brave - WARNING - GRAPHIC PICTURES

I learned a lot about bravery today. I learned it from my 3 yr old. It was a very special and meaningful day as it was time to take Brennan's head bandage off that was put on yesterday following surgery. This would expose the surgery site and tell the story of what happened when he was behind the operating room doors. We were anxious and a little hesitant but knew it needed to be done. While the bandage was on he had a hard time as it was very "itchy" and uncomfortable so it's safe to say that he was very excited to get it off. We were given careful instructions on how to take it off and we were to wait 24 hrs.

The time came near to have it taken off and we didn't feel comfortable doing it ourselves. We didn't know what we were going find and it would make us feel better if we had someone close by who had done it before and what the site should look like after everything was removed. We made a call to CEI and they fit us in immediately (amazing). When we arrived there they took us in and we were met with two CEI staff and one of the doctors. It was important to Brennan to have his monkey's bandage off as well plus it helped for him to see his monkey have it removed first.

Once B's monkey was done it was his turn. They started cutting the bandage off and Brennan's grin turned to a smile. You could see the relief in his face but it quickly changed when the gauze over his skin graft was removed. Some of the gauze was stuck because the wound was still fresh and it took an extra "tug" by the doctor for it to come off. Brennan wasn't ready for this and the pain associated with the extra tug surprised him. He cried and had a hard time for about 10 minutes which wasn't fun for us. The doctor also mentioned that the site of the skin graft probably stung like a rug burn after being exposed to air for the first time since it was bandaged 24 hrs earlier. In other words, I would have cried too, ouch. Needless to say we were very glad that we had CEI staff with us when this was done. It took some time but Brennan got used to the exposure and we went on with our day of driving around the area and resting.


Monkey got to go first :)

Brennan's turn. He was so brave. Didn't resist at all.

Gettin closer

All in all he did a great job and we are so proud of him. He has been so flexible and adapted so well to some new rules and changes. We remind him often when he gets a little too rowdy and he responds, "Ok mommy/daddy". He had no idea at this point what was under that bandage. He probably couldn't remember the day before if you asked him. We eventually got to show him pictures and he was pretty surprised but after the explanation he smiled and carried on as if nothing had happened. You could see in his eyes that he is anxious for it to heal just as we are.




After talking at length we decided it was important to not only show pictures of B's new ear canal but also describe in as much detail as possible what each picture is showing. Simply put, we don't want to draw any extra attention to his ear just as we didn't before surgery. This won't change but we would be happy to answer any questions people may have. These pictures aren't for show and honestly not easy to post. They show our son in a very vulnerable and scary situation. But at the same time, we are thrilled and blessed that he was able to have this surgery. We hope these pictures help you in how you can pray for Brennan. He has a long road of a healthy recovery ahead and these pictures show that. It is also important for us to show these pictures to families who will be going through the exact same procedure in the future with the same doctor. We were blessed to be able to see similar pictures from other children who had undergone the same surgery and they more than prepared us for what B sustained in surgery. We sincerely hope these pictures help those families prepare for a very difficult decision they have to make for their child. So here we go. You knew this was coming....







WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTOS TO FOLLOW.....








This picture was taken immediately after the bandage was taken off. Starting from the left side of the picture you see:

-Brennan's "little ear"- They had to take some of it off in the back to create his ear canal.

-The red "sponge" to the left of the bloody tape and behind his little ear is the tip of the plug that is inside Brennan's new ear canal. It is there to keep the canal from closing and will be there for a while. This plug helps prevent the canal from closing. The size of the new canal is about the size of a quarter. It is expected to get smaller (hopefully not too small) as it heals which explains why they make it so big to begin with.

-The bloody tape is in place over the incision where they cut to expose the bone and the drill site. The tape is also covering a part of the plug described above.

-The large piece of gauze behind his ear with fresh blood underneath is covering the site of the skin graft. It has been sutured in place as evidenced by the suture seen in the middle. The skin graft was taken to line the inner lining of the canal that was created. All of the skin taken was used to line the canal. Believe it or not this heals the quickest but can be the most painful during recovery. They obviously had to shave his head for this to be done effectively.

-You may be asking why there is a band-aid underneath this gauze. When his bandage was taken off and he went through quite a bit of pain he pleaded for a band-aid. This is where Kim put it and believe it or not it helped B calm down quite a bit. So this is an emotional band-aid, and it worked.


Another view from further out.

Here is a close up of the outside of B's new ear canal. This was taken several hours after the first two pictures above and you can already see how the blood from the gauze is darkening (healing). You can still see the word "yes" from surgery below his ear to make sure the correct ear was worked on. In a few days the "plug" will be trimmed to be flush with the hole to avoid it snagging. It CANNOT come out for obvious reasons.


I think this captures B's bravery. He held so still for the picture. He's my hero.

This picture shows some of the skin graft that wasn't covered by the gauze. It hurts me just looking at it.



Another view from the back showing more of the skin graft. Yes it grows back and so does the hair. I know, amazing.



So that's it. That's our boy.



Atresia repair after one day with many days to come. It's not pretty but it's a part of the process for our little guy and his journey to better hearing. We hope this shows a clear picture of what families can expect for Atresia repair and shows our friends and family how they can pray for this brave little guy. We hope anyone with any questions comes forward and asks. We don't believe in dumb questions. They can be asked in person or in the comments section. We want anyone who is going to go through this to be as prepared as possible. We hope this helps. God Bless.