"Perfect". That is the word the surgeon used to describe Miles at his 2 week follow up appointment. :) We went over to Lauderdale this week for his follow up and the surgeon said he looked perfect and was healing well. The next day, Miles was measured for his helmet, which will come in 2 weeks. They aren't sure how long he will need to wear the helmet, because it will depend on how fast he grows and how fast the new bone grows.
So, we are all good here. The two weeks following the surgery were stressful, just making sure to keep his head safe and keeping it infection-free. And we still worry about keeping him safe especially from our energetic son, Maxon, but Max has been an incredible big brother and is usually very careful around his brother's boo-boos. Miles does not appear to be in any pain now and is playing on the floor and eating well as he always did. And he has been a good boy, not messing with his incisions too much. He will try to touch them once in a while but will stop after we stop him a couple times. However, the poor baby did get a "double wammy" the past couple weeks. Those two weeks, he was a bit fussy and uncomfortable with what we assume was a little pain, but this past week he also cut his first two teeth! :)
We have taken him out in public a few times. Now that he is at a lower risk for infection, we feel more comfortable to get him out and about. Until he gets his helmet, it is a little awkward to take him out because his incisions are fairly large and he now has a large visible soft spot in his skull. So needless to say we get some double takes and funny looks (not that we won't get those looks with the helmet as well). We have a cute little hat that he can wear in public until he gets his helmet that was sent to him from Cranio Care Bears, which is a non-profit organization that sends care packages to families nation wide who are expecting to go into a surgery for craniosynostosis. You can find out more at www.craniocarebears.org. They also have a facebook page where they will send out status posts on the little babies who are having the surgery the next day so we can pray for them and their families. I now say prayers for those families whenever I see one of those status updates. In the care package they sent us was: ribbons linked together each with a prayer or quote written on it, a blanket for Miles, a hat for Miles, socks for Miles, a book for Miles, a journal for parents, toiletries for the hospital stay, tea for the parents, and more. It was very sweet and they had people through facebook praying for him during his surgery as well.
And on the home front, we have had incredible support. Our church, Covenant Presbyterian Church of Naples, has blessed us with prayers and also with meals during the week after the surgery. We have also had meals from other friends and family here. Our adult bible study group, Connect, has blessed us with prayers and other supports. Nick's mom has been a great help in getting Maxon to and from school while we've been home caring for Miles. My mom is coming down tomorrow and staying a week to care for Miles so Nick and I can go to work. Both of our work places have been flexible with us and understanding with the situation. We have had plenty of offers to help with any thing we needed from family and friends. And of course we have had a lot of thoughts, prayers, and encouragement from our friends and family from afar through facebook or over the phone which are so appreciated. We just feel very blessed with how the surgery went, how recovery has been so far, and with all of the support we've had. God knows we need it! Current and future prayers will be for Miles to continue a good and perfect recovery, for Miles' head to grow as it should with the helmet therapy, and for this to be the one and only surgery he needs.
We will post more later!
