post op picture

This is Trey at his one week post op appointment. The ear looks great. There was a crease in the lobe so we are taping it and using the cup again for another week in hopes to encourage the crease to go away. If it doesn't we can go back in the future when we want to for a simple fix per Dr. Lewin but we are hoping it will just heal fine. We are looking forward it to being healed up. She did do fat injections so his cheek looks as full as his right cheek and she put a few stitches to help with his small bald spot to make it smaller and less noticeable when he has a short haircut. She also tried to revise his arm scar to make it smaller as well but over all she was really happy how he healed. He isn't supposed to sleep on his ear mainly so it stays in place, he doesn't have the boney structure to keep it even with his other ear. His is due to his Hemifacial Microsomia. Thankfully he usually sleeps in his right side anyways. We love Dr. Lewin and can't say enough to how wonderful she has been. Trey loves her still and is very happy with his new ear. I have no regrets with the surgery and so thankful we were able to do it at such a young age. I will post pictures as it heals and hopefully in six months his ear will fully healed.

Stage 2 Medpor Complete

Trey is back at the hotel resting from his stage 2 medpor surgery this morning. It was a much shorter surgery. He is swollen since Dr. Lewin was able to do fat injections this time so his left cheek is swollen and his stomach bruised. He really looks like he has plastic surgery today which is what he had. Or he looks like he got into a fight with Mickey Mouse. He seems to be in a little pain but from his fat injections from his belly. We are going to stay at the hotel for a few days and maybe venture out into the world on Thursday. So glad this journey is over and his final healing is underway. I will post pictures when I can.

6 months update

It has been 6 months since Trey had his surgery. His ear is looking great, the skin color on his ear is looking more even. His arm scar is starting to fad and I don't think will be all that noticeable the older he gets. He hair has grown in except for 2 small spots but even when his hair is cut short you can't see those spots anymore.

Though we are happy with his new big ear, we are set for stage 2 Oct 26th. I am not sure all that will happen except that the lobe will be turned and raised making his new ear smaller and closer to the size that is wanted. We see Dr. Lewin again on the 25th and will know more about it then. We do know the surgery will not be as long and I am hoping Trey will bounce back from the anesthesia faster since we are hoping to spend a few days at Disneyland before our follow up appointment with Dr. Lewin. We are hoping everything goes well with stage 2 so we will be done with outer ear reconstruction. We are still waiting for Trey's loaner BAHA to come in so we will have 6 months to try it out and see if he can benefit from it. Right now he is doing well in school and learning to focus and lengthen his attention span and so far so good.

5 months post medpor

I still can't believe it has been 5 months ago that Trey got his new big ear. It took awhile to get used to seeing him with his new ear. Now I can barely remember what he looked like with his little ear. His ear continues to heal nicely the color continues to even out. The hair that was growing on it seems to have lesson to the point I don't notice it anymore which is great. We brush is with a soft baby's tooth brush to help get rid of old skin and that has worked really well. He sleeps on it with no problems. He does have a small bald spot above his ear that still doesn't have any signs of hair growing back but it seems to slowly getting smaller, his last hair cute I barely see it. His arm scar is also looking better and better. It is not as bad as I thought and I think by the time he is a teenager it should be light enough to not really notice, besides I figured he could always make up some story so all his friends would want one too. :) Trey is careful on how he takes off his shirts. He loves his new ear and if I tell him that we are going to see Dr. Lewin to help make the ear more like his other ear he just tells me that Dr. Lewin is NOT to take off his new ear. I of course assure him that no, she will definitely not be taking that ear off. I guess you can say he likes his new big ear.

As for the softband BAHA update, we still are working with a local doctor but it seems that his staff changed so helping us get Trey a BAHA has seemed to be forgotten. It has taken awhile to get the new assistant to catch up and start the process with the insurance company all over again. I am going to give it a little time and if not I will try another Dr's office.

the boys

Matthew is now 18 months old and the two boys are just so full of energy and love to play with each other. Matthew is very independent and really has little fear which isn't a good thing at this age. I thought I would post a few pictures of the 2 of them being the cute little boys they are. I especially love the picture of the boys both trying to help their dad pull one of their balloons from the ceiling fan.

4 months post medpor

Wow has it really been only 4 months ago? I can't believe how well his ear has healed. I still admit I had my doubts, the hardest was the first few months, I just couldn't see how much his ear would change. I think seeing these monthly pictures has helped so much. Trey's ear is looking amazing and causing no problems at all. The sensitivity of his ear seems to have decreased, still has hair growing in places it doesn't need to on the ear but that seems to be a little less then a few months ago and really isn't as much as I thought. His hair has grown back as well all except for a spot about the size if a dime. Now we wait for Dec 3rd for stage 2 and to see if we can get a soft band BAHA for Trey.

3 months post medpor stage 1

We are 3 months out from Trey's surgery and his ear is healing very well. The scars are fading and the skin is evening out. His hair is starting to grow back with only 1 spot that has yet to fill in but I am optimistic that it will in the next few months. His ear is very sensitive which is surprising since there are no nerves there,. Sometimes I think he tells me it hurts so I stop touching his ear which I do a lot because I am so amazed at his new ear. :) He does have some hair growing on his new ear but thankfully only in 2 spots, right behind the ear and in the bowl of his ear. I was instructed by Dr. Lewin that I could take tweezers to pull out the hair, well I tried it one time and will never again. The skin just lifted way to much for my comfort so we found a very small electric shaver that can get most of the hair. The hair grows way to much for me to leave it alone. We are hoping during stage 2 that Dr. Lewin can laser the hair so we won't have to deal with it too much.

Right now Trey is in preschool and swim lessons. We hope to get him back to learning how to hockey skate this summer. Hopefully we can get him skating good enough that he can do a league this fall.

Matthew is a very typical one year old. He is starting to talk more and more and tries to play with his big brother all the time. He also is taking swim lessons and loves the water more then his big brother so he maybe our little swimmer.