4-5-2011 One Year Post-Op

Last week, we took Dean back to John's Hopkins for his one year post-op cranial-facial clinic

appointment. The past two times that we went back to Baltimore for post-op appointments, Dean has been very upset. I'm sure it is no coincidence that my normally happy little man gets upset every time we return to the hospital where he had his surgery. I don't know how he knows, but he does. So this time, we decided to take his sisters along and make a day of it.

During the appointment, Dean still fussed, but all of the news from Dr. Ahn was great. He showed us the images from Dean's CAT Scan. He explained to us that he looks for two things- 1) the bone has fused and 2) there is space for the brain to grow. Both were able to be seen from the scan, and both were just as they should be. No more surgery for Dean! God has been so faithful to us! Dr. Ahn also took measurements, and told us that traditionally the head shape at eighteen months of age (Dean's current age) is essentially the shape we can expect his head to remain. We certainly have no problem with his head shape- he is a handsome guy. We will go back to see Dr. Ahn next year to keep measurements updated, but otherwise it looks like Dean doesn't need him anymore.

Afterwards, we took all three kids to the aquarium to make the trip (an almost three hour drive) a fun day filled with good memories for Dean. I included one photo from the day with Dean sportin' his new short hair cut that shows a little bit of what is left of his scar. I also can't resist posting a picture of him (pre-haircut) in his "Chicks dig scars" T-shirt.

Thanks so much for all of the prayers for our family!

1-9-11 CT Results

It took a very long time to get the results of Dean's CT scan partly due to the holiday, but also because the radiology department at the local hospital neglected to send them to Dr. Ahn. But happily, the scan showed that he is healing fine! Dr. Ahn said that everything looked great in the scan. I asked if there were any soft-spots left behind where the dissolvable plates had been (this is a concern because if the scull does not re-fuse then bone grafting surgery must take place.) He said something to the affect of, " I don't know what you're feeding him, but all of the bones have already fused back together!" I think I'll give God the credit for that rather than the large quantities of baked beans that Dean loves to eat. So, this has of course been a huge relief to me! At his last post-op visit the measurements showed that his head had not grown any wider, and Dr. Ahn said we would measure that again at his 1 year follow-up in April. My prayer is that this last issue will also be resolved with God's help, and that we are able to put all this behind us. Dean is still going to therapy which I hope will continue to speed up his total recovery and healing. Thank you for your continued prayers! It is so good to be at this point of recovery.