Look How Far We've Come!

Melody -- October 3, 2009 -- 24 days old

The following pictures are not for the squeamish among us, however, I know many of you have asked what the spina bifida looked like and how Melody is healing. These pictures are detailed, but I wanted Melody to have them for the future. I just find it amazing how far we have come. Praise God we are past the surgeries and that we have such talented doctors and medical knowledge today to actually do these surgeries.

Below is Melody's myelomeningocele lesion before the closure surgery. The pink skin on the outside is the healthy skin they used to pull over and close the opening. The whitish tissue had to be cut away and the middle more moist looking area is actually the exposed spinal cord! Scary, huh? It had a very thin membrane over it, but was basically considered open. The neurosurgeon pulled the dressing back for us just before surgery so we could take pictures and he could describe the surgery for us.

Melody just after shunt surgery on Sept. 15th, just 6 days after birth.

Healing! Friday, all of Melody's stitches came out! But, before that I took the following pictures. I have not taken any pictures without the stitches, yet. This picture is of Melody's head stitches from the shunt surgery. You can barely see them though her hair, in an arc shape to the upper left of her ear. Just below the stitches you can see a slight bulge, which is the valve of her shunt.

This is how nicely her back is healing. She'll have a scar for life, of course, but we are happy with how well it is healing.