Half Way!

Aiden's fourth fill was a few days ago and everything went well just like it has this entire round! He cracked me up when I brought down the supplies and he said "you gonna get everything ready?" To which I responded yes to and his reply was "OK." I have been pleasantly surprised that this is how it has been but it just goes to show that it doesn't hurt. If it did, this would play out very differently because he is quite my little softie.

This week, Aiden has definitely paid more attention to his bubbles. He had his shirt off the other night and he walked into a bedroom with closet door mirrors and started checking them out! It's so cute and really funny. He will say that they are "squishy" or "huge" or "cool" and then he wants to make sure everyone else in the room checks them out too! I love that he adapts so well and they don't bother him. I am also glad that he is too young to be able to recognize people staring or gawking at him, whether its innocent or not. We were out shopping the other day and he was wearing a muscle type of shirt so his bubbles were extremely noticeable. There were two twin girls in front of us at checkout and it was obvious that they were staring and wondering about these strange looking bubbles coming out of his back and neck.  My mom heard them ask their dad "what does he have on him" and unfortunately the dad shushed them and they were gone. I'd much rather them ask and us explain then make assumptions about what we are going through. Maybe people think we would be offended if they did ask? I don't know but I just wish more people would ask.


The most exciting news after this fill was that the back bubble is HALF WAY to 750 after just four fills! That is fantastic news knowing that we have seven more fills left and if everything continues on this path, making it to 750 should be no problem. The shoulder one is very close to being half as well but that one will move along cautiously. This week I put 90cc into the back and 25cc into the shoulder.

Back at 375cc

Shoulder at 110cc

Please also remember that we have moved the price of Aiden's cookbooks down to only $10.00!!! Get your copy today if you don't already have one or need a great gift idea for someone!!!

Aiden's Cookbooks

Hello guys,

I have some BIG news about Aiden's cookbooks! We still have four or five boxes of cookbooks left that we would love to sell, so I am moving the price down to $10.00!!!!!!! Yes you read that right!!! "Recipes That Hit the SPOT" is only $10.00 now!! Great deal for a cookbook with 400 great recipes inside.

Please know that I am so grateful to all of you that have already purchased a cookbook, especially at the full price that I started selling them at. You all have made this journey so much easier for us and gave us the opportunity to see the best surgeon in the world for nevus removal without the stress of worrying about the finances to cover flights, hotel, car rental and of course the medical costs!

Please let me know if you are interested in buying one or know someone that might be interested! If you live by me, I can easily find a way to get them to you or they can be shipped to where you live! We will also be doing a few other fundraisers coming up soon for both Aiden and Nevus Outreach so stay tuned. If you are interested in helping out with any of that, let me know!

It's not IF, it's WHEN...

Expansion in a nutshell is unpredictable. There are so many things that could go right or wrong and for us parents going through this, it can be a very stressful time. For the most part, we adapt just fine though. There is just a constant reminder in the back of our minds that at anytime, things could rapidly change. I find myself saying "if" quite often throughout the expansion process. However, there is one thing that is pretty much a guarantee for Aiden. It's not a matter of if, it's a major matter of WHEN Aiden will become irritated by the stitches.

So, just after we did our fill last Sunday and just after I sent an email to Dr. Bauer saying how great everything looked, we woke up with stitch irritation on one of the incisions. Honestly, it wasn't horrible looking but it was very familiar and I knew that I had to send an email out immediately to help prevent this from getting any worse. I thought they would tell me to remove the stitches. Even though I'm not a fan of taking them out, I was prepared for that. I expected that. I wasn't prepared for what they told me instead. I was told that it was much too early to take them out this time and that due to our previous history, it was best to put him on Bactrim for the remainder of expansion. A instant knot formed in my stomach!

There are a few reasons why this completely sucks! 1. No one wants their kid on antibiotics for that long 2. The alternative of not doing it is worse 3. Aiden absolutely HATES taking medicine!!!! We struggled so much with medicine after surgery, that I knew this was going to be rough.  I even asked the pharmacist if there was any other plausible form other than liquid we could use for this. I knew this was a long shot to ask but it was worth a try. Just like I thought, due to the specific amount Aiden needed, liquid was the only solution.

So, this week has been quite challenging for us. It has been frustrating, stressful and full of anxiety. We have tried countless scenarios to sneak this medicine in some way because it's not ideal to hold him down while he is screaming....twice a day for several weeks. Its not fun for him or us and not to mention that most of the medicine ends up on him, not in him. Yesterday, we finally reached some success where he got the full dose of medicine. Which was good because the incisions were starting to look a little more irritated than before. Now, we just hope that the routine will stick and that this will help us from any future problems.

Yesterday was also time for our next fill! Even though we battled lots of tears and struggles this week with Aiden, I can say that I am quite proud of him when it comes to doing these fills. Thank goodness for lidocaine cream because he understands that it doesn't hurt and that it won't take long. He even watched me insert both needles this time and said "I did it" once I was in! I can honestly say that I don't have a drop of anxiety to do these fills because he has been doing so well. Besides the incisions (mainly just the major one) looking irritated, the expanders are looking pretty good. The shoulder one is still slightly bruised but it hasn't gotten worse, so that is a good sign. I was able to put in 80cc into the back and we are now up to 285cc. The shoulder one took 25cc and we are now at 85cc. We are well on our way to making our goals for this expansion but I know better to get too excited about that because like I said before, expansion is unpredictable.

Check out these new bubbles....

Back at 285

Shoulder at 85

"I DID IT"

"I did it" were the final words from Aiden after our second fill today! I am so proud of him. Before we started the fill, I asked him if he wanted to get his bubbles filled and he surprisingly said yes! Of course, followed by a quick no! I can tell he gets a little nervous but now that he understands that there is no pain involved, he does really good! The shoulder one is still slightly bruised so I only put in 20cc so he now has 60cc in there. The back one is a big one so I was able to put in 75cc which now is holding 205cc!

Nothing else to report here except that everything is going well! Check out his new bubbles!!!

Back at 205cc!

Shoulder at 60cc