Well, the time has come.
Surgery #3 has been scheduled for October 9th. Even though it’s still two months away, my
worries have already begun. Don’t get me
wrong – I’m glad we finally have a date and plan. I’m glad my baby’s life will be improved as a
result. I am just always reminded during
these times how much I hate him having to go through all of this.
This third surgery is the big one. Dr. S will attempt to repair the palate, the
lips, and (hopefully) close up the right side of the gums that couldn’t be
closed in the last surgery.
Unfortunately, he won’t know if that is possible until he gets in there. Because one side of the palatal cleft is so
large, it is a distinct possibility Dr. S will have to take tissue from the
inside of Gabriel’s cheeks to repair the palate. While it does cause additional pain, I am
actually thankful that tissue can be taken from there. The alternative is taking it from behind his
ears or knees, which would result in pain and scarring in other parts of his
body.
The surgery should take 4 – 4½ hours. Gabriel will be in the hospital for 1 – 2 nights
depending on whether or not he will take a bottle post-surgery. Recovery from this surgery should actually
take 2 -3 weeks! Much longer than the
others. He will not be allowed any solid
foods during that time and he will have to wear his arm restraints (which he
hates) anytime he is not being held by one of us. The restraints are seriously going to mess up
his ability to sleep since he always gets himself back to sleep by ‘chewing’ on
his wrist.
Before his surgery, on September 10th, Gabriel
has an appointment with both his pediatric dentist and pediatric
orthodontist. As much as I willed his
teeth to not come in, he has seven now and one of them is coming in behind the
bone grafting on the left side of his gums.
There is concern with the location because as it continues to come in,
it could put too much pressure on the donor bone. So, the tooth docs need to look at it to see
1) if it needs to be pulled and 2) when.
Hopefully, if it has to come out, they can pull it during his surgery
instead of causing another incident of pain.
Provided surgery goes as well as expected, the gum line can
be fully repaired and the palate doesn’t open back up, we should be surgery
free for at least four years!
The only thing that truly makes me happy about him having
another surgery is that he should be all healed up by his first birthday and,
for the first time his cake should not come out his nose!!
Gabriel is really good at eating off a spoon – I owe this
all to my mother-in-law. If it were left
up to me (who was having no luck), I would have given up and just fed him from
the bottle. Spoon-feeding a baby with cleft
has been an interesting experience. I
have to clean food out of his nose after every meal. Sometimes he chokes, coughs, or sneezes and
peas will fly out of his nose all over me.
I haven’t taken any pictures of this, mostly because I am so busy
cleaning both of us up that a photo op would just get in the way.
In other news, Gabriel had an appointment with his ear
doctor recently. He passed his hearing
test – well, mostly. He didn’t respond
to this static noise at all, but the technician said it was likely because it
wasn’t interesting to him. So, he will
have another test in four months, and then probably every four months after
that for I don’t know how long.
He also has his nine month pediatrician appointment coming
soon. Nine months!!!! It’s just hard to believe how fast time
goes. Life has been complete chaos lately
and I constantly need to remind myself to slow down and really enjoy these
moments. At night, I will sometimes rock
Gabriel to sleep and hold him for awhile just so I can memorize how he feels in
my arms, how he looks when he sleeps, and how much he needs me. Before long, all of that will be over and I
will be left with no boys who want to cuddle!!
I guess I better start hoping Chad will let me get a cat
again sometime in the future…
