4 years post op - neurosurgeon appointment

Alice is a little over 4 years post op. (surgery date- July 12, 2013)
Each year near her "Cranioversary'  I take photos of her, so that I can document her progress.
Here are a couple from July 2017.

Alice had a followup today with her neurosurgeon, Dr Magge. It's been almost a year since we had seen him. We were past due to see him, she should have seen him in the Spring. This was the longest we have gone without seeing him since her surgery. I was very anxious to say the least.

I know many look at her and don't know she ever had surgery or the ones that do know may think 'she had surgery, she's fixed now' The thing is, her skull isn't 'normal' like the average skull. Yes he made room for her brain to grow but he will continue to follow her into her teenage years. 

Why? He's monitoring the growth of her skull, making sure it charts within normal range and that growth doesn't slow down. If it does, then that would be a red flag. Dr Magge also wants her to continue to be monitored every year by an ophthalmologist and checked for Papilledema, which is the swelling of the optic nerve as it enters the back of the eye due to raised intracranial pressure, which would be a red flag also. This is all pretty standard for most cranio children. 

Dr Magge took several measurements today of her head. Her head on the left side is about 12mm less than the right side. But her head growth is good overall, continuing to progress on the growth curve. He did discuss how he could surgically fix the left side of her forehead, an orbital advancement, an ear to ear incision, basically a reconstruction of the front part of her skull, forehead and eye sockets BUT I just can't put her through something like that solely for a cosmetic reason, I would only agree if it was medically necessary, meaning signs of intracranial pressure.

I talked to him about how I read that when the sinuses start to form, that things will improve even more, physically. He looked at me and smiled and said " I forget I'm talking to the cranio expert" lol. No I am definitely not an expert but I am very knowledgeable on the subject since June of 2013, I have done TONS of reading. He does think things will continue to improve for many years to come, as she gets older.

Overall it was a great checkup. I will always worry about her but I feel a little sense of relief after seeing him again after so long. I am so thankful she was able to have this less invasive endoscopic surgery and that she is doing so well. She has no delays and is a very smart little girl. Her head/face is not perfectly symmetrical but who's is, cranio or no cranio.

We followup with him again in one year.