Significant Headache

This isn't a very appealing photo, but we thought it would be good to document the prosthetic ear process.

A total of FOUR posts were implanted into her skull on the right side; only 3 on the left.  The top post, which was done through a completely different process, is to hold her right-side BAHA (Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid), so she'll have bilateral hearing.  (She already has a BAHA on the right side.)  This post is capped with a plastic cover, and will take 3 months to heal before a hearing aid can be hung on it.

THREE posts were implanted on each side of her head to hang her prosthetic ears upon.  These were surgically implanted into the bone, and then covered with her own skin, where they will heal in a protected environment for less chance of infection.  These will heal in only 6 weeks, at which time they will cut holes through the skin to allow the posts to protrude.  They will then attach screw-like ends to them, which will then hold the "snap-on" ears on.

The other incision was to remove her misplaced ear "nubs" that she was born with.

KT is hurting pretty badly still, 5 days after the surgery.  We thought this would be not quite so significant a surgery, but I guess you can't expect 7 new holes in your head to NOT cause a headache!  We're hoping the pain starts subsiding soon.  She received a blessing from our Bishop this afternoon.  Please pray for her!

- Glenn

P.S.  KT has started her own blog to express what it's like to live with TCS (Treacher Collins Syndrome).  http://strollimysoles.blogspot.com/

She's Holier Now!

As KT woke up from the anesthetic yesterday, she said, "I'm holier now." At first, I thought maybe she'd had an out-of-body experience, or something.  But then it quickly came to me that she was making a good, old-fashioned Whicker joke!  With 7 new holes in her head after yesterday's surgery, she certainly is "holier" than she was before!  It was nice that she had such a good sense of humor right out of the chute.

The humor didn't last very long, though. This turned out to be a harder surgery than we had anticipated, and she had a rough night, though, thankfully, it wasn't in the hospital; it was in the comfort of Grandma's home. The pain meds only lasted about 3 hours, so we had an hour of pretty intense suffering each time they wore off before she could have any more.

The bandages will be changed on the 3rd day by Pam, then every day for the next 4 days.  The problem we didn't anticipate is that she cannot get her hearing aid on with the bandages as they are today, so she'll be deaf for these few days, and she does NOT like that!  She wants to be in on everything, and going without her aid is a worse sentence than anything else she can think of.

This morning, at about 9:00 a.m., she said she felt a little bit better.  So maybe we'll be able to enjoy the 4th of July a bit.  She was so excited about this surgery, and none of us expected it to be quite as rough as it has been for the last 24 hours.  But now, we're on the upswing, and once she can get her hearing aid back on, she'll be a happier camper!  Thanks for your prayers and love!

- Glenn

Goodbye, Nubs...

KT is in surgery right now to have 3 titanium posts implanted on each side of her head to hold the new prosthetic ears she gets in August.  She is so excited! Never before has she gone into ANY surgery smiling like she did this morning.

She will have her ear nubs removed as part of this process, so we took one last photo to remember them by. Lastly, she will get a new post on the left side to secure a new bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) to, so she'll have bilateral hearing after all these years.

It should be a 3 hour process.

- Glenn