Well, Kai had his palate revision on Wednesday. Rob was a warrior, driving through the Nor'Easter to get us there on time. Kai was a trooper that day. He was dragged out of bed, given a new diaper and a coat and carrier out into the blizzard at 6 a.m. He was exhausted and starving by the time we were brought into the pre-op area. Last time around, we were stuck in monumental traffic and nearly missed our surgery time slot. This time, we arrived early enough for Kai was given Versed, "happy juice", before surgery which greatly helped him to be put under without as much anxiety.
As mentioned earlier, the initial repair, done while in the orphanage, was poorly constructed. As it turns out, there was far too much damage and scaring to be corrected in one procedure, so Kai's surgeon focused on expanding Kai's soft palate and closing the existing holes in that area. In six months, Kai will have another surgery to address the hard palate (behind the gumline). It was discouraging to find out that Kai will have to suffer through this again so quickly, but I appreciate the doctor's good judgement. It would be more devastating to attempt the entire palate, only to find out that it was structurally to weak to hold the sutures.
On a very important positive note, Kai is recovering much, much better than when he underwent a nose and lip revision in September. I really hadn't commented on it much at the time because it was just too upsetting to discuss. Kai is on a different medication to control his pain this time (after his previous reaction to the Codeine). Kai struggled the first night in the hospital, but by morning was doing noticeably better. His appetite couldn't be quenched in the hospital. He drank broth, jello, Popsicles and juice like nobody's business. {That's our boy!}.
Kai was discharged the next day. The liquid diet doesn't seem to bother him. I've been so stingy about letting him use open cups (because he takes so much joy in dumping them over), that he thinks he has been given a great privilege to have all his meals presented to him in toddler cups. He is thrilled to be eating "soup" all the time. Nothing says "yummy" like pureed mix of roast beef, ham, broth, and beef gravy. Bleck. I don't know how long this can go on before he decides that he is sick of this arrangement, but so far, so good. It may end up being more challenging to feed him once he is cleared to eat soft foods. He can't have spoons/fingers enter his mouth for 6 wks, so I don't exactly know how we're going to make this fly. Kai is all about independence; he'll be darned if someone is going to impede on his sense of autonomy and feed him like a baby. :) I may resort to using chopsticks. Rob prefers to eat Chinese food with them and Kai insists that Rob feeds him with them too. :)
Sleep was a MAJOR problem during the last surgery. In fact, it pretty much didn't happen...ever. The last few nights have been tricky here and there, but nothing in comparison to a few months ago. He had one night terror, last night, but it was over in a fraction of the time. He wakes every hour, but sees that I or Rob are beside him and can usually fall back to sleep on his own. I am hopeful that this is what we can look back on as the "tough days". During playtime, Kai acts as if nothing is different. He runs around the house as he always has and seems to be unaffected by the surgery until fatigue sets in. Once he is tired, the emotional trauma of surgery is evident, but he is getting through it more quickly than ever before.
It's hard to find the time to post, but I will try to keep you up to speed in a few days. Fingers are crossed that I have more good things to tell.
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