Brooke's Surgery....

  It feels like only yesterday that Brooke was in the NICU and only a couple weeks old. Now here we are again back in the hospital. Let me start at the beginning. When Brooke was born, it was very obvious that her head was not the right shape or size. The doctors informed us that she has metopic craniosynostosis, meaning that her forehead fused somewhere around 20 weeks old and can therefore not grow as she ages. This condition resulted in Brooke's forehead having a large ridge down the center of it, and caused her head to grow straight upward. Although we think she couldn't get any more beautifull just the way she was, there is a very serious medical concern with  fused skull bones. Her brain was becoming compressed and actually pushing so hard upward to grow that it was thinning out other skull bones at an alarming rate. This condition is seen alot in children with Gorlin's Syndrom, which Brooke has. We were told that we would have to wait until Brooke was 6 months old before we could have the surgery because so much blood is lost during this type of surgery. So we have been waiting and waiting. Finally the time came to get CTs done and see what the doctors thought; they did not like what they saw. The date was set and the doctors appointments made. She would have two doctors for the surgery. A neurosurgeon to remove the necessary bone and  protect the brain, and a plastic surgeon to put things back to their proper place.

     So on July 5th after the Fireworks had faded. We got up extra early....5:00, and headed into the hospital. Brooke was such a flirt, won over all the nurses. She was an angel until about 20 minutes past the time when they were supposed to start surgery. Justin calmed her down with her pacifier and his famous back pats. They finally took her back and we waited the 4 hours till she was finished. We couldn't wait to see her, but it took another hour of waiting till we could actually see her. Towards the end of the surgery she started to wake up, so they had to quickly give her a huge dose of sedative drugs. This resulted in them not being able to remove her breathing tube immediately after surgery. Now here is the deja vu part: Now that the tube has stayed in this long, it has resulted in swelling of her already delicate larynx and trachea (wind pipe) and now they dont want to take her breathing tube out.This was the exact reason we were in the NICU for so long when she was first born. Its been almost 4 days since the surgery and the tube in still in....

 Brooke looks like a brand new baby.  Her forehead is so flat. I barely recognize her. She is so swollen and they say it will only get worse, but she looks great.

We are by her bedside almost every hour of the day. Justin watches for any sign of distress or pain and immediately notifies her nurse that "Brooke needs another dose of Morphine right away please", and they listen. 
Please continue to keep Brooke in your thoughts and prays as she starts this long journey of recovery. We love you all !!!