May Update

Liam is now one year old and is continuing to struggle with healing from the removal of the distractors. The left side is as good as we could expect; it's healed and the scars are big but clean. The right side is a hot mess. The front exit point of the distractor never healed and we had to go back to the surgeon and get it cauterized. Now it's a large (size of a US Quarter) black scab. We're waiting to see if it starts to heal. The distractor was attached to the skull in the back of his head, and this site has formed a very large pocket of fluid. The pocket is supposed to be absorbed gradually over the 6-8 weeks following the surgery, but Liam's is growing and moving forward gradually. It's now moved to the incision site and has started draining lightly. It doesn't appear to be infected, but it doesn't appear to be going away. We're watching it closely, expecting it to burst soon based on the movement and growth rate. If it moves forward much more the pocket will be directly under the ear-to-ear incision created when the distractors were installed. This is a very weak point in his scalp and won't handle the pressure of the protuding pocket well.