Day 6 - first post op for left ear

Warning - PICTURES posted below might be a little rough for some...

On Friday, Darby, Jack and I loaded up to drive to LA for Jack's first post op appointment with Dr. Reinisch since his surgery on Monday. Things have been much easier this week, mainly because we all know what to expect (including Jack). He had been talking about Dr. Reinisch taking off his hat in anticipation of this appointment. Chris, Carter and Jaden stayed behind for Jaden's preschool graduation. Here is a picture of the happy graduate:













We left Sacramento about 4pm and arrived in Santa Clarita at 9:30pm. Santa Clarita was a good stopping point that was less expensive than going all the way to Burbank or Beverly Hills. Only about a 30 minute drive for the morning. It was a pretty easy drive with little to no traffic. Darby was a most excellent co-pilot and I am glad she came with me. She brought the tunes and kept the movie reel going for Jack who was happy as a clam in the back. We also joked along the way about the various odd town names and signs. We both feel sorry for people who live in Pumpkin Center, CA. We also agreed that Angeles National Forest is missing one notable element - TREES. How does that happen? My only minor complaint is that we listened mostly to Miley Cirus in the front poorly dubbed over Thomas the Tank Engine playing in the back. That is enough noise to drive any sane person crackers in short order.

So, we sleep (or not) through one heck of a party in the room next door, got up and made our way to Dr. Renisch's office in the morning.

Dr. Reinisch was in the office by himself. He removed Jack's netting, the gauze, drains and the blue silicone covering his ear. Jack was not nearly as hysterical, but was certainly not pleased with the process. The removal of the drains was much better this time - I had heard they were doing it differently and it was certainly easier on Jack. I forgot my camera and Dr. Reinisch sent me these pictures:





You can see that his skin graft came from the top and front of his head. This has not bothered him much at all.

Though I was a little worried about the redness, Dr. Reinisch thinks the ear looks good. I am happy with the symmetry - Jack's ear lobes were not symmetrical before surgery and they are nearly level now. The ear will come in to his head quite a bit as it heals, just as the right ear did. He is not completely pleased with the right ear's projection and feels that maybe it came in too far. He expects to adjust the right ear a bit in the stage 2 surgery. He will try to improve the definition, reduce the scarring on the back, adjust his ear lobe and remove the little bit of hair. He will also remove the scar where the top of the cup rubbed on the right side. Dr. Reinisch says he will just cut it out and pull the skin together and it should be fine. We discussed the next surgery and Jack is scheduled for Dec 22, 2008 if he needs the middle ear bone work from Dr. Roberson as there are some other combined surgeries scheduled in Palo Alto that day. If the middle ear work is not necessary, Dr. Reinisch said he could schedule Jack's stage 2 as needed. So, we will wait to find out what his hearing is and go from there.

We replaced all the dressings and met a nice couple from Ireland. The little boy was three and Jack was pretty amazaed to see someone like him in the office.

We left at about 11am and drove around a bit before heading back to Sacramento. We arrived back home exhausted (okay, that was me - everyone else napped), but happy to be home.