Addison was born with a Giant Congenital Nevus on her left leg. The journey is a struggle. Decisions are hard. We hope that Addison's experience can help others dealing with the same issue. While we know that there are others that are more extreme, we hope that in sharing her story, we can provide support and encouragement. Leave a comment, let us know you've been here.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

No more bandages = a little freaking out

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

After 2 weeks of daily bandage changes, some better than others, we had an appointment to have the doctor check her wound progress. It never fails, she was asleep by the time we made it to the hospital. We have been there so often, the wound nurse didn't even have us check in, just directed us back to a room. Before starting to unwrap Addi's bandages, the nurse paged her doctor to get him on his way over. His response was that he was about an hour behind schedule, could we go get some lunch, and come back. The nurse was very apologetic - I think she thought that I was going to be mad about waiting, but we are used to it, and the doctor is worth it.


So I woke Addi up and took her down to the cafeteria to get some lunch. When we came back, we again went right in, the nurse unwrapped Addi's leg, and paged the doctor. This time, we came pretty quickly, and Addi didn't even notice the wait. She was busy playing with toys (bless those child-life specialists!). When the doctor came in, his comment was, "that looks much better." My reponse, "you were worried, weren't you?" He actually admitted that he was worried because it was weeping so bad before and had such a foul smell, but it looked good this time.

Addi looked at the doctor and had this conversation: "Dr. Idiqqi."
Doc - "Yes"
Addi - "My leg is scratchy." (She has been itching pretty bad, a sign of healing.)
How cute is that? No fear of the doctor, even after everything she has been through.

Dr. Siddiqi suggested that we leave the bandages off, just put some neosporin on the parts that aren't quite healed, allowing the skin to dry out a little more. The nurse suggested some lotion that they often put on wound patients that would keep her from being itchy. She also just placed a gauze pad over the donation site to keep the neosporin off of her clothes and car seat on the way home. That being done, we were ready to leave. Addi refused to walk. She had gotten so used to the bandages being on for so long, it hurt her to walk. She cried all the way home, just a little, saying that it hurt. When I pulled off the gauze on the donor site, she freaked out! It was stuck in the wound and made it bleed a bit. As I was putting more neosporin on it, Addi started to squirm, crying, until she finally peed all over me. So, off to the bath she went, her first real one in 7 weeks. She didn't enjoy it at all, and has whined most of the evening. She is finally calmed down, ready for bed, and we are hoping for healing progress in the coming week.

And what does it look like?


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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