Sorry it has taken me so long to update Khloe's blog. After Khloe's removal surgery, it has been so nice to just be able to live life without thinking about her nevus, expanders, fills, etc. all of the time. As we prepare for surgery #3 and round two of expanders, I decided it was time to give an update.
Khloe was scheduled to have her tissue expanders and as much of her nevus as possible removed on October 2nd, 2013. As you can imagine, getting ready for her surgeries takes a good deal of preparation on our part, both mentally and logistically. On our way to Nashville on the evening of October 1st, I just happened to call our insurance company because I had a question. I never expected to hear what I heard on the other line... When I mentioned that Khloe had surgery scheduled for the following morning, the lady from the insurance company proceeded to tell me that nothing had been submitted to them for her surgery and that it wouldn't be covered. My heart immediately fell to my feet and I began making phone calls. Dr. Chester and her nurse were amazing! We were all on the line with the insurance company trying to get everything taken care of. We already had surgery scheduled, we had been preparing for this day for 3 months and her expanders had to come out. How could they approve the expanders to be inserted but not for them to be removed? Since it was the end of the business day, there was not much left to do but wait until the next morning. We were at the mercy of the insurance company which didn't open until 8am. Surgery was pushed back until 11 a.m. so we could get a chance to talk to the insurance company the following morning. Fortunately, I was able to get on the phone with a supervisor who got it all straightened out in 5 minutes!!! Surgery was on! I have to give many thanks to those who reached out to us and helped us with the insurance situation, especially Keith Gambrel and Casey Capps Joyce! I also want to thank everyone who shared my post on Facebook,Twitter, and the insurance company's web page. I honestly believe that it was because of all of you that we were able to get the insurance company's attention which led to them doing the right thing.
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| Sweet baby |
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| Her "mole-hawk" |
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| Getting ready to leave for the hospital |
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| One more of the expander, 131ccs |
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| One last look at her in-tact nevus |
Once we arrived at the hospital, it wasn't long before she was checked in and getting prepared for surgery.
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She is thinking, "Hold on, I have been here before!"
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While we knew that Dr. Chester didn't think she could remove the entire nevus, we still had hope that there was a possibility she may be able to remove it all. Surgery took close to three hours and when Dr. Chester came in and told us that surgery went great, I felt that I could breathe again. Dr. Chester was able to remove a good portion of her nevus including her entire "mole-hawk." Of course we were going to have to wait until Sunday (her surgery was on Wednesday) to see it.
Once Khloe was moved into recovery we found that she was having a really hard time with the anesthesia and couldn't keep anything down so she was admitted to the hospital for the night to keep her from becoming dehydrated and was released to come home early on Thursday morning so we were able to head home.
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| On our way home... Don't anyone mess with her balloons! |
It is truly amazing how quickly Khloe bounced back! She was very excited to get home and see her brothers and her toys and by Friday, she was back to her smiling, happy self.
As I mentioned before, we were supposed to wait until Sunday to remove her head wrap but because it was rubbing her neck and chin pretty badly, we went ahead and removed on Saturday night. When Dr. Chester was explaining Khloe's sutures to us at the hospital she said to expect it to be "Frankenstein-like" so you can imagine what Sammy and I expected to see. Once the wrap was removed we were amazed by Dr. Chester's work! The majority of her nevus was gone and the scar line was nothing like what we had prepared ourselves for! I cried tears of joy!
It was a bit of a shock to see her with a little round head again after she had had the expander for so long, but it was also a wonderful sight! And to know that a large portion of her nevus was GONE and that she actually had hair on the top of her head, I can't explain the relief that I felt. Even though her nevus was not completely gone, for the first time since Khloe's birth, I felt like I could breathe. Yes, we would have to go through another removal but we had survived and Dr. Chester did an amazing job! The bottom picture above is after the stitches were removed and the picture below is two days ago!
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| Khloe's nevus on 4/9/2014 |
As you can imagine, we are very pleased with how thin her scar is and we are confident as she grows more hair, it will be hidden completely and all of this will just be a memory that we will be reminded of while washing and brushing her hair.
Miss Khloe is now 15 months old and is walking and talking and very opinionated for her age. She knows what she wants when she wants it and expects to get it! She might be just a little spoiled. In the past several months she has celebrated her first Halloween, Christmas, and first birthday! It is crazy to think she is already over a year old!
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| She loved Santa! |
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| And the Easter Bunny! |
We had Khloe's follow up appointment with Dr. Chester on January 27th, and Dr. Chester was very pleased with her work as well. Although I knew deep down Khloe was going to need another round of expanders for the best results, part of me thought maybe, just maybe excision might work on what was left. But because Dr. Chester is the perfectionist that she is (which we LOVE about her), she feels that for the best results, Khloe will need another round of expansion using the same crescent shape expander that she had last time. Khloe will be receiving her new expander through surgery #3 on Wednesday, April 16th.
Although I am completely dreading her upcoming surgery and round of fills, it definitely feels a little different this time knowing that this
should be our last round and then Khloe will be NEVUS FREE! This round should also be a little more interesting since Khloe is a lot more aware of her surroundings. Distracting her during her fills this time should be very interesting!
We truly appreciate all of your love and prayers for our baby girl! Love to you all!
