robbie in recovery around 2:00. He was crying and complaining of pain this time which I wasnt expecting because he was so calm during the combined in March. After some good meds he calmed a bit and has been sleeping since we got back (its 4:51 now). Tom went and got the family some food and I sat as long as I can to eat but ended up getting up many times to make sure the little guy was still sleeping. I am praying when he wakes he will ask for food or a drink and be in better spirits.

The surgery went well according to Dr Roberson. Robbies head is wrapped in a purple bandage as you can see in the picture. He has a drain tube that comes out the top of his neck until Wednesday and a stitched on sponge on the back of the left ear. The nurse showed us where they took skin from the groin area and it looked pretty good. We did not get a chance to talk with Dr Reinisch before we left because he was working on another patient. We do not have any post ops in LA and will head home Wednesday after our post op at the CEI.

I will post pictures of Robbie when he is a happier camper hopefully later tonight. Enjoy some from Great America on Saturday.

Waiting

Well, things have changed a bit from what we originally thought. Last night at the preop with Drs. Reinisch and Roberson they checked Robbies ear out and yes it had an exposure and yes the medpor needs to be changed out. This was a big blow to us and I have to admit I was in a bit of a state of shock. They said Robbies retraction from the skin graphs shrinking was the worst they had seen. So the game plan today is to replace the medpor, replace the skin in the canal where the problem areas are, and replace the skin behind the left ear where again the skin graph shrunk. This means that today they will not release the medpor from the head because they don't want to do to much so that the skin can settle to the new medpor. Which this all means there will have to be another surgery in the future. I will post more when we get back to the hotel. Surgery should take around 3-4 hours.