Another Busy Day of Surgeries

Whitney Copeland (Thursday, 1/20/22) 

Pepper had #13 today, they snuck a quick one in on Wednesday. She has a synthetic graft on the right side of her face, and chin called Integra. (Made from shark cartilage) It is a synthetic graft that prepares her skin for a real skin graft, later. It is meticulously sewn into place. The plastic team also worked on her hands today. A synthetic layer was placed on her hands, that will stay most likely 1 week up to 2 weeks and then skin grafts. She was in a lot of pain when she came back, but it is controlled for now and she was able to nap. She was ready to eat dinner! She is off to the shower room today. 

Kyle had #4 today. They made a small incision under each eye and took a graft from his collar bone and put it in the incision to add length to allow his eyelid to close fully. They also put Integra on his upper eyelids and on the bridge of his nose. He came back from recovery with his eyes sewn shut. They may be shut for up to a week, they will access on day 4-5 (Sun. or Mon.) This will be a very difficult week for him. His spirits were ok when I left to be with the kids for the night. 

Krew had #10. They came to wheel him down and discovered his breathing tube had come unattached. They had to reattach it by sewing the tube onto his upper gums. Luckily, he was sedated and didn’t know. His surgery went well! The plastics team cleaned up his face, they said the graft looks great! Also, his entire arms and hands have been covered in his own skin grafts. This is a huge leap forward; we really hope all the grafts take. He came back from surgery with the breathing tube still inserted, they are going to start weaning him off the paralytic drug and start weaning sedation drugs Friday, hopefully removing the tube on Saturday. The process last time was difficult. He has been on these sedation drugs before and the withdrawals were very difficult for his little body. I’m excited to hold him again, I’ve missed him so badly.  

We started prepping for surgery at 7:30am and by the time everyone was tucked back in their own rooms it was 6:30pm. It was a long day. Bless the plastic surgeon and the burn Dr, and their teams. They only worked on our family today. It was a BIG day, I am exhausted. Thank you for your continued prayers, we are all moving forward.