As for this part of Drew' journey, here is what we experienced...
We live about 2.5 hours from the children's hospital so, as usual, we decided to go up the night before and stay in the hotel that is attached to the hospital. My mom went with us (as she has the other two times). We got the call from the same day surgery nurse while we were in route and found out that Drew was our doctor's first surgery of the day so we needed to be at the hospital at 6:30am! Drew could eat anything up until midnight and could have clear liquid until 4:30am. After that, he could have nothing else.
The car ride is always interesting as Drew has never been a good car rider!! We left at 1:00, which is his nap time and he fell asleep before we even got out of town. He usually takes a 2 hour nap so I was crossing my fingers that he would sleep the whole way. No such luck! Drew was awake about an hour into the trip and he stayed awake the rest of the drive. He did pretty good though, especially since Grandma was riding in the back seat with him!
After we got checked into the hotel, we decided to go do a little shopping. Grandma bought Drew some new cute clothes at Janie & Jack and then we went to Build-a-Bear Workshop where Drew didn't just "build" one bear, but two! Then we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. The service, however, was kind of slow, so we decided to get our meals to go and just eat at the hotel. We filled Drew up on spaghetti, fruit, and then some cereal later on and he went to bed around 9:00pm. I debated about waking him up around 4:00am to give him something to drink, but decided to just let him sleep. Here are some pictures from our shopping adventure!!
At Build-A-Bear: "Which animal do I want?"
Watching his bear get stuffed.
Picking out his bear's "heart."
Giving his bear a bath.
He loved the "fluff" machine!
At the Cheesecake Factory w/Grandma.
July 10th, Palate Surgery Day:
Jon and I got up around 5am to get ready. Then mom got up, then we woke Drew up around 6am. Even though he is use to sleeping until 8:30am, he still woke up with a smile! We headed over to the hospital to the same-day-surgery floor. Since it was so early, we were the first ones there! A few minutes later and we were taken back where Drew was weighed (a little over 22 lbs) and measured (almost 31 inches). The nurse also took his temperature, blood pressure, and gave us his hospital gown. Next we met with a nurse practitioner who also checked him over. During the next 30 minutes or so, we meet with three plastic surgery doctors/residents; three ENT doctor/residents; 3 individuals from anesthesia, and the OR nurse. Whew, that was a lot of people and a lot of information! My favorite comment of the morning came from his plastic surgeon, who called him a "tank!"
Surprising, I stayed very calm. With his first two surgeries, there always seemed to be some "bad news" right before they took him away. With the first, it was the "discovery" of a heart mur-mur (which turned out to be "innocent) and with the second, there was some concern because he had bronchiolitis a month earlier. But this time, everything was OK! We walked to the hallway and the anesthesiologist took him from me. That's when the eyes got watery, but not bad. It was so sweet as Drew just put his little head on her shoulder and it almost looked like he had fallen asleep. Now the "fun" part...the wait!
Our first call from the OR nurse was just to let us know that Drew was asleep and that everything was going good. The next call was to let us know that the ENT doctor had removed and replaced his ear tubes. We received a few other calls from the OR nurse letting us know how things were going. Then, around 12:30 the plastic surgeon came out to tell us that the surgery was complete! (They took him away around 7:30, so he had been back there for quite a while!) The p/s told us that Drew had plenty of muscle/tissue so he feels like the repair went really good. He had told us previously that in about 15% of cases, a small hole in the palate can develop (i.e. the repair doesn't "hold"). In his opinion, however, he didn't think Drew would develop a hole since he had a good amount of tissue to work with.
A lot of people have asked me how the hole is closed and have wondered if tissue is used from other parts of the body. The answer to that is "no." They basically release the tissue that is there from the bone and stretch it together -- amazing huh? (I'm sure it's a lot more complicated than that...)
Anyway, we waited about 30 more minutes and then received the call from recovery that Jon and I could go see him. This is when I started to get nervous because I hate seeing my little boy "out of it" and in pain. We went back there and he was sleeping. The nurse said they were very "generous" with the pain meds so that he would probably sleep for a while. He did, however, wake up when she washed his face she said, and he wasn't happy about it! We headed to our room and Drew "held" my finger the whole way! Luckily we had a private room.
Drew pretty much slept for the next few hours and then the nurses thought it would be a good idea to try to get him awake to drink something so we could give him a dose of Tylenol w/codeine. We woke him up and gave him some apple juice out of one of the little open top cups we have been using at home. He seemed so thirsty and started drinking away. After a few drinks, though, he got upset. The nurse on the cl/cp team had "warned" us that drinking would be different to him since everything was closed up now. We got a little more down him and then the nurse brought in the Tylenol. I held him while they gave it to him. This was the worst moment yet -- he got SO MAD and wouldn't swallow it. He was screaming and shaking and then I started crying because I couldn't stand to see him like that. We got him calmed down and he went back to sleep. Later, he ate a little rice cereal mixed with formula and fruit. That night, he took turns sleeping on mine or Jon's chest. We made sure to have him awake every 4 hours for his pain meds, which he hated every time, but honestly other than getting mad about the medicine, he was so good!
The p/s resident came in around 5:30am on Friday. We told her that he had been eating and drinking pretty good the night before and she said that if we felt comfortable going home that we could. She said our p/s would be by later and would give the final OK. Since Drew was already awake, we decided to feed him breakfast. First, the kid drank 4 ounces of juice, then ate about 4 ounces of cereal, then drank another 4 ounces of water! What a trooper!!
The p/s came by and said we could leave. We were on the road by 11 and at home by 1:30!
As for today, he's not eating the greatest. We have the best luck with yogurt (I found a great yogurt called "Yo Baby." It is organic and made with whole milk and he loves it!) and oatmeal cereal. He has also had some sweet potatoes and has been guzzling milk! Oh, and he is still hating to take his Tylenol and anti-biotic. We also have to put drops in his ears twice a day, but that hasn't been too bad yet.
Overall, Drew has been so good. I honestly can't say that I would be half as pleasant as he has been considering what he has been through. We are so very proud of him and love him so much!!!
So, here are some pics...
Playing in the waiting room on the day of surgery.
In his hospital gown -- it was a little big for him!
OK, this makes me sad, but I guess it is part of what he went through, so here is a picture right after we got to our room...
This smile melted my heart--after all he had went through, he still had smiles for daddy!
So happy to be home (Friday night)!
THANK YOU AGAIN TO EVERYONE WHO PRAYED FOR DREW! GOD TRULY IS GOOD!
