Appointment with Dr Martin

It's hard to believe that next week will be 7 months since Rachel's bone graft and nose revision!

We had a follow up appointment with her plastic surgeon this afternoon. We had a letter from our Speech Therapist outlining some concerns she had in regards to Rachel's hyper-nasality in her speech from time to time and her concern for a possible fistula (hole) in the palate.

Dr. Martin checked out Rachel's nose and inside her mouth and while he didn't see anything, he went ahead and ordered a Fistulagram.

The procedure is a special XRAY whereas Rachel will need to swish contrast about in her mouth and then they'll Xray her facial bones to see if the contrast finds any holes in her palate and the contrast travels. This procedure is pretty accurate and this will give us an answer as to whether or not Rachel has a hole in her palate, or if she's just lazy in her speech. I'm pretty sure it's the latter. But it'll be nice to have a test to rule out the other.

Rachel's "Special Tooth"

Rachel had this tooth that was in the cleft of her alveolar ridge (the clefting in the gum). It was high up in her gum, and you really couldn't see it unless you lifted her lip. We've always called it her "special tooth".

This tooth has been a constant headache for years. It's hard to brush and hard to keep clean.

When Rachel had a dental appointment in March, this tooth had developed some decay on the backside of the tooth. Since her bone grafting surgery in November, the tooth had adjusted a little bit and was more exposed.

After consulting with Rachel's plastic surgeon, he gave his okay to have the tooth filled or extracted. She was far enough post op that either was fine.

We opted for the extraction.

So this afternoon, Rachel had her special tooth pulled. While this picture is blurry, this gives you an idea of how Rachel's upper teeth looked, prior to the extraction. You can see a tooth that is a little darker on the top, growing in sideways, that is her 'special tooth'. Or shall I say "was". It's now in a little treasure box waiting to be placed under her pillow. It was a little sad watching this tooth we've referred to as her "special tooth' be pulled. It's just another step in this journey.

Our Pediatric dentist is awesome! Her prescription for pain relief...a free yogurt at Golden Spoon!!! Which is totally awesome because that's always where we stop on our way home from dental appointments. Here Rachel is holding her Rx, mouth full of gauze, and red marks on her nose from where the nitrous gas mask made indentations. Rachel did awesome with the extraction. Our dentist is the best and makes sure there's no pain and the experience is overall a pleasant one, which in Rachel's case, with as much work as she's had done on her mouth and will have in the future is a huge bonus!

Playing Catch Up

It's been almost two months since I've blogged on any of my three blogs. It seems life has just been busy, or I've been too busy, which is probably the better thing to say.

The last few months have had a few events worthy of sharing...

In Mid April, Rachel's 1st grade class, along with another class, walked about a mile to the local Stater Bros for a tour. Thankfully it was a nice overcast morning and the walk was actually quite nice. Having known someone who's worked for the company for 40+ years (my Dad!), he worked his magic of knowing the right people and we had an amazing tour! Just as good as the one Rachel had when she was in preschool. Although on this trip, the kids each received little nylon Stater Bros backpacks! Which was really cool! Two weekends ago, Rachel participated in her very first Tae Kwon Do Tournament! She was so very excited for the event and did awesome! She got 2nd place for her Purple Belt Form, and she came in 4th for sparring! She was very pleased with herself and her trophy, so much so that she took the trophy to school the very next day to share!Last week marked the one year anniversary of Rachel receiving speech. She's come a long way over the last year and I think we're finally on the homestretch of nearing the end of weekly therapy. Rachel loves to talk, and sometimes talks nonstop. Over the weekend she mastered two new words with the "R" sound we've been working on - 'Dork' and 'Nerd'. It's nice to be paying out the bucks for speech therapy so that you can understand when you're child calls you names. LOL.

Rachel has less than four weeks left of the 1st grade and is doing extremely well! When the end of the school year approaches and it's been a great school year, with an awesome teacher, I tend to get sad. And that is exactly how I feel in regards to Rachel's teacher. She's absolutely amazing and I am so glad I've been able to be a part of her class every Monday morning and be available to help her in various other ways throughout the school year. Teacher requests have already been made for next school year and hopefully Rachel will have the same teacher Hannah had for 2nd grade and it'll be a good school year once again.

In two weeks Rachel sees her dentist and will more than likely have what we refer to as her "Special Tooth" extracted. This tooth is where her cleft was in her gum and always been quite a challenge to keep clean. Now that the back is exposed more, thanks to the bone grafting surgery in November, the back is decaying and it either needs to be filled, or extracted. After consulting with our plastic surgeon, he said since it's been at least 3 months since bone grafting, then either route is fine. Since it is a baby tooth we'll probably go the extraction route. We'll wait and see what our dentist wants to do the day of the appointment.

It's almost been 6 months since Rachel's surgery. It's hard to believe it's been that long, and yet, hard to believe it's only been that short of time. We have a follow up appointment the first week of June with her plastic surgeon and it'll be nice to hear what he says and thinks 6 months post op. That appointment also falls after Rachel's dental appointment, so he'll be able to see how that went as well. The cartilage in Rachel's nose is finally starting to loosen. Her nose has been so hard since surgery, and now, just as Dr. Martin had predicted, it's all softening. I've been following the story of a 9 year old boy who had his bone graft surgery this week, and all I can say is, I'm so thankful to have that part of the journey behind us...

3 Months Post Op

On one had it's hard to believe it's been 3 months since Rachel's surgery. And on the other hand it's hard to believe it's ONLY been 3 months since surgery.Rachel is doing great. Totally back to normal. Nothing to report other than just updating with a 3 month post op picture! She just keeps getting cuter and cuter...

Post Op Appointment - Almost 8 weeks

We saw Rachel's plastic surgeon this afternoon for another post op appointment. He wanted to see her to continue monitoring how things went as the stitches continued to dissolve and swelling continued to decrease (all the visible swelling to us is gone, but to a plastic surgeon he sees differently). The visit was quick and sweet. He checked her over inside and out and was very happy with how the surgery had gone. He'd been looking at her pre-op pictures before coming into the room, so he was able to compare what was 'before' and the 'now'.We'll see him again at the end of February. Prior to seeing him, we'll get an X-Ray of Rachel's bone graft to check it's progress and make sure it 'took'. He said he doesn't expect to see that it didn't take, as there would be other signs of rejection at this point. But an X-ray of the area will be the confirmation needed for future orthodontic work that is in Rachel's future. After a few pictures for her chart, we were on our way...

For those wondering how Rachel's incision on her hip is doing, it looks amazing! Dr. Martin said that in a year, because it's so paper thin, you might not even see the scar at all! Again, we're so thankful to have this behind us, and for all the prayers that have been said for Rachel and for us. We are so blessed, so very blessed...

Some Tips Following Bone Graft Surgery

When we learned back in August that Rachel would be having her bone graft, I immediately went on a search for other families that had already endured this surgery. I searched and searched for personal blogs, message boards, somewhere I could ask my questions and get answers from another Mama that had already walked in these shoes.

My search was unsuccessful as far as those places.

Eventually, I did find one Mom through a Facebook page who's son had had a bone graft this last Spring. I sent a private message asking if I could ask questions. It took weeks for her to answer. And when she did answer, all of her answers to my questions were extreme, it was borderline anxiety producing thinking that's the road that soon laid ahead for Rachel, and for us.

One of my goals of keeping this blog has not only been to keep family and friends up to date with Rachel and her going ons of having been born with a cleft lip and cleft palate, but it has also been my goal to help journalize the cleft specific things to offer help, ideas, and encouragement to all the families that are behind us on this road. I've 'met' many a wonderful Mama's all across the United States, and some even outside of the U.S, where we share the common bond of having a child born with a cleft of some sort.

For the past six weeks, I've been jotting down notes, tips, and suggestions for all of YOU, who will someday in your child's future face a bone grafting to the alveolar ridge. I hope that this post is of help to someone...
******************************************** Length of Surgery
The length of surgery will be different for every child depending on the severity of the alveolar cleft. When I asked at our pre-op appointment for an estimate as to how long surgery would be, we were told 2-3 hours, but that our plastic surgeon doesn't stop until he's completely happy with his work, which is a nice quality to have in a plastic surgeon when having work done on ones face. :)

Rachel's surgery took two and a half hours from start to finish, and that included a nose revision.

Dietary Restrictions
Following surgery, Rachel was placed on a soft food/no chew diet. She was allowed juices, ice cream, soups. Once home, we did applesauce, ice cream, frozen soft yogurt, pudding, mashed potatoes, soups, shakes, graham crackers broken into pieces and soaked in milk.

At our post op appointment, just 5 days after surgery, Dr. Martin told us we could do a soft food diet that included soft foods such as mac and cheese, scrambled eggs, refried bean cups, broken up soft french fries, anything soft that could be chewed with the back teeth.

To get protein in Rachel, we tore up slices of cheese, tore up lunch meat, cooked and diced hot dogs, I took spaghetti and cut the noodles into tiny pieces with my kitchen scissors and served with marina sauce.

After another post op appointment, we went a little further. Cooking and dicing up chicken tenders, mandarin oranges broken into pieces, apples diced up into bite size pieces.

She was not allowed anything hard or sharp, such as chips or crackers. And nothing that required taking a bite with her front teeth, things such as sandwiches (although I did make a PB&J sandwich and cut into tiny pieces to eat in the back of her mouth), chicken wings, pizza, etc, etc.

Rachel was on a soft food/ easy to chew diet for 3 1/2 weeks.

One of the things I found helpful was using plastic spoons. One of the local frozen yogurt places has these great spoons that I save and use in the girls' lunches. They came in handy for Rachel's recovery. They have a very skinny end that allowed for successful dropping into Rachel's mouth the week following surgery. We did not want to take any chances of a metal spoon hitting that sensitive bone graft area, so we used the plastic spoon, and we fed her the first week post op.

Rachel was also not allowed straws or sports top bottles for 3 1/2 weeks following surgery. I found the best thing was to have paper cups sitting on the counter for her to use. A paper cup, if the upper gum or lip should be hit, would be less painful than a hard plastic or glass cup. When she returned to school, I sent a paper cup and a water bottle to sit on her teachers desk.

Feeding Rachel was been VERY difficult. Coming up with things for her to eat has been very stressful. She's become very picky since surgery and sadly has lost 2 1/2 lbs, which on a little girl, is very noticeable. For almost two weeks after Dr. Martin lifted all food restrictions, Rachel was very hesitant to eat. Getting her to eat was very difficult and very stressful as we did not want to see her loose any more weight. But once her fears subsided, and she even began chewing and taking bites with her front teeth, she's been an eating machine! And that's okay with us!

Physical Activity/Restrictions
Rachel was up and walking hours following surgery. It is said that the most painful part of having a bone graft is the pain that comes from the donor site, the place where the tissue was taken, and in Rachel's case, it was her left hip. From Day 1, she had no limp, no pain to complain of from her hip, nothing.

Once school resumed, two days shy of being two weeks post op, Rachel did not participate in PE, or recess. The chance that a ball hit her nose was too great, and would be extremely painful. So I packed her a back pack of new coloring books, new crayons, a tablet of paper, and some other fun things to do while she was 'benched'.

She resumed Tae Kwon Do class, two days shy of it being three weeks post op, and that might have been a little bit too soon, as she woke up the next morning complaining of her leg (specifically the leg where tissue was taken) hurt. It was probably too much jumping and kicking about.

When Rachel was just a few days shy of four weeks post op, she went back to playing at recess and is participating in some PE, she still sat out on the days that PE involved a ball. LOL.

We're thinking that once she returns to school next week, after our three week Christmas vacation, she can go back to playing without any limitations, at that point, she'll almost be eight weeks post op.

Pain Management
Rachel received morphine while in the recovery room for pain, but once in a room, and upon being discharged, she received Tylenol with Codeine. We were told that the only reason she was kept overnight in the hospital was due to the pain and the access of having better pain control as an inpatient.

There were two times in the night that I had the nurse page the on call doctor because it was evident that the pain medicine was not enough. Sadly, our pages were never returned and come morning, we discovered that Rachel had been severely under medicated through the night. When she should have been receiving 10ml of Tylenol with Codiene, she was only being given 2ml, the dosage appropriate for that of an infant. Once we got the proper amount of pain medicine in her system, things changed drastically for the better.

If you should suspect that the pain meds you're child might receive following a surgery might not be enough or doing it's job the way a pain drug should, be persistent about bugging the nurses to page the doctors on call, double checking they are paging the right doctors on call, even questioning the nurse that what she is administering is the proper dosage.

We were sent home with Tylenol with codeine, the proper dosage. And for the first three days, we gave it like clock work, every 4-6 hours as directed. For two nights, we even set our alarm in the night to get up and give her something in her tummy and give her a dosage of pain medication. It was important to break the pain cycle.

With Rachel, you could tell the pain meds began to wear off about 30-45 minutes before the next dosage was due. By Post Op Day 5, we were giving Rachel regular over the counter Tylenol. And by 1 week post op, she was pain free.

Bruising / Swelling
When I initially asked at our Pre Op appointment as to how much bruising we should expect with the nose job, I was told that because they were working with cartilage and not bone, there would be no bruising. That was not the case for Rachel.

Rachel's face began to swell the day after surgery. The worst of the swelling was at 3 days Post Op. And then from that day on, the swelling started to slowly decrease.

As for bruising, the bruising surfaced under her eye and her upper cheek bone on the side of her face where the majority of the work was done (her right side) on Day 4. It was a yellow bruising which usually is an indicator of deep tissue trauma. The bruising was gone within a week.

Nasal Stents
The morning following surgery, Rachel hated those nasal stents with a passion. She screamed, she hollered, she wanted them out! She continued to complain about them, but never once did she try to take them out.

Our plastic surgeon explained to me at the first post op appointment that Rachel's nose had a lot of scar tissue and scar tissue has a tendency to go back to it's original shape very easily. So he always prefers to leave nasal stents in place anywhere for one to three weeks post op. He also told us that it could take up to 6 months Post Op for the nose to settle down and become the new permanent look.

Rachel had nasal stents for twelve days. She was not self conscious about them. She went to church with them in, went out in public with them in, even went back to school for one day with them in.

Returning to School
This is one area that will be different for everyone. We scheduled Rachel's surgery for a time in which she was off track from school. She missed NO school due to surgery, or the time it took to recover afterwards. Rachel returned to school on the very first day back from vacation, which was 12 days post op.

******************************************** These things were the things I felt most important to share and offer some advice.

However, if you're reading this post, and you have questions, perhaps something I didn't cover, please leave a comment, or sign Rachel's guest book and leave your email address and I will email back!

I would love to be able to answer questions or put aside any fears you might have if you're on the brink of having a bone graft done to your little one.

6 Weeks Post Op

Today marks 6 weeks since Rachel's surgery and I am so happy to report that things are TOTALLY back to normal! About a week and a half ago, Rachel finally started eating like her old self. For a while she was afraid of biting with her front teeth, due to the bone graft to her upper gum. And while she still shows a little favoritism at times to biting things when she can with her back teeth, she is back to eating!! And we are sooo happy about that.

Her eating was really the last concern we had. She really is totally back to normal and we're so very thankful for that!

Almost 4 Weeks - Post Op Appointment

This afternoon was Rachel's 3rd Post Op appointment, Wednesday will be 4 weeks since surgery.

It's always a long shot to guess how long we'll have to wait to see Dr. Martin. At our appointment 2 weeks ago, we sat in the waiting room for less than twenty minutes, in a room, seen, and walking back out to the car within forty five minutes, record time. The time before that over an hour just in the waiting room. Needless to say, we always go prepared. Today, the three of us would have made a perfect picture for an Apple ad - each of us on a different Apple product to pass the time. LOL. After being placed in a room, I asked the nurse if I could weigh Rachel as her weight has been a little bit of a concern. And sure enough, she's down another pound since two weeks ago. She weighed 50 1/2 lbs today, 53 lbs at her pre-op. Her limited diet and her lack of an appetite is taking a toll on her little body. Dr. Martin said everything is healing up very nicely and looks great. Said the tissue in her nose will start to soften over the months. I asked him about the discoloration of her nose last week (that is now peeling) and sure enough, the reason was just as I had suspected. Because her nose swelled so much following surgery, stretching that skin, it was now dying thus changing colors and peeling. A little facial moisturizer will do the trick.

As for the inside, the bone graft and palate are healing nicely. And the best news is that Rachel can resume a normal diet!!! Whoo Hoo! She is free to bite with her front teeth, brush her teeth at the bone graft area, and can go back to using straws and her sport top water bottle! He said to ease into foods the next few days, but that by the weekend he didn't have a problem with her eating chips and crackers, etc. Things a little more sharp, etc. This was wonderful news and upon leaving Dr. Martin's office, and after picking up Hannah from Gramma's, we went to In and Out Burger to celebrate!!! Rachel ate an entire hamburger! I think this was the first meat (other than lunch meat and hot dogs) that she's eaten since before surgery.As we were waiting for our next post op appointment to be made, Dr. Martin came to the desk and told us that they were comparing todays picture to those that were taken the days before surgery and what a difference there was!

Our next appointment is for January 10th. Dr. Martin wants to see us back after all the sutures have dissolved, etc. At that time, she'll be about 8 weeks post op!

3 Weeks Post Op

This last Monday, I was going to lift the restrictions for Rachel as far as PE and recess goes. But upon learning the activity for PE that morning was going to be Dodge Ball, I forbid her from playing. LOL. Poor girl was so upset. All she wants to do is go back to playing and free from being 'benched'. She was allowed to play at lunch and recess, with the firm warning of avoiding the tether balls and any other activity on the black top whereas a ball was in use. She assured me she would heed my direction. Rachel also resumed Tae Kwon Do this last Monday night and Tuesday morning she woke up with her left leg hurting, this is the leg they took the hip bone tissue. With all the kicks and jumping about, I think it might have been a little soon to have resumed such activity, this was the most physically she'd done since surgery.

Yesterday, when she came home from school, her nose looked dirty. Upon trying to wash her nose, the darkness was not washing away. The skin also felt rough and dry. My thought was that her nose had swelled so much in the days following surgery, stretching the skin so much, that perhaps now, the skin on her nose will soon start to peel. I shared my observation with Dr. D'Antonio this afternoon during our speech session and she said it's nothing to worry about and all just part of the healing process. I'll continue to keep my eye on it and see how what happens.

Diet remains the same with soft foods, easily chewed foods in the back of her mouth. Maybe the restrictions will be lifted when we return on Monday for our 3rd post op appointment with Dr. Martin. I think she's tired of the altered diet and can't wait to eat normally again!

Thank You for the continued prayers for Rachel's recovery, it's because of those prayers that her recovery has been a good one!

Surgery and Rachel's Speech

Upon getting in to Rachel's mouth, Dr. Martin discovered an extensive hole in Rachel's hard palate that extended all the way back to the soft palate. He fixed it. And as the days went by following surgery, as the swelling started to decrease inside her mouth and in her nose, I started to notice Rachel's speech was sounding differently. It was more clear and crisp. Once the nasal stents came out, it was even more noticeable.

This past Wednesday, Rachel had speech therapy. It was the first time Dr. D'Antoino had seen her and heard her since surgery. It was a lot of work to get Rachel to talk that day, she was tired from school, shy for some reason, all the while still just being 2 weeks post op from major surgery.

But the little that she did talk was just enough. I wasn't wrong in my thinking that Rachel's speech had changed. Dr. D'Antonio heard it as well!! Rachel had less nasality (because the hole in her hard palate had been closed) and her production was clearer. Dr. D'Antonio was very excited and very pleased with how Rachel's surgery had already affected her speech. Dr. D'Antonio and Rachel, the week before surgery.
Rachel still has a lot work in regards to her speech and sound production. But it's exciting to have this positive outcome from surgery and we really weren't expecting it!

2 Weeks Post Op

It's hard to believe it's been 2 weeks since Rachel's surgery. Needless to say, we're sure happy to have that behind us and be on this side of it all.

Please look beyond the messy hair and the chocolate residual around her mouth. LOL. She's about had it with me taking pictures of her. But I just want to document her progress for our own sake, as well as for our cleft affected friends who will endure this 'adventure' in the next few years. She continues to look better and better each and every day. The redness around her nose is subsiding and so far there's been no swelling that Dr. Martin mentioned could happen after the removal of the stents. She has a few scabs in her nose, along with dissolvable stitches, but it's all looking great for just having had it all done 2 weeks ago.

Rachel returned to school as planned this last Monday. We had been on break since November 10th and Monday was the first day back to school. So Rachel has missed NO SCHOOL due to surgery or her recovery. Praise the Lord!

She has a special backpack that is packed with new coloring books, crayons, and some other activities to do during her PE, and recesses. Sitting out is simply a precaution to her getting hit in the face, nose bonked with a ball, etc. But so far, she's doing well and she has quite the following of friends who sit during their recesses and keep her company and color with her. Upon returning to school on Monday morning, Mrs. Thompson let me talk about Rachel's off track adventure of her surgery and spending the night in the hospital and what the things in her nose were (nasal stents) and most importantly how we need to be careful to not bump her, hit her in the face, etc. When I visited Rachel at lunch, her classmates shared Rachel's story with other kids who came to the table to see what the crowd was about. It was cute how they were so caring about her and concerned that every one knew not to bump her. There's been no negativity from any of the kids about Rachel and her 'new look'. It makes my heart smile to know she's surrounded by such loving and caring kids.

Post Op Appointment - 12 Days Post Op

It's been 12 days since Rachel's surgery and today was our second post op appointment.

Our appointment was at 3:00 and we went anticipating a long way as usual. We even had visitors waiting in the waiting room for us - Joy, Aiden, and Lexi! It was great to see them, but our time together was short. We didn't even get a picture for our blogs! We waited 15 minutes in the waiting room and were called back to a room.

Here is one last picture with her nasal stents in. This picture really shows how skinny her face has become. I weighed her while in the office and she's lost 1 1/2 pounds since surgery. That's a lot of on a little body.Dr. Martin was very pleased with how things were healing up on the inside as well as the outside. So much so, that he took the stents out!!! Rachel started crying when he clipped some of the stitches. But she was relieved to have the stents out. We need to continue on a soft food/soft chewing diet, nothing crunchy, until we see him again in two weeks. Dr. Martin reminded us that her nose could swell up a little bit but it'd come back down. Her nostrils have also been stretched because of the stents, but in time they should lessen in size as well.

So our appointment went well, it was record time - in and out in forty minutes! And we return to be seen on December 13th, when perhaps her diet restrictions may be lifted, just in time for Christmas cookies!!!

1 Week Post Op

It's hard to believe that a week ago, we were sitting in the waiting room of a hospital, waiting for the page that one of us could go see Rachel in the recovery room.

Overall, the first week following surgery has been a good one. There's been a few meltdowns as to not wanting to eat and thus take the nasty tasting pain medication, but other than that, there's been no complications, no major problems. I know recovery has been relatively easy because of all the people still praying for Rachel. Thank You.

I failed to mention in my post following our Post Appointment that we can brush Rachel's bottom teeth and upper back ones. We did just that yesterday. It had to have felt a ton better having a fresh mouth.

This morning, the swelling looks considerably lower. And the bruising seems to be subsiding as well. It's great to see the sparkle back in her eyes and her overall look getting back to normal.

Be sure to scroll down to the next post. I posted pictures, one from everyday of the last week. It's amazing to see the changes from day to day.

Post Op Appointment

This morning, Rachel had her first post op appointment.

Our appointment was at 10:45 and we were in a room by 11:25 (not bad!!!). We ended up arriving a half hour early because we thought parking was going to be more of an issue. But it turns out the Lord had another Divine Appointment for us and I'll share that in another blog post.

It's a beautiful day and I thought this made for a cool picture. The building is Loma Linda University Medical Center and Children's Hospital, which is where Rachel's surgery was done.Dr. Martin was very pleased with how Rachel was looking on the outside as well as on the inside (her bone graft).

Rachel had a tooth that had grown in sideways in the cleft of her gum and I asked if he had to remove that. He did not. But what he did remove as a decayed and rotten tooth that had grown up into her nasal cavity (common in cleft children). He said this was the cause for the horrible smell we'd been noticing coming from her nose the last six to eight months, which was one of our concerns when we saw him in August.

The nasal stents need to stay in place for at least another week. Dr. Martin explained that there was a lot of scar tissue in her nose and scar tissue has the tendency to go back to how it was. Typically, stents stay in place for 1-3 weeks to keep the scar tissue from going back to how it was prior to surgery. So she has the nasal stents at least for another week. He also said it could take up to six months for her nose to become her 'new normal' look. Her diet has been changed from a no chew diet to a soft food/no chew diet for example scrambled eggs, mac and cheese, etc. When I told him I considered those things to be a chewy food, he said she could have soft foods that didn't require chewing in the front, because of her bone graft.

After a few pictures were taken for her chart, and an appointment made for next Monday we were done. We went to Baker's for lunch where Rachel feasted on broken/bite sized pieces of french fries, a chocolate milkshake, and some bites of a bean cup!! She was loving it!

Post Op Day 4 - Rachel's BACK!

Rachel is back! And back full force! LOL.

Last night we gave her pain meds at 8:30 and then decided to see how she did through the night. She slept the night through and did not take any more pain meds until 7:30 this morning. She was going to be spending the morning with my Mom while I went to church, so I gave Rachel some pain meds just in case. I've decided to start weaning her off the strong pain meds and will give her regular Tylenol this afternoon if she says something hurts.

Today, the bruising in Rachel's face really surfaced. It started to surface a little bit last night when I was cleaning up Rachel's nose. I thought it was Bentadine left from the surgery. When it wouldn't wash off, I knew it wasn't Bentadine. LOL. Rachel did a great job at eating for my Mom this morning. They made chocolate pudding with whip cream and she ate that. Gramma made her some mashed potatoes and she ate those. And she took a few glasses of White Grape Juice. Ahhh, the magic of Gramma!

I ran to the store for a few things and came back with whip cream since she liked it at Gramma's. Who needs chocolate pudding or pumpkin pie when you can make whip cream snakes!Tomorrow we have a post op appointment with Rachel's plastic surgeon. It'll be good to see him and have her check out Rachel and hear again how the surgery went, etc.

Post Op - Day 3

We are now three days Post Op and Rachel just keeps getting better and better as the hours pass. We once again set the alarm for a middle of the night pain med. After a cup of applesauce and Tylenol taken, we were all back in our cozy beds within ten minutes, where we slept until after 7:00, when Rachel came in to snuggle with us.

We were able to stretch the next dose of pain medication to six hours. She wasn't saying she was in pain, but again, we're trying to stay atop of the pain cycle for a couple of days. Just the fact that she went that long without getting grumpy was awesome. Yesterday she would start melting and become grumpy about 5 - 5 1/2 hours. This was a great accomplishment.

This morning, for the last several hours, she's been on the floor playing with Lego's, putting together a new set. She's talking more and even trying to smile the best she can. I noticed she has a little bit of her sassiness back here and there. Post Op instructions were "No Baths" but showers were okay, this is because of the incision above her hip bone. With some hesitation on her part, we proceeded with a modified bath whereas I only filled the tub about 3 inches. She admitted it did feel better to get a little bath. Now we just have to convince her to let one of us wash her face.

This is the incision from where the bone graft was harvested from her hip bone. When she came out of surgery, there were no bandages, no stitches. They closed her up using a superglue-like substance. The swelling around the area continues to go down with each passing day. There's really no evidence of it slowing her down, or being a hindrance to her. You do have to be careful with side hugs and squeezes, as she sometimes grimaces if you squeeze too hard. Rachel received a package in the mail this morning and inside was this cuddly bear. I convinced her to let me take a picture of her with her bear in hopes of getting another shot of her face. It worked. The swelling is really down from yesterday.This morning Hannah told me what Rachel had told her. Rachel told her that she didn't like looking at herself in the mirror because she was ugly. That broke my heart. It's hard for her to comprehend that in a few days, everything will be back to normal and she'll look like the usual cute Rachel. We've spent the last six years telling her how cute she is and building up her self esteem. It's sad to know she thinking this way. Last night, she mentioned wanting to go to church on Sunday, but after hearing what she thinks of herself, and how self conscious she is right now, I think it'll be better to not take her to church. There'll be kids that ask her what's wrong with her face, or what are the things in her nose. Forget the kids, there will be adults that will stare and make a big deal of her face. Better for them to do that next week when she's feeling better about herself.

Things are going great and we only anticipate it to continue to go well! Thank You again for praying for Rachel.

Friday Morning Update

We had a good night.

Rachel was so cute last night, I was in our room putting some things away and she wandered into our room, crawled up into our bed, and snuggled beneath the covers. We watched TV in our bed for a while and just let her sleep with us for a while. We set the alarm for 1:00 which was when she could have her next dose of pain medication.

Around 11:00, she was moaning and tossing about a lot. When the alarm went off at 1:00 we got up. It was a bit of a struggle to get her to eat, but she gave up and sat smack dab in the middle of the kitchen floor and that is where Steven fed her some applesauce and we gave her some medicine. From that point, she went into her own bed and we all slept until close to 6:30am.

She did well at eating something this morning and taking more pain meds. We are trying to break her pain cycle and stay on top of giving her pain meds every 4-6 hours. Especially since her pain was so uncontrolled the first night.

The swelling around her hip incision is going down quite nicely. But her face continues to swell. Just below her right eye is so swollen it's almost shut. Her little face has gone through so much, it's no wonder it's as swollen as it is.

As for her nasal stents, she's stopped complaining about them!!! I know it's a result of all the prayers specifically for that. Thank You!

Home Sweet Home

After a trip to Golden Spoon for some yogurt to bring home, and a stop at the pharmacy for Rachel's pain meds, and a stop off at Gramma and Papa's house, we are home!

Rachel has eaten a rather good size bowl of graham crackers and milk and has drank a good amount of water. She is now comfortably sitting in the recliner watching a new movie that Gramma and Papa bought her. Here's hoping and praying for a good night's sleep for all of us!

Going Home!!!!

Rachel was pretty much over having her picture taken by this point, thus the reason she's hiding behind her bear. But it was so nice to be going home! I can't imagine the families who spent countless days, weeks, and some even months in the hospital.

A Turn for the Better

It's amazing what the proper dosage of pain meds will do for a person.

After getting Rachel to take the correct dosage of pain med, she fell asleep for about an hour.

After her nap, she was visited by a hospital person who invited her to the school room downstairs. Having had the pain meds kick in, she wanted to give it a try. So we put on her jammie pants, combed her hair, and dawned her boogie shoes (new crocs that Gramma and Rachel have named her 'boogie shoes'). Daddy found a wheelchair and off we went, downstairs to the school room where Rachel made a Thanksgiving card craft and then worked a puzzle. We saw sparks of our Rachel coming through. The pain meds definitely worked. Upon coming back to her room, she ate an entire applesauce cup and the rest of her pudding cup that she'd started earlier!! She's not due for any more pain meds until 3:30. So hopefully she'll continue to be on the up swing and will continue to eat and drink as the afternoon continues.