Surgery for Unilateral Coronal Craniosynostosis of the right side is scheduled for Monday, May 5th at 9am
The plan of attack for surgery is to cut her from ear to ear; a straight line, not the zig zag cut that you may see elsewhere. Though it is just her right side, they will treat it like it's both sides to get the best results and because her left side is having to compensate as her brain is growing and her skull is not able to expand on the right side.They will open the fused suture, reconstruct her brow bone, shift her forehead over to the right and for about a half hour, Dr. Moss will hold her brain in his hands and slowly move it over to the right. They'll close the incision with staples that will be removed at her post-op appointment on May 20th.
She will most likely need a blood transfusion. We are the same blood type and I could ask to use mine. However, that would've required me to donate, then they test the blood and in the end it might not be a match because there's more to it then just being A Negative. Plus, we have enough going on emotionally and with doctor appointments that Dr. Moss recommended against it. He also said I might be really disappointed to go through all that and then find out my blood can't be used. I made the choice not to because I believe he's correct.
Dr. Moss will be giving Felicity her very first haircut. He will only shave the area he's cutting and he'll be saving the hair for Mommy.
Her surgery should take about 3 hours and she'll be in the hospital for 5 days minimum. They usually only keep the babies 3 days but because we're from Tucson, they want to keep her longer to make sure she's okay and I'm okay taking care of the incision.
I will need to make sure to keep her incision out of the sun for about a year so headbands and hats it will be. Dr. Moss will follow Felicity every year until she goes to school, just to make sure all is good. There is a possibility of a second surgery; sometimes when the bone grows there is a little gap/hole and they'd do a less invasive surgery to fill it.
She does not require a helmet following surgery.
