Mary Kate's Recovery

Today Mary Kate went in for her follow up visit with her main surgeon. Since I started this blog just a couple of days ago--after she had her surgery one week ago--I'll fill in with the details first.

Mary Kate had surgery last week to remove a recurring lymphangioma (benign mass). Her first surgery was when she was 18 months old. Since the first mass removed was so large, it left her with a tightly-pulled-together incision and a subsequent LARGE scar. So this time, her main surgeon took out the half-dollar-sized mass regrowth and a pediatric plastic surgeon did a scar revision. Her main surgeon was pleased and estimated only a 10% chance of recurrence. In a nutshell, Mary Kate was an "O.R. Superstar!"

Here is a before picture of her scar, which was about 6 inches long and 1 inch at the widest area.
Here is a picture of her in the post-op room--downing her 2nd popsicle and amusing the staff with how well she was doing!
Here she was today before she went in for her apppointment. She was excited to see her incision. She's still rolling her shoulders forward and leaning forward slightly when she walks but claims she isn't uncomfortable!
Mary Kate just got back from the surgeon's office where she got her bandages removed and a good report. She's still on limited light activity, but will be able to take a shower next week. She will have to wait another month until she can ride her bike. She doesn't care to look at her incision much...probably because it's on her own body rather than on someone else's. I snapped this shot (I'll make it small for you queasy folks!) before I gauzed and wrapped her back up.