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So it seems we are finally at the end of the rollercoaster chin surgery that began September 20th and now has ended on December 10th. Yea, phew.

As mentioned, her chin surgery was to remove the “puffyness” look of her chin. There was a lot of cyst and some scar tissue there that kept it from looking more “flat” so to speak. Her chin will still have an enlarged look due to her jaw being displaced – until future jaw surgery. However, it was important to remove as much of her cysts as possible.

The surgery was successful, but the drain she had in came out a little premature. She had swelling upon swelling, split open her stitch line a few times (well a little portion of it) and bled at home, at school twice… etc. and then had a 2nd procedure in the OR which included a steroid injection to help with the swelling issues. After all that- we had thought she swelled up again but it was actually an infection. And as noted in the last update- we were in the hospital and she was on IV antibiotics to clear that up.

From there, we were told we’d have to come to see Dr. Waner every 2-3 days for 2-3 weeks! (He had medicated gauze he was packing inside of the chin so it would heal correctly -and also drain any excess puss into a big gauze she wore). Anyway… this wasn’t good news because  well- that’s quite the trip especially considering high priced gas, tolls and parking garage fees! However, she healed up better than expected and we only had to go there for a good week or so! Phew.

Today Dr. Waner observed her chin and saw that it was closing up nicely, she no longer has to wear the gauze, we’re done packing it and all she needs is a simple band-aid there til the hole finishes closing.  YAY for that! Her chin looks much better and he said it will probably look even better after the skin settles back into place (it appears a bit “bumpy” right now from all the work done and packing etc.)

Anyway, all of this was a big distraction from the fact that she actually had her trach removed and is doing fantastically well with that. The hole where her tracheostomy was is a lot smaller than it used to be but not closed yet. Due to the fact that she’s had it in for 5 1/2 years- he may end up needing to stitch it- if it doesn’t finish closing on it’s own. We’ll follow up with mid-to end of January about that. Otherwise ME is on a surgery break for right now and was told to “Enjoy the holiday” – ahhhh 🙂

Pictures show:  Hugging her friend Maddox at the hospital with her drain in after surgery, One of her Swelling episodes, Bandaged after infection and then today