MERRY CHRISTMAS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! AS YOU CAN SEE, SYDNEY IS DOING QUITE WELL AND THINGS ARE BACK TO NORMAL AFTER THREE SURGERIES OVER THE PAST 15 MONTHS. SHE IS ENJOYING PRESCHOOL AND THIS PAST SUNDAY HAD HER FIRST DANCE RECITAL! OBVIOUSLY OUR POSTS HAVE BEEN SPARSE BECAUSE SYDNEY HAS NOW COMPLETED THIS JOURNEY. WE WOULD LIKE TO KEEP THIS BLOG IN PLACE AND MAY POST UPDATES OR MORE PICTURES FROM TIME TO TIME. SOMETIME THIS SPRING SHE WILL BE HAVING SUGERY FOR A BAHA (BONE ANCHORED HEARING AID) IMPLANT. WE WILL KEEP YOU POSTED ON HER PROGRESS HERE.

No more earrings for now.

We had planned to go back to L.A. to let Dr. Reinisch pierce Sydney's right ear. Unfortunately, she then had a problem with the left earring. The earring back became embedded in her earlobe. Fortunately one of our local ENT docs was able to remove it without much difficulty. After discussing with Dr. Reinisch, we have decided to let everything heal and wait on any more ear piercings for now. We will post some new pictures soon

6 weeks post op--stage 2

Back of right ear
Back of left ear
Left ear
Right ear

Well it's hard to believe that it has been 6 weeks since stage 2 surgery. Syd's ears are healing nicely, and most of the "ear boogers" as Syd likes to call them have come off. It looks like we will be heading back to LA the beginning of August to get her right ear pierced.

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Pictures of the new ears and a minor setback

Sydney's new ears look great! We did have a minor setback this morning. Her right earring came out overnight. Her right earlobe looks swollen. It looks like she may have bumped it. Dr. Reinisch was very gracious in taking our phone call this morning. We are not going to put the earring back in. Hopefully once things heal, she will be able to get her ear pierced again. This will likely necessitate a trip back to L.A.

Back at Home!

After a 3 hour delay with our flight, we finally made it back home around 11:30 pm tonight.

Home tomorrow!

Sydney saw Dr. Reinisch today. Everything looked good. We fly home tomorrow. This should complete her ear reconstruction surgeries. Check back frequently as we will post pictures as her ears heal. Likewise, we will continue to post information regarding other events and milestones.

We would like to thank everyone for their prayers and support as Sydney completes this journey. A very special thanks to Dr. Reinisch and his staff. We cannot begin to express enough gratitude for what he did for Sydney. Our family is very blessed.

Legoland pictures

Alan and the kids at the Legoland entrance after a long day of fun.


Ian and a Bionicle guy...I think.


I forget the name of this Lego Coaster, but it was fun.


Sydney loves this type of bouncy ride that takes you up and drops you over and over.


Lego dragon.


Ian and Lego Elvis.


For Grandma Richardson they even had a US Food Service truck made of Legos.


Mini land was full of miniature towns made of Legos. There was Washington DC, San Francisco, Las Vegas, New York, New Orleans, and more. You can see New York in the background. The sign in front of this display said that if you stacked all of the Legos in this New York on top of each other it would be over 7 1/2 miles tall!! Each display also had some kind of animation with it. It was really amazing.


Sydney driving her legomobile.


A Volvo made of legos.


The 3 little pigs playing some music at the end of the storybook ride.


The story book ride. The troll coming out of the water, and Prince Charming in the background.


Mommy and Syd on the safari ride at Legoland. All of the jungle animals were made of legos.



Lego dinosaur. The lego man on top shot water into another display.


Outside the Legoland California entrance.


A lego family on their way to Legoland too.

Sea World pictures

Atlantis water ride/roller coaster. Ian and mommy had fun riding this ride.


Ian and Sydney in front of the Clydesdale exhibit at Sea World.


Alan and Ian on Oscar's Rockin' Eel ride.


Riding Elmo's flying fish.


Sydney and Ian in Abbey's spinning stars.


The Shamu show "Believe". It was incredible.

Back at the hotel and doing fine.

We made it back to the hotel about a 1/2 hour ago. Sydney is eating some Cheetos and is watching High School Musical 3. She says she feels "good", and is even singing and wiggling to HSM3 songs. She woke up more quickly in the recovery room than she had in the past. Within 10 minutes of my entry to the recovery room she was eating a popsicle and drinking juice. We were gone from the hospital within an hour. I took a picture to show her the earrings and she said "WHAT? I have them in right now?" It was so cute because she still had a sleepy, "out of it" kind of voice. Her tummy doesn't seem to be bothering her right now at all. Her ears are very swollen and she has some yellow foam sutured to the back of both ears. This is to keep them out while they heal a little bit. She looks awfully cute right now with her little earrings...swollen ears and all. We'll try to post some pictures from the last few days soon. They didn't want to load earlier.

We have earrings!!!!!

Dr. Reinisch just came out of the operating room, and said the surgery went well. He lifted her right ear (which was completely flat to her head) and put a wedge of medpor(the implant) to make her ear project more. He then covered the back side of her ear with a skin graft from her tummy. He lifted her left ear and put a skin graft behind it as well. He "fiddled" with the skin to make more of an ear lobe on that side, and he pierced her ears!!! She will be so excited. I can't wait for her to see them. She does not have any drains, cups, or netting this time. She also does not have a pain pump for her tummy. I'm sure she will have some discomfort from that. He said the skin was tight, and a little difficult to close after he took the skin for the graft.

At the hospital

We had to awaken by 4:30 AM and were here at the hospital by 5:45 AM. Sydney has already been called back. Brooke is back with her. Ian is being very good and being very patient. Please pray for Sydney. We will post frequent updates throughout the day

Fun at Legoland!

Monday, we went to Legoland. Everyone had a great time. The park was only open until 5 PM, so it was hard to see everything

Fun at Seaworld!

Sunday, we went to Seaworld. It was fun, but I think the kids will enjoy Legoland more. Sorry, I tried to upload photos right now, but something seems to be not working

We made it to LA!

Well, we made it back to LA today for stage 2 reconstruction of each ear. Dr. Reinisch was kind enough to meet us at his office this afternoon for pre-op pictures. He is not sure he will be able to pierce Sydney's ears and, thus, she may not be able to wear earrings. Even though this is slightly disappointing, we certainly feel fortunate with how far she has come. Surgery is scheduled on Tuesday. That will leave us a few days for some fun. Tomorrow we plan to go to Sea World and Monday, Legoland. Please pray for Sydney as she embarks on this next step in her journey.

Happy Birthday Madison!!!!

( Madison and Sydney 4 years ago. --I really need to take some new pictures of you two!!!)

Sydney wanted to wish her cousin, Madison, a happy 12th birthday today!! Madie is a loyal follower of Syd's blog, and is always checking for new posts. I tried to take a picture of her ear for you Madison, but her response was "NOOOOOO". I'll try to take one tonight or tomorrow and post it sometime this week.



Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Madie,
Happy Birthday to you!!!

Now if Sydney were at your birthday party she would have just blown out your candles for you, and then would have opened all of your gifts! So it's probably good that she is wishing you happy birthday from a far.

Happy Birthday Madie!! We love you.
Uncle Alan, Aunt Brooke, Ian, and Sydney.

P.S. Your birthday card is in the mail!! =-)

2 months post op

Syd was being silly one night after bath.

The left (new ear) projects out more than the right. Dr. Reinisch said he would address that when we go back in May.



Two months post op, and looking good. The brown at the top of her ear is some skin that will come off with some more scrubbing.

It's hard to believe that it has been 2 months since stage 1 on her left ear. She is healing nicely, and the ear looks great. Syd is so excited to go back to LA in May and get her ears pierced. She's already looking at earrings.

3 weeks post op

It's hard to believe it has been over 3 weeks since Sydney got her left ear. She is doing great and her ear is healing well.

Back in the routine of things.

We made it back home Thursday (2/5) at about 12:30 am. We had a great flight with a little surprise. As we were boarding the plane we saw our friend and neighbor from Mattoon, Colleen. She is a flight attendant, and was working our plane that day. It was such a surprise and great to see her. We are back in the routine of things. Alan is back to work and the kids are back in school. Sydney's ear is looking great. We took some pictures, and I will try to post them soon.

The New Ear

Boy, am I glad to get that net off of my head!

See my new ear!

It sure feels good to get my hair washed!

Sydney lends Dr. Reinisch a hand.

Where did they get this Band-Aid?

Sydney went back for her final post-op check today. Everything looks good! We will continue to post periodic updates as her incisions heal and swelling subsides. Please pray for our safe travel tomorrow. We would like to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers as Sydney continues on this journey.

Fun in the Sun

Sydney enjoys a ride at the Santa Monica Pier!

Grandma with Ian, Sydney, and Della

Mommy, Ian and Sydney on the beach

Saturday morning we went to the Grove which is an outdoor shopping mall in LA. There they have a farmer's market and food stands with about any type of food imaginable. We all ate lunch there after a brief visit again to the "Miracle Store" (the American Girl Store). We then made our way to the Santa Monica Pier. Brooke's family had to leave to catch their flight while we stayed behind and rode some rides on the pier. Sunday we joined Alan's cousin Mindy and her daughters for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Mindy and her family reside in the San Diego area. Tomorrow, it will be one more day at Disneyland, a visit to Dr. Reinisch on Tuesday for the much anticipated unveiling of the new ear and dressing change, and Wednesday, finally, we fly home.

Disneyland!

Cinderella

Ian, Sydney, and Della at Disneyland

Ian fights the dark side at the Jedi training academy

Thursday was a fun day as we all went to Disneyland. Sydney was thrilled with meeting Snow White, Ariel, and Cinderella. The highlight of Ian's day was Jedi training. We all came home exhausted, but will do it all again tomorrow. Sydney still has to wear a large bandage and cup over her ear, but otherwise seems to have recovered and is back to her usual self.

Down to Anaheim

Today we "moved" from Hollywood down to Anaheim. It was there we met up with Brooke's parents and her brother and his family. We are all renting a house together just outside of Disneyland. We plan to take the kids there tomorrow. Brooke's family had planned to stay until next Wednesday. With the passing of her grandmother, however, they are all leaving here Saturday. We will stay here until next week as Sydney has another followup appointment next Tuesday. Her large bandage has to stay in place until then at which time it will be changed. We are all still deeply saddened by Wilma's passing. She was a wonderful woman.

We'll miss you Popcorn Grandma.

Today my Grandma Bockenfeld passed away. The kids called her "Popcorn Grandma" because she always had carmel corn ready for them when we came to visit. She loved when the kids would give her hugs and kisses and "perform" for her. We love you Popcorn Grandma!!! We will miss you, but know that you are in heaven with Jesus.
Brooke