Post Palate Repair Surgery: Day 4 Doing Well!!!

Finally got a chance to get back on our blog to update everyone on how Chun Le is doing...it is a good report! The day after her surgery (Wednesday)was an improvement in that she was not needing pain meds as regularly, not as frequent crying from pain, and she was a bit more alert as the day went along. The morning after the surgery this what she was looking like:

Chun Le was doing a lot of resting throughout the morning and much of her drowsiness was likely due to the effect of morphine and the on and off sleep she got throughout the night. Her last dose of morphine was given at about 9am the morning after surgery and she was able to manage the pain from there on out by alterating tylenol w/codeine and motrin. This was a good sign that her pain level was much more tolerable than it had been yesterday. Day 1 of surgery was a very tough day for her and for us to have to watch her feel so miserable. By the afternoon, she was starting to be more interactive with us and she got a short visit from her big sister and brother.

At around 6pm that night after surgery she started to really act more like herself. It was pretty amazing how she just kind of turned the corner! Chun Le was talking with us about things in the room, pointing out pictures in a book and wanting us to read to her, and when I was making a couple of phone calls to family she requested that she wanted to "talk" with them before I hung up. :) By the time Dr. Daw made his late rounds to check on her (9pm) he saw how well she was doing and gave the approval for her to be discharged the next day around noon. The only improvement he needed her to make was to begin drinking more liquids. She was put on a clear liquids only diet for the first 3 days post surgery and so far she had not had more than a syringe full or two of water after taking her pain meds. When she was drinking the water from the syringe she would swallow and immediately clasp her hand over her mouth showing us that it was hurting to have that liquid go down over her very tender palate. Dr. Daw told the nurses to stop her IV the next morning at 6am so that she would begin to feel thirst and hoping that would encourage her to try to drink more. Turning the IV off the next morning really did the trick! Also, with my breakfast I ordered a milk and grape juice in hopes that she would see those and want it. When she saw the milk she wanted some so I gave some to her in a syringe and she took about 1 ounce of it before she tried the grape juice and finished all 4 ounces of that off! Nice work Chun Le! As she drank those fluids she was not showing any strong signs of pain like she had the day before so that was a great improvement. By 10am they started to "unhook" Chun Le from some of the instruments that were monitoring her vitals. She was happy to have the heart rate probe that was taped around her big toe taken off and even more thrilled when the IV was removed. Now she was free to roam and feeling pretty much like herself again. Here she is the morning we were going to be discharged. You can see in her face that she is feeling so much better!

Once she was disconnected from all the "wiring" and got her street clothes back on she was a happy girl ready to head for home!

We had to kill some time waiting for discharge paperwork to be completed and she found a wagon in the playroom and wanted a wagon ride. So we spent about 30 minutes taking turns pulling her around in the wagon on the pediatrics floor or else she pulled the wagon herself. She was definitely feeling better and ready for home! We left the hospital around 1pm and she fell asleep right away so we made a stop at Osco to pick up her pain meds and she got a 1.5 hour nap in the car. When we woke her up to give her pain meds (she had not had ANY at all since 11am that morning) she was a bit fussy and sad probably because her mouth was starting to hurt again but quickly went back to being herself once they kicked in. A neighbor came over shortly after we arrived home and her comment was: "She looks and acts like she never even had surgery." It is true--she is having an amazingly speedy recovery compared to what we had been anticipating. We are so thankful for our God who answers prayers and created bodies for us that heal so beautifully. The kids took a bath later that night and Chun Le was combing Rachel's hair while Phil read a story...it is good to be back home! Her first night home in her own crib was fine. She made it 6 hours of sleep before she woke up and we gave her pain meds; she went right back to sleep for another 5 and a half hours! We were all in desparate need of a good night's sleep so it was wonderful that she went right back to her normal sleep habits. :)

A few quick other things to mention...we are soooooo grateful for family who have surrounded us with love and care by giving our big kids such a fun time away from home while we were taking care of Chun Le at the hospital. We love you all and thank you so much!!! Another thing, is is interesting to hear Chun Le's "new voice". It does seem to have a more nasal sound to it and Rachel thinks it has a bit higher pitch to it. We have already noticed that a few of her words are being more clearly pronounced! For example, she can say "momma" perfectly now and certain sounds like "b" are a bit more recognizable. A lot of what she says still sounds the same as she will need the training of speech therapy to unlearn habits that she had before she could make correct sounds, but we are so excited for her. Our biggest challenge for the next few days will be to try to keep her doing more quiet activities and to keep her interested in "baby food" for the next 3 weeks. She is already very sad when we have to say no to most of the things she wants to eat. I think it is even tougher for her as she sees her big sis and bro eating stuff that she can't have...this too will pass and she will be back to a normal diet in 21 days. That is all for now...again, so grateful for the prayers and help of family and friends and the power of our God who heals!