1st fill up - round 2

Well here we were again. The day had arrived for Phoebe to have her right cheek expander inflated. To date I have been an absolute chicken/coward/lightweight (take your pick) and have not actually been in the room for any of the fill ups. I kindly leave that to Seal and then afterwards I waltz in with my big mummy cuddles and comforting words. This week with Seal still house bound following his knee replacement surgery, I had to do the whole hospital visit, fill up, cuddle thing all by myself. I felt a huge sense of betrayal when Phoebe yelled out "Weeeeeeeeeee" as I lifted her out of her car seat. She was in fine form this morning and was so excited to be on an adventure with her mummy (all to herself).
Once settled in Paediatric Outpatients, I applied the numbing cream to the remote port located behind Phoebe's right ear and then we waited. Sally normally pops out of surgery and does the fill ups between operations, so for us we just wait. Sally appeared relatively quickly and was pleased with the results of Phoebe's skin advancement from 4 weeks ago (Sally had been on holiday since the op). She said the left cheek still had a wee bit of fluid retention in it, but everything had 'settled down nicely'.
I held Phoebe in the way Seal had shown me at home (on Freddie!), as she has to be held fairly tightly while the fill up is happening. Phoebe took a huge intake of air (which seemed to go on for ever) as Sally put the needle into the port. Sally assured me this was usual but she would exhale eventually! And after about 6 (of the longest) seconds, she let out a huge scream. I held tight, closed my eyes and tried to offer words of comfort. Within 30 seconds though, all was over. 5 seconds later and the nurse had Phoebe smiling over a flashing light toy. Phew.
Sally managed to get 20mls inserted. The cheek instantly looked very 'expanded'.
We packed up our bags and off we went back home. Phoebe walked down all the various corridors, wards, lifts back to the car. She insisted on saying either a loud "Hi" or a loud "Bye" to every body she came accross, and being in a hospital there were a few people. She broke into a run at one point but then stopped fairly quickly and held her newly inflated cheek. I decided to make light of it and said "oh yes, it will feel a bit funny. Come on then off we go", and Phoebe was off again. So, dare I say it, we both survived and unscathed.

Uncle Biff - The Baby Whisperer

Forever and a day Phoebe has been rather unsettled at night. I am a terrible mother and hand her bottles of milk to placate her and send Phoebe back to sleep. Seal has been on at me to stop this (he sleeps through the whole thing) but more recently my excuse has been "Oh I think lying on her face, hurts her in the night. How can I stop giving her something which obviously offers such comfort?". Well last Friday we went out (a wild and crazy dinner party!), Uncle Biff babysat the kids. When we got home Phoebe had done her usual thing and woken looking for milk. Uncle Biff however, not aware of my night time weakness (as opposed to my daytime ruthlessness - NOT!), that he just went and sat by her cot and stroked her head, telling her all was OK. Well blow me down if Phoebe has not woken one single night since then. So my excuses (and that's what they are) have been revealed and Phoebe really had no reason to be waking in the night other than habit. Thank you Uncle Biff you are officially the Baby Whisperer. Now if you could just sort out Freddie I might stand a chance of a continuous nights sleep, for the first time in over 2 years!

Amount of Nevus removed

For those interested here are the measurements of the nevus excisions made last week
3.6cm x 1.8cm
5.5cm x 2.5cm
9 cm x 2.5cm
0.9cm x 0.7cm
Sounds quite huge when you see the numbers. Will post a picture of Phoebe next week, once all the swelling has gone down and the scars are less 'angry'. Then you can see for yourself the advancements made.