Palate repaired

Caleb's palate surgery was on Wednesday this week and he's home again and happy. Ok, he's home. Happy will come later I'm sure. We went in very early on Wednesday morning. The hospital is about an hour drive from our home, so arriving there at 5:30 am was a little daunting. They took him back for surgery at about 7 am and it was supposed to take 2 hours. A little after 10 am, the surgeon finally came to our room to tell us it was done. I guess it took longer than they planned because his mouth is so small and it was difficult to work in. After his recovery, they brought him and he was so sleepy. His mouth was quite bruised and puffy, plus he had some bruising around the corners of his mouth. I can only imagine it was from trying to open his mouth as much as possible to see what they were doing. He did so well, though. He slept most of the day and was up and about again on Thursday. We got home yesterday and he's doing fine. I knew he was resilient: he's been handling it all so well.
For now, he is on a full liquid diet and wearing arm restraints. These will last for three weeks, and, sorry to say, I am counting the days. The restraints stretch from his shoulder to the middle of his hand and prevent him from bending at the elbow. This keeps him from putting anything at all in his mouth and ruining the work that has been done. I'm impressed by his attitude toward them: for all he knows, they are a permanent fixture in his life. He manages to play and get around quite well. We have been feeding him, though, something he is still adjusting to. He wants to be independent and feed himself, and so far, as long as we've known him, that's what he's done. So, sitting back and waiting for the spoon is a frustrating thing for him. Also, we've been teaching him some signs and gestures so that he is better able to communicate. These, too, I thought would be pretty much on hold, but I've now noticed that he has modified them and he still gets his point across.
We are glad to be home. Russ and I both stayed at the hospital the whole time, and, as anybody knows, it's not the most restful place. It made me reminiscent of our China days when we were still trying to figure out the schedule and staying in one room. Although, there were no nurses then, coming in at all hours. It really made me think about my work and how it affects people. Speaking of work, I have accepted a job to start in August, but I'll talk more about that later. For now, we are recovering at home and Caleb is getting back to his usual self (a slightly modified version).

Like a Champ

Up and running around the next day.

Back at home.