Recovery Update

I got to see Matt and a lot of the porcine donor skin they put on his face has come off and the healing skin looks fantastic! The skin is obviously new, delicate, and doesn't have the same pigmentation as the rest of his face. I'm not sure how much of it is new skin and how much is scar tissue skin. There are some areas of scarring around the edges (near hairline and jawline) and the skin and muscles of the right side of his face do not move as easily as the left side does when he smiles. This is hyper-trophy and some may be permanent. The discoloration of the skin may be permanent as well and it won't tan. However, plastic surgery may be able to graft skin from other parts of his body when he is more healed to lessen the notice-ability of the discoloration. Matt is extremely happy to have the donor skin mostly off his face (just a bit on right side of face near the ear, and the right ear is left). He said "now people will stop staring at me like I'm a monster or something." then laughed a little. There are some visible scabs on his face and some areas that look more raw than others, but overall his face looks a lot better than everyone feared it might. For that we are all very grateful!

He saw the doctor on Wednesday March 23rd and they are pleased with his progress. They were able to leave his left hand unbandaged, but his arms and right hand (including each individual finger) are still completely bandaged. His left has similar discolored areas and raw new pink skin as his face. Soon they will be able to start massaging his face to prevent further hyper-trophy and repair what he already has.

His arms did develop the hypertrophy so they were stuck in a slightly bent position and he could not straighten them out. They had to gently stretch the forming scar tissue until he could straighten his arms again. This was apparently painful, but Matt is pleased with the results as he can now bend and straighten his arms almost normally, and he can use his fingers a little more. He had a very happy smile on his face and sparkle in his eyes when he said he got to play his video game for a little while.

His arms still have the donor skin on them and the doctor said they will be removing that skin next week and placing new donor skin where it is needed. His right arm appears to be the worst of it all. The doctors said that Matt will have to undergo "multiple plastic surgeries."

I had read that these donor skin treatments for 2nd and 3rd degree burns help them heal faster (10 to 14 days for a moderate 2nd degree burn), stops a lot of the pain, and can reduce the scarring so it is not as extensive as it used to be. I was a bit skeptical of these claims but after seeing how little pain Matt has had since the donor skin was placed, how quickly he is healing, and how great his face looks I am not skeptical any more. In fact I am so grateful that they now have these treatments for burns and that Matt was able to receive this treatment.

Matt, his dad Ricky and his mom Tammy asked me to pass on their thanks and gratitude to everyone. They greatly appreciate the prayers, thoughts, healing vibes, reiki, etc. and hope you will continue as they are obviously working!

Thank you all very much and please give if you can or donate a craft item for me to sell at our local flea market with all proceeds going o Matt's family. If you want more information on the craft donations, please email me at mattshope11@gmail.com and I will gladly answer your questions.