Surgery Update

Tommy surgery was Thursday.  The main reason was to repair his cleft lip but he also had ear tubes put in. He wasn’t too thrilled about being in the hospital and having people check his blood pressure and temperature.

But then he relaxed enough to take a little nap.

He didn’t cry at all when they wheeled him into the OR.  I was glad about that.  They gave him “laughing gas” before they put the IV line in.

The Ear Doc gave us a report after he had completed his part.  Tommy had a lot of fluid build up in his ears and it was the consistency of jello.  Now that he has tubes and we’ll be putting in drops three times a day, hopefully he’ll be able to hear a little better.

The whole surgery took almost 4 hours from the time they wheeled him in til we got to see the Plastic Surgeon.  Here he is waking up in recovery. He’s still pretty out of it.

The doc showed us how to clean the stitches and his nose stent. The stent is stitched in right now to hold his nostril in the correct position.  A cleft lip also makes the nostril a little flat so the doc is hoping to make it match the other side.

When they were checking his blood before surgery, they saw that he was anemic and so wanted to keep him at the hospital over night to be able to check his blood levels again.  We were not prepared to be spending the night, but you do whacha gotta do.

The nurses had wanted to put Tommy in a bubble crib and I said I would rather have a regular bed so I could lay down with him and be able to comfort him. It was not a fun night what with sharing a room with another patient and his parents, and the nurses coming in at regular intervals to poke and prod, etc.  I told Billy it was one step up from that 14 hour plane ride with Tommy home from China.  The only improvement being I could stretch my legs and lay down. 

The attending doc came early (6 am ish) to check on Tommy and said he was cleared for take-off but we didn’t actually get out of there until 11:30 or so.  At around 9 am, Tommy had had enough of the tubes and the arm bands and the nurses and me actually getting out the bed to go to the bathroom that he had one colossal melt down. He managed to pull out one of his IV inserts out of his hand.  Thankfully it wasn’t the one attached to the tubes and machine.  Just the one they had used to draw his blood.

After another visit from a doc on the plastic surgery team that confirmed what I thought: he doesn’t need more meds. Tommy’s not in pain, he’s just mad!  So the doc talked to the nurse and asked her to remove the IV and get him ready to go home.  Yippee!

His face is a little swollen but his eyes were really swollen from crying so much.  Poor baby.

We were happy to get home but still just worn out from the whole ordeal.  Tommy was and continues to be frustrated at the arm bands he must wear to keep his hands out of his mouth while it heals.  He likes to suck his thumb for comfort and also likes to put toys in his mouth – both are a no-no for now.

He slept all night last night and so did I. It is a real blessing that he’s such a good sleeper.

We will take him on Monday to have the stitches removed and learn how to apply the bandages for further healing.  They will put him out for that one too, as he thrashes about when touching his boo-boo.

Thanks for all the prayers for his surgery!  We are so blessed to have such caring friends and family.