There are so many things I didn’t know about skin grafting. So many things I never considered. I never even dreamed I’d one day have to know. The skin was necrotic (dead and greenish yellow) at birth, and that first surgery was to remove it all. How far deep it had to be removed was dependent on how far the vascular tissues stopped getting the valuable blood supply to it. Our first surgery included small amount of muscle. Considering the facts that was a good thing that it was only that.. When she had to go back in for her second surgery there were more tissues removed, more muscle than we hoped. Stay positive, it will be okay. Her hand still looked like the normal position of a hand and wrist. But she never moved it, since the wrap was so constricting and she was medicated. A lot. We knew at that point she was in for a long road- months? Maybe. That was day 10. Several more removal surgeries and to her 7th one she was finally ready to take the precious top layer of tissue off her right thigh to go over what was skinless. There was no fatty layer of tissue, hypodermis. No oil producing layer. No glands. This was going to be a thin, like tissue paper, outer epidermis layers sewn together to the remaining healthy skin. They shave it off her thigh. In strips. Full razor blade sized strips. So when she is out of surgery she has pain on her right arm and right leg. It’s a big deal. Snuggling her and holding her meant not putting any unnecessary pressure on those areas. She was 8 lbs. The whole thing surreal.
The biggest fear of the grafting is that the grafted skin doesn’t take. All the shaving and removal to another and then you would have to do it all over again. There is another substance there too, to give something for that skin to adhere to, but it’s thin. Of course there are so many more concerning things, but I’m wooing this part of her body to heal her other. My baby’s arm is now a fraction of the size of the other hand because the fatty layer has been cut away. It’s hard to believe that when I touch her arm, if I touch to hard, that I am literally touching her muscle and bone. That it may hurt in a manner that I couldn’t even imagine. If she gets a cut, will it bleed like elsewhere? If she scrapes herself, will it pull up what’s there? There will be more too. This skin won’t stretch like the rest. It will be more susceptible to burning. Turn a purplish color in the rays. It will be different always...
Those last few days before that surgery I kissed on those chubby baby thighs for the preparation to come and snuggled her in tight. I gently touched the skin on her legs, and pinched and took pictures of her. One day, when she looks back at those images and sees what we saw I pray she will see the amazing thing that happened- she healed herself with the guiding two hands of her surgeon Dr B. Now that’s truly a superpower.
The biggest fear of the grafting is that the grafted skin doesn’t take. All the shaving and removal to another and then you would have to do it all over again. There is another substance there too, to give something for that skin to adhere to, but it’s thin. Of course there are so many more concerning things, but I’m wooing this part of her body to heal her other. My baby’s arm is now a fraction of the size of the other hand because the fatty layer has been cut away. It’s hard to believe that when I touch her arm, if I touch to hard, that I am literally touching her muscle and bone. That it may hurt in a manner that I couldn’t even imagine. If she gets a cut, will it bleed like elsewhere? If she scrapes herself, will it pull up what’s there? There will be more too. This skin won’t stretch like the rest. It will be more susceptible to burning. Turn a purplish color in the rays. It will be different always...
Those last few days before that surgery I kissed on those chubby baby thighs for the preparation to come and snuggled her in tight. I gently touched the skin on her legs, and pinched and took pictures of her. One day, when she looks back at those images and sees what we saw I pray she will see the amazing thing that happened- she healed herself with the guiding two hands of her surgeon Dr B. Now that’s truly a superpower.
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