Lip Revision Surgery

Today was the day of Chun Le's first cleft surgery--the lip revision. We arrived at Good Samaritan Hospital at 6am since she was scheduled as a first case surgery. In the pre op room there were two cute little stuffed toys waiting for her, a Dora and an elephant. She got changed into the gown and socks and was in a very playful mood. Thankfully she never once fussed about not getting food or a bottle in the morning while we waited.

Shortly before they wheeled her off to surgery they gave her a "cocktail" to help reduce fear and relax her for when she would be taken away from us. The nurse put on a surgical "hat" right before she left us and you can tell the "cocktail" was taking its effect in this photo (our last pic of her with a cleft lip).

The procedure got started at 8:13am and Dr. Daw met us for the post surgery consultation at around 10:15am. He said she did well and will need to be on a clear liquid diet for a day and be able to tolerate that before adding liquids like milk. After that he expects her to be eating soft pureed type baby foods for 3-5 days. Right after the consultation they brought us to her in recovery room as she was waking up and very sad. They let Jill crawl onto the bed and hold her to help with comforting but it took about 15 minutes to calm her down and the pain meds to start to take effect. It was obvious she was in pain and not just scared and confused...poor thing. Below are the pics of her when we first came to her in recovery and then her sleeping in recovery after she calmed down. Lots of blood on the lip, inside her mouth and on her tongue--you can't really tell in the photo though. Poor baby!

While we waited for a room to be available in the pediatric floor they put her back into a pre op room for an hour and a half or so. She just stayed pretty well relaxed and resting during that time on the cart.

About 1:15pm they transported her up to the pediatric room. It was cute how she wanted reach out and hold one of our hands as she lay on the bed as it was wheeled upstairs. We are so glad to be by her side through all of this and grateful for family who are taking good care of Rachel and Isaac so we can focus our energy on helping Chun Le through her recovery. The staff here at the hospital has been excellent and so friendly and helpful. They are all commenting how wonderful Chun Le is doing. Other than during that wake up after surgery and two other times when it seemed the pain meds were wearing down, she has been very calm and relaxed. Of course a lot of this is due to the low dose of morphine they are giving her, but the nurses have said that some kids get really angry and wild with anethesia and pain meds so we are glad that they are working to keep her rested as she heals. Rachel and Isaac and my parents came up to visit for about 20 minutes or so at 4:15pm. Chun Le had been sleeping on my lap while I sat on the couch in the room and she woke up to a groggy state while they were here. I think the bloody mouth was a bit tough for the kids to see and Chun Le's "drugged state" was surprising to them; but good for them to see so they can understand when she gets home that she has been through a lot and will need lots of quiet and rest. Most of the afternoon she has just been sleeping/resting in a groggy state on and off and at 5pm she took about 8oz of juice/water mix for the first time. Phil used her cleft bottle to drip it into her mouth little by little. Chun Le kept wanting more. At around 6pm we had put her in the crib for the first time and were standing nearby to see how she would do being in there and she vomitted. It was mostly liquid with dry brown bloody color to it. The nurse is not too concerned and thinks it is just all the anesthesia in combo with so much blood swallowed and then her taking too much juice too fast maybe. Phil left to head home around 7pm and about 20 min after he left, while Chun Le was resting on me on the couch she threw up again. This time it was mostly clear liquid with a tiny bit of brown blood color to it. I had just put a towel on me right before she got sick so I did not have to dress in hosptial scrubs for the remainder of our overnight stay. :) Again, the nurse thought that she is going to be fine and hopefully the blood in her tummy is pretty much gone now and she will be able to tolerate clear liquids soon. They suggested we hold off a bit and only give her water and 1-2 oz at a time next time she requests a drink. Overall she is doing well, but it is hard to see our little one just not feeling good and not being able to explain to her about all that has happened. The nurses thought that even by tomorrow morning we will see a big improvement as kids bounce back from surgery quickly.

As I look at her "new lip" it is hard to envision what she will look like once all the swelling goes down and he stitches and scars disappear. She is still as beautiful as ever and pretty much everyone who comes in to take care of her comments on what a cutie she is and great temperament she has--we agree!!! I am staying overnight with her as Phil needs to head back to work tomorrow. Supposedly Dr. Daw will come by sometime tomorrow morning to check on her and give more specific instructions for recovery at home. They also want to make sure that she takes at least one dose of oral pain meds before we leave since we won't have the IV meds for pain at home. We want to be sure the dosage they give is correct. I am really glad we are here to help with pain management and the vomitting would be more scary I think if we were home. So glad the doctor and insurance decided to make this an overnight stay rather than a day surgery! I will give an update as soon as I can when we return home...maybe when she is asleep tomorrow night.