Monday, June 7, 2010

Mercy: Before and After

Many, many, many of you are interested in our sweet little Mercy... and finally the swelling is down enough to show some photos.

Here she is front on the night before the surgery.

And sideways, again the evening before the surgery.




One the way to Cincinnati she was so excited. She exclaimed, "Now I will look like Bizzy (one of her friends) and Bethany (her sister). "

My heart broke. I had hoped to be done with this before she realized how different she looked. I said, "Well, you will look just like Mercy. Which is the best thing for you to look like." I spent the rest of the day trying not to cry.

Then on the way home the next day, she caught sight of her swollen little face in a mirror of McDonald's and burst into tears. "He didn't take it away!" My heart shattered.

But now that the swelling is down (mostly... I am still hoping that some of the deepness that remains is swelling and not hemangioma), I am willing to post some photos of our little girl.

I am not sure why it is green... and really didn't have the time to figure it out... but here you can see the incisions. He basically did two face lifts... one to make her eyes symmetrical... and one to remove as much of the hemangioma in her cheek as possible. Also to take away as much of the scarring as possible.

Remember... Before...


It still looks rough, but you can see that a lot of the cheek scarring is removed. In this next photo you can tell there is still some swelling, but you can see it is better.

And you can see that the eyes are symmetrical.

With bangs and hair, very little will be able to be seen. As far as if this is as good as it gets, we have to wait and see about that also. Dr. Elluru will do a process this fall called a "Derm Abrasion", and then we just wait. Maybe it will be better. Maybe a better laser will be developed.

But for now I thank God we are here. I thank God that we got as much as we did. Because a year ago this is what Mercy looked like:

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And this is today.

Just beautiful. No matter what scarring remains.

12 comments:

  1. She is so beautiful...inside and out!! You are blessed.

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  2. Praise Jesus! In every single picture her spirit shines through, but the difference is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing her with us!

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  3. She is indeed beautiful. Oh, her words made me cry too! I can only imagine how hard it was to hear them. (((Carri)) We'll keep praying!

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  4. Gorgeous!! Oh, I've been hoping for an update. Thank you for posting.

    Praising Him for all He's done with this.

    Hug Mercy for her cyber friends.

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  5. Your daughter is just beautiful. She was beautiful before now everyone can see it from all sides. That dumb hemangioma blocked her pretty little eyes from the side before but not anymore! Our daughter has a hemangioma on her bum and it breaks open and bleeds but praise God no infection yet (she is 14 months)it has gotten thicker and may go away on it's own but the doctors never told us anything other than it was no big deal and it should disappear when she is older. The only one concerned over it was our ped about 6 months ago when it didn't seem to be healing and he gave us a surgeon to go see. We ended up not needing to as of yet. I will keep your family in our prayers.

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  6. Oh Cari! Thank you Lord! She IS lovely and just sparkles.
    I was born with one ear closed and I have always been so thankful to be a girl with long hair. I had parent like you, that loved me the same as all my siblings and I have had many precious friends who have loved me for me; add to that a husband who was looking for something not seen on the outside.
    Mercy has everything EVERYTHING to be thankful for!
    I'm glad you are her mom:-)

    Love you,
    me

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  7. I have read your blog for a little over a year now but rarely comment. I am so happy for your sweet little Mercy. She is such a pretty little girl. My daughter was born with a huge birthmark on her head. I know that the way people stare can be hurtful but it also allowed us to talk with others that may have children born without everything "looking" perfect. When we look at Sarah we just don't see it, ya know! Her hair now covers it but we have to decide what to do about removal. I was so excited to see Mercy's new pictures but also cried for you and her when she talked about it at McDonals's! I think she looks AWESOME! So happy for you! God Bless your family, Missy in TN

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  8. Just beautiful! Your words to her were perfect...she is supposed to look like Mercy. I am really impressed with the results! Lisa~

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  9. Her eyes sparkle in the last few pictures!!!

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  10. She looks great! What a sweetheart!

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  11. Wow, the swelling has gone down. Either way, she is a beautiful girl inside and out. It still breaks my heart to hear her comment about wanting to look the same.

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