Makenzie - Before and After Surgery

The night before surgery - happy girl

This is what her head looked like before the surgery...they had to remove the exposed veins and try to cut out as much of the bald spot as possible.

Before they wheeled her off - she was very happy - until the doctor came in. She was clinching to me and I actually ended up with bruises from her digging her fingers into me. Poor baby girl

Cheese ball

Before they brought Makenzie back to the room after surgery they were writing last names on the board to show which rooms the patients were in. Pretty ironic that a kid with the last name BAKER was in the room next to us. Can you believe it!??! Baker Kelling....CREEPY yet COOL!

After surgery - about 30 minutes when she finally calmed down. It was the best feeling that I could calm down our sweet baby girl. But, daddy wanted some cuddles too.

The battle wound - a 4" incision

The next day - notice the drugs haven't worn off

Day 3 - She was moving and shaking and hard to keep track of

Our sweet baby girl was very brave when she went in for her first surgery. Shane and I were very lucky to have my parents there as a support system and know that Grandpa Jim was hanging out with Baker. It was an extremely emotional day for us. The doctors had given us the option of going into the surgery room with Makenzie while they gave her the medication to put her under but we would have to leave immediately upon her "flailing". I am not kidding - the doctor literally said "flailing". That meant she wasn't going to be happy with them sticking her, etc....can you blame her? Shane and I were both crying and clutching her. I looked at the doctor and just shook my head. He then said "from your emotions I figured that neither of you would want to take that on." We said our good-bye's and they whisked her off to surgery. Granted this was a minor surgery compared to others they were doing that day at Children's but she is our little girl and we wanted to protect her. We headed to the cafeteria with my parents and just waited and waited. 2 hours later we had a call from the surgery center calling us back. We met with the doctor and he told us that the surgery was VERY smooth. Makenzie did great and he was able to cut out more of the area than he thought. We went to the recovery room and waited to see her! As we saw children being rolled by in beds and wheelchairs we just sat. Finally, I heard a hysterical screaming child and I knew instantly - that was our little girl! As soon as we saw her we both broke down and I grabbed for her. I cuddled her so tight I didn't want to let her go. Shane and I looked at each other with huge tears in our eyes and said "damn, we have to do this at least 1 more time!" We then started to laugh!

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Makenzie is doing great! We had her follow up appointment and the doctor is very happy with her healing process. We will head back in March to get ready for the next surgery in April! But, it looks like we only have to go thru this 1 more time instead of 2 more like he had originally thought.

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Baker is pretty funny with her. Right after her surgery he wouldn't kiss her on the head because he said "that is gross!" So, he would kiss her on the cheek (he always kisses her on the head). Now, he looks at the scar (the stitches are almost all out), looks at me and says "Hey Mama, her head doesn't look gross anymore." You're right Baker, she will have a pretty faint scar!

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We appreciate the family and friends who were/are interested in Makenzie's progress! It's nice to know that we have so many people that care!