Hi everyone. Again, I want to thank you all for your prayers and best wishes regarding Serena's surgery. She is doing very well. Back to her old self, eating, walking, playing, talking. She is drinking milk without rice to thicken and seems to be handling it very well...no choking episodes with that nor with her doses or Tylenol given straight into her mouth as opposed to having to put it in her thickened milk like we previoulsy did. She does not appear to be in discomfort at all and has not touched her wound. Unfortunately, her incision is from the middle of her neck all the way over to her left side...it's quite long and I'm really worried about the scar. It may seem like such a vain thing to be concerned about but she has enough scars as it is and I do worry about her being teased. I hope I can help to instill a strong sense of self in her and that this will not be an issue. My other solution is lots of necklaces for my beautiful girl once she is older! We may also explore laser treatment if she is self conscious later on about it.
So now Serena has dissolvable stiches with Steri strips on top. We'll wait for them to curl off and she will be healed. We go back to see the ENT next Tuesday and she has her barrium swallow the following Thursday.
As for her voice...it's the same. Her cry is the same and the volume and sound is the same. I am very ok with this because I can hear her and her voice is so special because it's HER. The ENT never talked about this surgery doing anything for her voice, but the info he had emailed me was almost solely on procedures to improve voice in paralyzed vocal cords, which of course included the surgery she had. As I've said what is most important is to stop the aspiration of liquids. There are other options to improve quality of voice later on should Serena be interested. We'll leave the choice to her when she is old enough.
In other news, Edwin has his 7th professional fight this Saturday in Boston. He is stepping up the competition, fighting a boxer who is equal in height, (6 feet), and has a record of 10 wins and only 2 losses...Edwin is 6-0. This will be his toughest fight to date and I am slightly nervous, even though I know he'll win. He has been training extremely hard and sticking to a very intense, strict diet to make the weight for the weigh-ins on Friday. He met with promoters who are very interested in signing him, and they'll talk numbers after the fight Sat. They already mentioned some signing bonus numbers with our local paper...250-300K, but his manager thinks he is worth more. It is crazy to think that perhaps within months we would have that kind of money, but it is not that unrealistic. I don't like to get my hopes up, but I am anxiously awaiting buying a house! I'll keep you posted on this. (This is partly why this blog is private. I can talk about this kind of stuff without the fear of the public getting the inside scoop about numbers and who Edwin is in talks with. Boxing is a very dirty business as we have seen a lot in the short time Edwin has been pro.)
I think I've mentioned before that for over a year a film crew has been filming Edwin (and me and the kids and everyone in our lives)and 2 other boxers. The filmaker has been creating this documentary of Edwin and his two friends, one who is representing the US in China at the Olympics, and the other who is an Olympic alternate. Edwin, who lost in a controversial decision at the Olympic Trials, is the pro. It's a story of 3 friends, 3 top ranked amateur boxers (Edwin now pro but was an amateur when filming began) making there way in their personal lives and in the sport of boxing. They actually filmed at the hospital on Monday. Edwin's "character", how he'll be edited, is this young father who is fighting his heart out for his two medically fragile, miracle babies. He has the stress of boxing and of the realities of life with medically-needy twins. Anyway, the filmaker just sold his series on the circus to TLC for 2.5 million for one series of 10 episodes. Let's hope something comes of his boxing film! I wonder how I'll be edited! HAHAH!
Oh yeah, and last Friday we met with the PT who will be doing aquatic therapy with Edwin. We are very excited to begin this and will as soon as Serena heals. Let's hope he enjoys the pool...last Sat he wanted no part of my mom's neighbor's!!!
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9 comments:
Way cool!
Have you guys been looking at trulia.com for a house or do you think you would want one made? Do you think you would want to stay in the area?
Ya - with that kind of money you guys should totally look into building a house! Also, modular homes are great and many of them are built to ADA standards so the plugs etc. are at a certain height - might be good if EJ needs some extra help as he gets older.
I'm so excited for you guys! We're hoping to go modular for our next house and have been looking at land up your way in the Douglas area - there seems to be a good variety of land up there.
You better tell us when the TLC program is on! My nights are spent on the couch/bed and all I do is watch TLC or Discovery! haha
I am so gald surgery went well. That is so neat about the filming it would really give people a great perspective on preemies and of course the boxing life. Ypu guys are always in our prayers!!!
Hi. Just want to say that while your concern for Serena's scar is understandable, I'd be willing to bet it's hardly visible when she grows up. I had heart surgery at age 8 -- major incision halfway around chest -- and the scar has faded so much it's hardly noticeable anymore. Since she's so much younger I'd think the end result will be even better. Good luck!
I am so happy to hear how well Serena is doing. She's so beautiful, I don't see how anyone could get past looking at her cute little face. They may never notice the new scar.
Way to go Serena!
PS: I love the voice. I hope Kinnick sounds as cute as Serena.
I'm glad to hear that the surgery went okay and that things in general are going nicely for you guys...and we'd love to meet you at Sesame Place but might have to drag you back down to the city so that Edwin can run those Art Museum steps for us! Just let us know; we're around all summer!
So glad she's back to herself. They tend to be stronger than we are.
Don't worry about the scar. She's so young that it will probably resolve itself.
Shannon
Awww! Have they said how long they think it'll take the area to regain feeling? I ask because my mom had a thyroidectomy 5 years back and still can't really wear stuff that sits on her neck because it irritates the area - it's still somewhat numb. I'm guessing things heal much quicker in small children though?
And that is AWESOME about a house!!! I hope that happens!! :D
From what I can see of her scar, it looks very similar to what Dakota's trach scar looks like now that it's been prettied up. The neck has so many folds it's hard to see and people don't even believe me when I say she had a trach. I hope that's your experience!
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