surgery this week

  Ever since we moved to SD 6 years ago we have had our follow up craniosynostosis visits with Dr. Cohen once a year or every other year.  Dr. Cohen has told us that he thought the brow revision would be a good idea so this has been something that has been on our mind for some time.  Calvin is scheduled for surgery Tues to revise his brow. His brow is very recessed over the left eye making for an asymmetrical face. Everyone who looks at Calvin thinks he looks just fine. However, the asymmetry is magnified and very profound when looking at Calvin in a mirror. We thought it would be best to do what we can to help him feel good about the way he looks and views himself.  We also thought it would be best to do this procedure while we are here in SD so Dr. Cohen could do the operation for us. He is one of the best in the world at cranio facial plastics.  Surgery is Tues morning 8am. We scheduled it about 8 months ago, holding this spot during thanksgiving week so Calvin wouldn't have to miss much school since the kids are already out on Thanksgiving break.

To entice Calvin to cooperate at dr. appointments we always give him some kind of treat afterwards. For easy appointments it is a slurpee, a candy or something simple like lunch at In-N-Out. I think Dave has grown to expect lunch at In-N-Out for himself if he comes along also.  For larger appointments, especially if Calvin needs to cooperate for lengthy testing or has to skip meals in preparation for the appointment, we usually offer him something more valuable such as trip to the store to let him pick a toy (within a set price range) .  Calvin recently had an MRI as part of a study for UCSD. He laid perfectly still for 45 minutes in the MRI machine (miracle of miracles) to earn himself a monopoly game he really wanted. Prior to that he fasted 2 meals to get a Darth maul light saber.  This time he has to fast in the morning and spend an hour or two cooperating with nursing staff (and after that he'll be asleep) and he is very excited to earn another Monopoly game.

Since Calvin is earning a new toy he is super excited about this upcoming surgery! He is counting down the days.  And, as difficult a child Calvin can be, he is very often a very sweet patient.

Surgery entails a 2 cm incision right behind the hair line where the dr. will insert liquid bone. dr. will mold bone on brown and around orbit to how he thinks it should look and then let it sit for a few minutes before closing the incision.  The bone will set within a few hours and then get completely hard/strong over a few weeks. Eventually Calvin's bone will grow over the matrix.

Praying things go well for him and that things go smoothly. If they do, we'll be home by noon the same day.   Also hoping things look good on his face when it is all done.

After surgery we will take a 2 week break from general PE type stuff and  6 week break from gymnastics while the liquid bone sets completely.