Milestone!! 6 Months Post Op

We have reached a milestone since Robbies surgeries, that being 6 months post op with no complications. The ear looks great and his hearing is good. I feel like I can breathe my sigh of relief now and just continue to move forward. He had an ENT appointment yesterday and besides some wax build up which was expected everything looked great.

Robbie seems to be having no issues at school and is hearing fine. No kids ever ask about his ear and scars and life is pretty normal for my little guy.

4 months post op

Things are still going great and we are on the count down to Robbie starting school.

All Better

Well the ear is not swollen anymore and is looking good again. Dr Reinisch did not give Robbie any antibiotics and told me to call him if the ear didnt look better by the next day. After about the 3rd day from being bit it looked fine. PHEW!!!!

Pics from camping trip.

Damn Bugs!

Well Tom and I dropped the kids off last Friday for a camping trip with grandma and grandpa. All precautions were took and Grandma dipped Robbie in mosquito spray daily but of course on his last day he got bit by one in the ear. We went through this last year so I am going to stay positive and not freak myself out. We will do the usual and send pics to Reinsich and wait to see if antibiotics are needed. DAMN SKEEETOES!!

13 weeks and 6 days post op

Things continue to go well as far as healing. Robbie got an ear infection Saturday in his left ear but the right is still good. It is so surreal at times looking at him and seeing this beautiful new ear. I couldnt be any happier.

9 Weeks Post Op

Things are going well. We are just going with the flow and letting his ear heal. Enjoy the pics!!!

Good News

I received an email from Dr Reinisch after sending him the weekly pics and this is what he had to say:
" I am very pleased with his recovery and think he looks very good for only 5 weeks post surgery."
That has officially made my day.

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY ROBBIE!!!!!!

4 weeks 2 days post op

I guess I will just make it a habit to post pictures after I email Dr Reinisch. The one thing prior to surgery that I always wanted was to look at more pictures.

After bath time I pealed the brown thin scab off his ear. It was raised up so I took advantage. Most parents would of probably left it alone because they would be scared but not me,,,, I remember all about the healing process from the first time ;)

Everything is going well and we will have him stop sleeping tonight with the cup covering his ear. I will attempt to do the mold as shown by Dr R, but thoughts of it falling off at night and of it some how getting stuck on his ear are consuming me.

3 weeks and 2 days post op

Noticeable things in a weeks time is the front of the ear is less red/raw looking and the back is less swollen. We are supposed to not use the cup anymore and make a putty mold tonight for sleeping. We will see what Dr Reinischs game plan is when he calls.

4/16/10 Last night when Dr Reinisch called he said to wash and get those stitches out lol. This is always an issue with Robbie, I swear for some reason stitches are very stubborn to come out on him. He said everything looks good and to not worry about the dried skin at the top of the ear that it will eventually fall off. He gave me the option of letting him sleep with or with out the cup but to keep it off during the day. Um yea right that cup is being taped back on EVERY night. We will make the putty mold next week when stitches are out for him to sleep with. I am sure my stress level will rise this weekend with no cup on during the day.

WOOOHOOO

Talked to Dr Reinisch this evening and he says everything looks good. I am so happy that I am celebrating with some fine wine ;)
I was telling my friend how on the flight from LA to Oregon I sat in front of an actor and for the life of me can not figure out who he is other than the fact he was a TV dad. Thanks to her odd knowledge of random facts she asked if it was Patrick Duffy who she knew lives in Oregon. Well Ill be damned thats exactly who it was after googling and seeing a pic of him. LOL! Thanks for getting my carry ons down Mr Patrick Duffy. A++ for you.

Comparison from surgery last year.

Post op differences are last years pic was 16 days and this years 15. All I can say is wow and I like the tummy thickness skin better. My confidance level in this surgery also picked up BIG TIME.

The pics posted!

OK as you can see I didn't wait until today to do the cleaning. The ear cup was barely on with tape and I didn't want to re tape it all and then un tape it today so I took the opportunity I had and washed it.
Everything looked really well and I was very surprised that the ear wasn't more swollen like last time and has some features already. The area of concern at the top was like a yellow orange color and seemed a bit loose, I am not sure what Dr R will say about it. If anyone has seen this before I would love an email for reassurance ;)

Robbie fell asleep on my lap last night and since we didn't hear from Dr R we went ahead and put the cup back on with out doing anything to the ear as far as ointment. When Robbie woke up he was pretty mad that the cup was taped back on and I explained how beautiful his new ear was and we have to protect it like its a treasure. Of course I didn't tell him how freaked out I am to let him roam freely without any protection. Watching him walk around last night it seemed like the ear was guiding him which made me gasp every 2 seconds. He did look a lot at his new ear and tell me how much he likes it. That is worth our journey we have had for the last year. Please continue to keep him in your thoughts as he continues to heal. I will update after we talk to Dr R.

Impatient

I am getting really impatient waiting to take the cup off tomorrow and cleaning everything up and taking a peek. I have over obsessed myself with waiting for my little guy to go to sleep and then shining a flashlight through the cup holes on his ear to investigate every little spot LOL. Sleep at night has not been something I am able to do. Robbie sleeps in the middle of Tom and I and I feel like I am working at a diner flipping pancakes nightly since he always turns over and lays on the cup and I flip him back. This is leading to the thought of NO WAY can the cup come off on Thursday for good. We do have silicon putty that Dr R gave us to make night time molds but I am a little freaked to just use that for now.
I do have good news, the swelling in the tummy is completely gone and the skin graph site on the tummy also looks really good. I still haven't took pics to post but tomorrow when I am chasing the poor guy around the house with the camera I will take some of the tummy.

We are finally home and I apparently caught something on the flight home :(

Here are the pics off my camera from Thursday at the dressing change. The ear is very swollen, you can see sore spots from cup, and the stitch line from the membrane. The black stitches in the front of the head are also on the other side and in back. Dr R used them to loop a string through and around the cup strap to help keep the cup from moving and rubbing the new ear. I am to remove them next week when the cup comes off.

I will take pics this weekend of the tummy stitch line which is looking good and the swollen area from the pocket of fluid that we are hoping will absorb into the body. It will be a long night since the cup has worked itself loose and needs constant adjusting. The thought has crossed my mind to ask the hubby if we have any duct tape, jk.

Dressing Changes

We had the first dressing change today. The ear looked really good to me. There was an area on top that Dr Reinisch didn't like the color but basically its a wait and see game as before.
Robbie did really well during the washing and asked for a mirror to see everything which I thought was cool considering what the little guy has been through. He showed Dr R the stitch line on his tummy and Dr R said,"Oh he has fluid in his tummy." WHAT??? How did I not even notice. He said he could drain it with a needle but he didn't think it was necessary since it should absorb into the body. I opted to wait and watch.
I discussed with Dr R what the best option would be for us as far as the cup goes and we decided to leave a few stitches on to string them around the cup straps to hold into place. We have extra putty for next week when the cap comes off to make sleep time molds.
I took a few pics and can post tomorrow when I get home. We do have a winter advisory in effect from 5am to 5pm which will make for a fun flight home back to Oregon for me and the kids.

Pics before bath time.

Drain Tubes Out

The removal of the tubes went very well. Actually the stomach pain tube already came out on its own this morning so that wasnt a problem. The two drain tubes came out easy and made Robbie cry but not much. Dr Reinisch put some novacain in before he took them out. We told Reinisch about the drainage coming from the cup area so he took off the cap and looked around and cleaned him a bit. Everything seemed fine so he only changed the dressing on the stitch line of where the membrane was taken. We got to take a peek at his new hair cut, which is a military shave. We talked a bit before we left and Reinisch again told us that he did not see any hair in the canal which is great news.

Since Robbies seemed to be in a good mood we headed for the first Target in sight. It was so nice seeing him happy and sitting there in the cart with a big bag of popcorn on one side and a large icee on the other. While I was doing my shopping theropy Robbie told me, "Mom, your so beautiful" and at that momment I knew my charming little guy was feeling good. :)

We will have some R & R for the next couple days here at aunt Chrissys in Huntington Beach and Tom and Trevor will leave for home this weekend. We will take Robbie back to Disneyland next week and do slow rides. Our dressing change is next Thursday and then we are off to LAX for Robbie and Briannas first plane ride to go home.