Comparison Photos Through Day 17 Post-Op

The best way to see the healing and progress is to compare photos side-by-side:

Here's photos of the ear from day 11 as the mold came off, through day 17.  I notice the lack of redness in the last few photos, which make it look like the canal hasn't gotten much deeper.  However, in real life, the canal is deeper, it's just hard to show in photos.  I also see a big difference in where the new ear was sewn to my rotated ear lobe in terms of swelling and how that affects how the lobe looks and sits.  Also, today's picture looks VERY clean compared to the rest.  I think a lot of that is because Dr. Griffiths was able to remove some of the dead skin from the ear yesterday.  So, while each day usually cleans up some, there is a big difference between yesterday and today because it was cleaned more than just by taking a shower.  You will also notice, though, that I think there is a little bit of skin graft in the canal area that has not taken (the area that's really dark/pussy looking).  Not sure, but since it's recent as of yesterday, I'm assuming that's what happened.  Dr. Griffiths wasn't concerned about it yesterday and just cleaned up the edges.  It's just amazing how healed up the skin has gotten!  The lack of scarring across the ear lobe is also AMAZING!!!

Here's a few photos to show off the swelling difference from looking at me straight-on.  It's looking more and more like an ear in profile.  My hair is hiding the very front of the ear in the last picture...

And here's the photos to show the progression of the skin graft area in the lower back that didn't take.  Despite the increase in skin discoloration at the bottom, there is definitely a lot less swelling in the back of the ear than when the mold first came off, especially in the last day or two.  These pictures don't show it too well, but the stitch line is a lot more healed now too.  In Day 13's photo I can really see the two sides of the skin graft that the stitches are holding together.  The last two days I can see that the two sides of the grafts have healed together, even though they're not 100% healed yet.

Surgery Photos!!!!!

Okay, so here we go!  I have some photos from surgery to show all of you!  I will put a page break in here so you don't have to see them if you don't want.  However, they are not bloody or gory.  There are pictures of the ear sewn up (just a little red where the stitches are, but you can't really even see the stitches themselves) and the carved cartilage (it's just white cartilage on a blue surgical sheet of cloth).

Day 16 Appointment

So I am pretty much 2 and a half weeks out now!  Things are going well.  In my last post, I think my writing was a bit all over the place.  I was coming off of a 2 and a half day stay at my friend Heidi's house.  I had an AMAZING time, but I wasn't aware of how worn out I was until I got back "home" and started decompressing.  That post was written Thursday.  Heidi dropped me off and I went right to editing pictures and updating everyone here since I had been away for a few days and had not posted.  Now it's Saturday Afternoon, and I'm still recouping.  It doesn't help that there was a power outage last night around bedtime and it caused a loud alarm to go off for a while.  I don't think it was all resolved until around 1 am, and since I need to wear my CPAP as much as I can, I had to get up and deal with that then.  My foam head wrap for overnight also caused a lot of issues last night.  It usually slips up a few times, but last night it did that more than normal.  Once it slipped off pretty much entirely and caused my mask to leak really badly and hurt my nose.  Overall, it was just a rough night, and I'm still very tired.  It's hard to remember my body is still going through major healing, even though I don't have much pain.

I saw Dr. Griffiths yesterday.  He checked on everything and cleaned off dead skin, etc. from the new ear.  He also removed some dissolveable stitches that hadn't dissolved from my groin skin graft site.  He said he would be comfortable sending me home at this point, BUT there is a patch on the lower back side of my new ear where the skin graft did not take.  At this point, he believes the under layer (the TP Fascia Flap) of skin graft is probably fine and will form skin underneath the large scab that is the outer skin graft that didn't take.  Unfortunately for coming home, that means I need to stay until we are sure that no additional skin graft is needed.  It's really just a waiting game for that scab to come off so we can see what's underneath.  He did clean up the edges of the scab yesterday, but didn't feel comfortable trying to remove it all yet.  And so...we wait...

I am still very emotional a lot of the time.  Ups and downs, but more and more, ups.  I have never been near tears of joy, and lately, I get that way many times a day.  It's a very new experience for me.  I'm still just trying to soak in the whole experience and enjoy every moment for what it's worth.  I want to go home.  I miss my family and friends, pets, church, etc.  And, I really am having a great time out here.  I will really miss my friends out here when I have to go home.  I also like being able to walk to the store and downtown.  So for now, as with the rest of my stay, the word is "patience".  I need to stay present and enjoy what I have here, because when I go home it will be a while before I can come back and visit.

My ribs hurt still, but I usually don't need tylenol.  I can move pretty normally, except for the swelling that keeps me from reaching my right toes still.  Other than that, I just sometimes get some pain in that region by evening, but nothing I can't deal with.  The only real problem the pain causes is having bowel movements.  Any type of pushing I have to do with my abdominals still causes pain after a short while.  It does get better all the time, but it's definitely not gone yet.

I'm not sure if I ever mentioned it, but because I was intubated during the 13 hour surgery, the middle part of my lip was completely numb for about the first 5 days after surgery.  I was assured the feeling would return, and it has been getting better.  I don't really notice the fact that it's still a little numb most of the time, but especially if I drink through a straw, I do notice that I have reduced feeling there.

Okay, so that's all I can think of for the update today.  I'm going to leave you with some pictures from day 16 (the ones from 7:45 a.m. are before I saw Dr. Griffiths, and the others are from after the appointment), and work on my second post for today...surgery photos!!!!

7:45 A.M.

Mid-Morning

This next photo shows the area behind the ear where the outer skin graft didn't take and has formed a scab.