Update - Week 5

I feel much better after our appointment with Dr. Woo today. After looking at the wound in person, he explained to us that what has happened, is that the sutures dissolved before part of the wound was completely closed. He didn't use the word "complication," or anything like that, he just said this is one of those things that can happen.
He had told us earlier that this area was very tight when he was suturing it closed. Today he said that it is not like if you or I had our foot amputated and there is then all this skin available to close. Because of the anatomy of Eli's "congenital deformity" the skin in that area was just tight. Dr. Woo is not too concerned about this. He said the wound looks good. It does look better since Sunday night, now that we have been doing the wet/dry dressings. He said ultimately, the area that is open will keep getting smaller and he imagines it should be closed within a few weeks.

I was feeling very guilty that I didn't contact Dr. Woo and his nurse earlier last week, because I knew something was not right with the wound. Amongst many other things, I have learned through this to ALWAYS trust my gut instinct when it comes to my child. Another thing that I have known, but was reinforced to me again today, was that you have to be an advocate for your child (yourself, any loved one) in these situations. I was very proud of how assertive I was today, while still being respectful towards Dr. Woo. I told him that we will be coming on a weekly basis so that he can examine the wound until it is closed. I also asked him to watch us do the dressing so that he could let us know if we were doing everything right. He definitely pointed out a few things that we were doing wrong, so I am very glad I asked him that.

At one point he said, "well the good news is that there is no bone exposed and he doesn't need a skin graft..." I said, "yes, and if that were the case I would be hospitalized." He said, "and you would be coming after me with a hatchet!" "Yes," I told him. So he gets it.

We don't think it is Dr. Woo's fault that this has happened, its just one of those things. He said Eli is going to heal just fine and there will be no long term complications.

So, we'll just keep changing the dressings twice a day and make the best of it. It really isn't that bad anyways, and honestly - how can anything be bad when I have this face to look at every day?