I know a lot of people have asked me what I mean when I say that Thor is having an expansion done. Simply put, the expander is a balloon which gets filled with saline solution. The saline is injected into a metallic port in the balloon. I have not yet seen an expander outside of my son, but I'm assuming the port has some sort of check-valve in it to prevent saline backflow. I've also had this confirmed by Dr. Robert Wood, who is our plastic surgeon.
Here's a page showing Various tissue expander applications. Note that there is a breast on this page, in cartoon form, so it may or may not be work safe. Consider yourself warned.
On May 21st, 2004, Thorwald's expansion was done (as usual) by Cheryl Shell, the pediatric nurse practitioner who works a great deal with Dr. Wood.
In this photo, Cheryl is in the background, while Thor watches her ready the expansion rig. Note that his expander isn't really that big yet--it's just a small hump. Note also the steri-strips on his back. He had to go in for outpatient surgery on May 13th, 2004, to have the expanders stitched down--they were sliding around inside his back.
Another view of Thor's nevus and expander. Don't worry, this procedure doesn't really upset him. He hadn't slept that well the night before, so he was a little out-of-sorts. To minimize pain, we apply a layer of Emla cream about an hour before the expansion. That way, he can't feel the needles going in.
The expansion is in progress, filling the left expander. Note that the expander is noticeably bigger than before. Cheryl got 30 cc's of saline into that one.
Almost done inflating the left expander. The dark spot on thor's back marks the location of the right-hand port. It's not blood, but rather an iodine solution designed to sterilize the area. Thor's an inquisitive lad, so he likes to turn around and see what's going on.
The left expander has been filled, now it's on to the right expander. This one didn't take quite as much saline--Cheryl could only get 25cc's into this one. Thor was getting tired of being held by this time, too--that's why he's leaning into me so hard.
Here you can see how much larger the expander has become. Note the backless onesie he's wearing--that's so we can put the Emla cream on (Emla is a brand-name for a mix of prilocaine and lidocaine topical anesthetic), then wrap a sheet of saran wrap around him to hold it in place.