Upon arriving at the medical office building, Angel threw a fit as soon as she saw a nurse in the hallway. Then we rode up the elevator with that same nurse and into the same office. She gave Angel a sticker to try and make her happy but really took us moving to the waiting area for her to calm down. The stickers were enough to entertain her and Michiael while we waited a bit. Then as soon as the nurse, Susan, we were there to see walked in, Angel began getting upset again. Susan looked her over quickly and didn't see any concerns. I pointed out to her that Angel had ripped all the stitches out of her cheek incision and that skin was still a little tight so she decided we wouldn't expand that one and just do it next time.
Susan showed me all the supplies I would need each time we do the expansion (about 3 of everything since she has 3 expanders). Honestly I think it will take longer to get all the supplies together and ready that it will to actually do the injections. She then showed me how to prepare it all, hope I remember everything. We then proceeded to doing the injections, she did one and then I did the other. They really have a great system down with this and it is rather easy, the hard part was that Angel had been crying the entire time we were there. She didn't feel the needles (I had put numbing cream on each port an hour before we arrived), she didn't cry or fight any harder than she already was, she was just mad we were messing with her. The injections went well, really didn't inject a whole lot, just enough for me to be familiar with the process and what to look/feel for so I know when enough is enough.
She tolerated the injecting itself pretty well, she felt her forehead when that one was being done so she must feel the sensation of it a little but it didn't seem to hurt. The skin on her cheek and forehead are pretty tight so those may take longer to loosen up. The skin on her neck I noticed dropped/stretched quite a bit and was very loose before we injected and still was afterwards. I think the one in her neck will move a little faster than the other two.
So in her forehead we injected another 8 cc's of saline, putting her at 33 cc's in that one. Then in her neck, which is the one I got to do, we injected another 10 cc's, putting her at 40 cc's. Susan said each week we should be able to fit a little more in each time, I'd hope so or we won't ever make it to the 250 cc goal for each of them. Her cheek one shouldn't take long so about 5 cc's each time is really all we need to get into that one, it's only 70 cc capacity.
I now have enough supplies, two big plastic bags full, to do 15+ sets of injections, though we should only need to do about 10-12.
Here are updated pick of Angel after her first injection, not a big difference since we didn't' add much. We will see how it goes after I do it for the first time later this week.
You'll notice a little bit of a corner in the forehead expander on this one. She said it should smooth and round out as we expand it more but in the mean time we are to massage it a bit a few times a day and she gave us a stretch tape to put over it to help disburse the pressure. Her cheek is a little lumpy too, eventually they will all smooth out into "bubbles". She calls them her "bumps" when she touches them, mainly the forehead she notices.
Two weeks ago she had surgery, it already seems like it's been longer - guess I have tried to block that part from my mind so I don't dread the next round as much. One more week and she can be a little more "free" to do things. Maybe we'll finally get to go swimming!
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