Taylor is getting his rest – his nursing staff ensures his comfort. They are soooo good here. If he moves or makes a peep they are right there. He is well taken care of. Surgeons chose to use a graft this time. The graft taken was the area of a large man’s hand, with a thickness of approximately one inch. The dermis and underlying fat were then used to line and seal the cranial floor, and fill any air pockets. The tissue will then “vascularize” (gain blood flow) from the surrounding tissue. In the last surgery, neurosurgeons used a synthetic dermal patch that did not vascularize properly; the synthetic tissue died which allowed air to pass the sinus into the area of the brain. The use of Taylor’s own dermis/fat increases the likelihood the tissue will properly vascularize, and decreases the time it will take to do so. Now we wait and see. Plastic surgeons then simply suture the graft site on his leg by bringing the skin edges together (it is the shape of an elipse) so the sutures are tight. Any movement would pop stitches. He has a knee immobilizer on his right leg to protect the sutures. It runs the length of his leg, and is quite heavy. This restricts the choices for repositioning him (i.e…on his side, etc.) so he is getting pretty creaky. PT and OT will likely be authorized today for moderate de-creaking, – without moving that leg at all. Massage works in this case, although he doesn’t tolerate it for too long before it starts to bother him more than it helps. The incision site running ear-to-ear across the top of his head was re-opened for hopefully the last time. It is healing nicely, and once again they did not shave him so his thick, curly, dark hair is all there.I feel like I should take a moment to reiterate that even though T is not talking like he was a few weeks back, he is listening to everything, and chiming in with occasional, “I know, right!” responses or “Oh yeah? Really?” …with the eyebrows.The night before his surgery, he was in quite a bit of pain, and the nurse was fetching some drugs. He suddenly got quiet and started to listen intently to what was on the television. Two young girls were arguing over an equation of some sort. “The whole thing is over pi!” one of the girls insisted. The other argued, “it is definitely NOT over pi!”He was listening and chuckling. I said, “know what pi(e) they are talking about?” He nodded with a, “uh-huh.””What is pi(e)?” I asked….with eyebrows, “three point one-four” with a look on his face like, ‘sheesh mom! Duh!
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