Timmy's next surgery...

Timmy has done great recovering from his tonsillectomy. In the meantime, he was diagnosed with giardia, an internal parasite he probably brought home from Russia with him. It's interesting because when Benjamin was diagnosed with it shortly after coming home, we had a similar reaction locally. Diagnosis of giardia prompts a phone call from the health department asking questions about what he has been eating, where we have been shopping for groceries and such. They are making sure it was not food borne or that there is not an epidemic. Kind of funny if you think about it what a stir a little boy from Russia can cause! Anyway, we are nearing the end of this round of antibiotics and will retest to make sure it's gone. They told us it may take two rounds or more to get rid of it. It only took one with Benjamin. Yesterday we started our next medical adventure with Timmy. We knew when we brought him home that we had a list of medical concerns to cover for him. This was the last (hopefully) of the list. He has a rather large nevus (mole) on his head under his hair. We did not know whether it would be necessary to remove it or not but yesterday the dermatologist confirmed it would be best to remove it because it is under the hair and would be difficult to tell if there was a change signalling possible cancer. In addition because he is a boy, he will probably have shorter hair and might have sun damage to his head. We have scheduled his surgery for December 26. It is a rather complicated surgery in that when he goes in we will not know what the doctor is doing. He will evaluate once he opens to see how elastic his skin is. Then he will make the call. The options both involve two or more surgeries. Because of the large size, the doctor will have to work at it to get it all out. The first option is that he will remove part of it and close. Then he will have another surgery to try to get the rest after the skin stretches a bit to cover the original surgery. This could involve a third surgery as well. The other option is that he goes in and puts in an expander under the skin. This will involve 10 or so office visits following surgery where saline is injected under the skin expanding the skin to be able to stretch over the area and creating a flap of extra skin. This is a painful option but may be needed if the skin is not elastic enough for the first option. He will have a scar but we are hoping that because he is still growing that it will be early enough to not cause a large one. We have a plastic surgeon doing the surgery so I'm sure he will do all he can to make sure it is the best outcome. Anyway, poor Timmy has another surgery in his future. Within three months of coming home he will have 3 surgeries. He is doing so well in attachment and fitting into our family. He's a very happy boy and we are so glad God blessed us with him. Please pray that we can get past this surgery and look into the future with a healthy little boy. Also pray that the insurance situation works out. It's been an expensive venture to get all of this medical stuff done so soon after paying the huge cost of adoption. Thank you, friends, for lifting us up to the only One who can make any difference in our lives at all! Much love to each of you!