Molly's second surgery

Molly is scheduled for her second surgery tomorrow morning at 5:30am at K&B surgery center in Beverly Hills.  She is working on her last minute campaigning for us to cancel.  She just doesn't want the 'icky' medicine at the very beginning before she goes in.  After that she's all good.

Surgery should be a little longer this time because Dr Lewin has to do a minor revision to her ear canal. Molly will also have both of her ears pierced after surgery, she's so excited.

Wish Molly luck, hopefully this is her last round of surgery.

Bandages off all day long.

Molly has her 3 post op appointment coming up and she's doing remarkable well.  She has the headwrap and protective ear cup on just at night now.  We have to do daily cleanings of the ear to help it heal.  She's had showers and is able to wash her hair.  She's even starting to like putting her hair behind her ear to keep it out of her face, something she's never been able to do.  Just wait until she gets the second ear!

The ear is still a little swollen and stiff but that's to be expected.  The skin is very pink, but will start to blend in gradually.

Next up is 3rd post op!

2nd Post Op Appt

Molly's second post operative appointment with Dr. Lewin was just as successful as the first.  The ear looks great, and everything is healing nicely.  Next up, the morning of her next appointment (3-5-13), we can take off the protective cup and seaweed wrap (really, it's seaweed based) and then she can be cup/headband free until she goes to bed.

She's doing VERY well, and has really been a superstar.  Her left ear is May 23rd.

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1st Post-Op Appointment with Dr Lewin

Well Mollys first post-op appointment is in the books.  Everything looks great with her new ear and Molly seems to be cautiously OK with them.  Her little ears were all she knew up until now.  She is fascinated with the whole process, asking Dr Lewin a lot of questions.

What is the tape on my eyes for?
What is that tube coming out of my mouth?
Why is the tape white?
What are the blue towels for?


Dr Lewin answered each question, sometimes many times over until Molly was satisfied.  Molly's perseverance throughout all of this has been nothing short of remarkable.  We're so very proud of her.  She's had to wear a black head band with an ear cup since surgery, along with an incision on her waist line for the skin graft.  She's taking it in stride and really shows a lot of character in her.  She does milk it a bit, but that's totally ok with us.  Here are some new pictures from today's appointment.

Molly was ready for the bandage change and a nice hair wash.

Black head band and ear cup off...

Our first look at her new ear...

Molly's first full look at her new ear, a little unsure...

Getting a nice hair wash...

Grumpy after mom combed the knots out of her hair...

Erin braided Mollys hair to keep it our of the way more...

Dr Lewin applying bacitracin to the new ear...

A little seaweed for the direct ear contact...

Applying the new ear mold for protection...

All ready to go home...

The ear will look purpleish for the next week or so, then should pink up around the next appointment, finally settling in to her natural skin color.  We'll keep this blog updated as we go!

5 days post-op

Wednesday Feb 13th,

Molly had MedPor surgery on her right ear and is recovering quite well.  The surgery lasted about 10 hours and it took a lot out of her.  She has a black headband and a plastic cup covering her new ear.  She has her first post-op appointment tomorrow at 2pm with Dr Lewin.

I'm eager to see her new ear and Molly is eager to get this wrap off even just for a few minutes to wash her hair and see for herself what is happening.  Below is a picture of her newly created ear just after surgery.

All set for surgery!

Molly is all set for surgery tomorrow at 6:30am.  A mild fever yesterday has not returned so we're in the clear.  Molly is surprisingly calm and happy.  I would've thought she'd be nervous and anxious.  Maybe she's blocking, maybe she doesn't fully understand what is happening.  We've showed her videos of what is to come and she has seen pictures of other children that have had this surgery, so it's not a surprise.

Pre-Op Appointment

Molly's pre-op appointment was today and all went well.  Molly asked a ton of questions, mainly "why do I need big ears?" Dr Lewin was very patient answering the same question over and over again, she is so great!

Other than explaining the acoustics of sound being caught by your outer ear, my answers to Molly are...

1) You can wear sunglasses
2) You can put your hair behind your ears
3) You can get your ears pierced

She is still not convinced that she needs/wants big ears.  She's always had her 'little ears', just nubs.  It's all she's known until now.  She'll get through it with our help, support and love and hugs.

Posting again!

Molly's is scheduled for MedPor reconstruction in February for the left ear, and March for the right ear. As the dates approach I'll be posting more about the process.

Right now we're all about convincing her that this is a good idea.  She's had her little ears all her life that that's all she knows.  She has experienced some teasing about her little ears before and it makes her sad, but she gets over it quickly.  Mostly her hair is down and that hides them from sight.

Mainly she's concerned about 'the icky medicine' that she has to take to make her sleepy for the real. anesthesia.

Anyhow, more to come soon.  This is a picture of Molly and her sister Katie from a Radio Disney event in Burbank, CA yesterday.

Leaving for LA

We're off to Los Angeles today after Molly's 2:40pm appointment.  Can't wait to get the pad from her skin graft site taken off, if they can.  It's pretty encrusted in the scab on her scalp at this point.

More once we get settled in LA.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Took Molly to the Monterey Bay Aquarium today, was a good day.  Pictures are here...

We're off to Palo Alto to see Dr Roberson for her first post op tomorrow at 2:40pm.  Then we're off to LA to spend the night at Rob's house.

Back to normal

Molly is pretty much back to normal.  She has a little bit of pain near the skin graft site but nothing too much.  The site is covered by a pad which is stitched in to her scalp I think.  Can't wait to get that off on Tuesday.

She's had a rough cough at times so I have her on some Delsym right now, she's snoring peacefully next to me right now.

All the pictures from yesterday are up here, Santa Cruz, Half Moon Bay and San Francisco.

We had a down day today, only went out to get her prescription filled and have lunch at Chipotle.  Her 'ear' drops are new, they're actually eye drops that can also go in the ear.  I'm going to have to ask the doctor before we start using them.  We're going to Monterey Bay Aquarium tomorrow, should be interesting, I will take lots of pictures.

A day in Chinatown

I took Molly up to see the sea lions at Pier 39 this morning, she had been asked to go.  It was drizzling and I was concerned it might get hard, so I bought an umbrella.  It then stopped raining completely.  Ok, so now we have a nice golf umbrella for home.

We then took a trip into Chinatown to browse.  Molly picked out a hat for herself, and for her siblings at home. 

Angry bird hats for all!

We then had a nice lunch in a noodle house.  She absolutely loved noodle dishes when I picked her up in China, so this was no different.

There's a tree lighting at Pier 39 on Sunday, maybe we'll come back for that.

Back to rest

Molly and I are back 'home' to rest now.  Home being Erin's cousin Maureen's family in San Jose.  Molly is sleeping it off an dI'm going to lay down with her.  She had some jello and apple juice at Waverly Surgery Center, I expect her to wake up soon very hungry.

Maybe some eggs or noodles will do her good.

In Surgery

We arrived at exactly 8:00am, the Bay Area traffic was heavy, but not stand still.  We went in around 8:30 and we hung out in the pre-op area while they did paperwork and asked about her recent fever and sniffles.

The nurses let me lie down with Molly on her bed to keep her calm.  We played Angry Birds Rio on my phone, well, I played, and she critiqued.  The anesthesiologist called in from the OR and asked me a few questions about her past experience with surgery.  The anesthesiologist said the slight fever and sniffles were not of any great concern and he advised to proceed.

Molly got her sleepy meds about 9:30, they gave her Versed, twice the dose they gave her the last time she was here.  They were trying to reduce the anxiety of 'the handoff', when I had to leave her in the care of the nurses.  I could tell that they were looking to get started on her so I tried to get Molly to lay down on the bed so they could roll her back.  The anesthesiologist came in and I shifted Molly to her feet and she immediately walked off with him, only to realize that I wasn't directly behind her and came back for me.  So I had to carry her to a point then hand her off to the Dr., still very upset, but I think she resigned to being taken back.  The meds certainly took the edge off any objections she might have raised further.

So I'm in the waiting room, probably another hour or so before I can go back and see her.  I'll write more later once we're back at the house.  I need a drive thru Chinese noodle place for Molly.  I may have to stop on the way home and get something to eat also, I'm starving too.

Twas the night before surgery

Molly is fast asleep next to me.  Her surgery is scheduled for 9:30am tomorrow morning.  Our arrival is to be at 8am and I've set 4 alarms on my iPhone just to make sure.

Molly had an audiogram, a CT scan and a routine cleaning today at Roberson's office.  Her right side atresia repair looks perfect and her audiogram is in line with what our local ENT has tested.

We didn't get to see Roberson before surgery, I find that a little bit odd but probably nothing.

Molly and I should be back to the house around 2-3pm, if not earlier.

Up in the air

Molly and I are on our way to see Dr Roberson in Palo Alto.

The flight took off a bit late and I met a very rude flight attendant. Most of the flight attendants I've flown with have been nice and even if they are super busy and stressed, they're not rude. This woman is. I'll send an email to American Airlines and then I'll forget about her.

Hopefully this isn't an indication of the while trip, just a hiccup.

A little video of Molly singing her favorite song.  She didn't do this before she got her right ear atresia repaired.

One week

We leave for LAX in one week, then it's a drive up to San Jose to stay with relatives.  We're very grateful to Erin's cousin Maureen to let us stay at her house.

Last time we saw Maureen and her family was just after Molly's surgery in June.  She had an instant crush on their son Mike.

Now we're going to be staying at their house.

Finally!

We finally heard from Cheryl at Cal Ear.  Our out of pocket insurance costs are ZERO.  We met our deductible on her first surgery so we're really fortunate to squeeze her other surgery in the same calendar year.

Whew!

Patiently Waiting

We're awaiting the insurance approvals from Cheryl at Dr Roberson's office.  Nov 3rd is two weeks before surgery and if we cancel within that 14 day period, it's a $500 charge.  Need to get insurance approval quickly!