Palate is now closed....let the talking begin!

Hello. Well Mr. Owen survived his March 22 palate closure surgery very well. In fact, he was released from hospital a day early because he was doing so well. Physically that is. Mentally, well lets just say the nurses were probably glad to be rid of him! As expected, getting between Owen and his favourite pasttime of eating has caused quite a bit of upset. He can only eat soft foods, and initially we had to feed him. He is very stubborn and very independent so you can imagine how that went over. Even though he was very hungry, Owen was refusing to eat all but the littlest bits. Now on day 7, its getting better but it is still a big fight and temper tantrum at every meal time. Its definitely been a challenge!

However, Owen seems to be healing nicely (I think, as he hardly lets me look into his mouth). His tylenol doses are now spaced quite far apart and he does not indicate being in pain. We've broken some rules and allowed him a few non pureed foods off the list (today, a bear paw) and he eats without wincing. So thats good news. We see the surgeon for a follow up on Thurs so maybe I'll finally get to see in that mouth!

Prior to this Owen and I (mama) were bonding, but this process has definitely sped things up. At the hospital all he wanted was to be on me, and since returning home its been cuddle non stop. Owen's latest thing is falling asleep on either Paul or I. We were told to expect him to start saying more words as soon as the pain subsided, and we're already seeing that. So far we have heard "mine" and "wow", "no", and some other words that were previously just vowels/tonal are now coming through much clearer. Today I saw Owen experimenting with his tongue trying to speak so I expect we will be hearing from him more and more. Its so exciting to hear him speak. We have noticed that his voice is now higher, more nasally, with less opening to echo in his head.

So thats it for now. We're doing well and will check back with more later...

Week 3, almost there!

As of today, Owen is almost at the one month post surgery mark. Every day his bruising is less and less. He is over his chest cold now and completely back to normal. Owen is very pleased with himself (looks in the mirror often) and can now say a few things, like "hi mama". Going out in public is a whole new thing now. Some people know he's had a cleft repair, while others just think he fell, LOL. A little girl at Rae-Lynn's tae kwon do studio commented this "hey, that little boy's lip grew back". Well, sort of ! Mostly people just think he's cute. This is great news for Owen, who is Mr. Social, and is enjoying all of the attention.

We were excited to learn that one of our dear friends has switched to the waiting children's program and has asked for a child with cleft. Another is on the brink of receiving her "referral" (the Chinese adoption version of the stork arriving, via paperwork). We are happy to provide any information and support to anyone who chooses this wonderful program. It is certainly working for us!

2 weeks out (After!)

Here are some pictures of Owen's progress. The first is day 1. You can see he looks pretty swollen, mostly from the IV fluid being pumped into him. By his release date (day 3) he looked much better and just had the swelling to contend with. The little orange thing in his nose is used to hold open his rebuilt nostril while it is healing. Last pic was taken today. As you can see Owen is looking pretty good! He still has a small amount of bruising and swelling but he's almost there. The hardest part has been the ear and chest infection that he picked up while at the hospital. Its made him much more miserable than the surgery! Owen is on antibiotics and its clearing up. I can tell he's feeling better because he has most definitely been acting up (2 time outs in 2 days, both for throwing his food like some kind of ape).

We now know that our next adventure, palate surgery, is scheduled for March 22. This one makes me nervous as I am told the recovery is much harder. Its exciting though, because 6 weeks after that we start speech therapy, and find out what Owen has to say.

Our biggest challenge in the next 6 weeks will be finding stuff to do while on a budget (ok, broke). We're both getting cranky and definitely need to get out and doing things. Hmmmm.

WOW

Wow is all that I would've had said, but I was speechless, when I walked into recovery and saw Owen today. His surgery went so incredibly well. He is like a new person, but also something hard to explain, which is that he now looks like what he is like on the inside, and how we have seen him with our heart's eye. So very very cute. He now has a cute little nose and a cute rosebud mouth. Swelling and bruising, sure, but that will pass soon.

He is doing very well. At dinner hour he was signing that he was hungry and hoovered back some yogurt and applesauce. He doesn't like the armbands, as predicted, so my work will be cut out for me the next 2 weeks. I think they'll probably end up releasing him from the hospital, because he won't be satisified with laying in bed for too much longer. That boy wants to go go go.

I didn't want to bother him with pictures today, but I will take a few once the swelling has gone down. It truly is a miracle. When I see Dr. Strumas tomorrow I may have to kiss him LOL.

It's almost time!

Well Owen's little bag is packed and we're just getting ready for that early rising. His surgery is at 8 am so we have to be at the hospital for 6:15. Rae-Lynn is spending the night at Grandma's (thanks!) which makes things much more simple. She is a little upset to be separated from her brother, and I think a little worried for him too. Rae-Lynn said tonight "but I like him the way he is", which is very nice to hear.

As for myself, I am getting some jitters on Owen's behalf. He's going to be pretty miserable and I wish there was a way to take that away for him. But there isn't so we'll have to help him as best as we can. I had a dream the other night that when he came out of surgery his lip was beautifully fixed but they also made him Irish (red hair, the works). Crazy!

Ok, thats all for now. Stay tuned!

Pre-op visit

Owen and I spent the morning at Mac hospital yesterday, going over all of the pre-operative necessaries. I will say this, having a child with limited medical history has its downside but it definitely cuts down on the appointment times significantly (my answer to about 75% of it was 'I don't know'). We also saw the ENT doctor while we were there, who essentially looked in Owen's mouth and said "yup its a cleft". (sigh) I'm sure there was a good reason for that appointment, which has yet to reveal itself. Today we are off to Chedoke for a hearing test, which is needed before they can put in the ear tubes (for drainage).

We are told that one of us will be in the OR with Owen while they put him out. I have voted that someone will be Paul as I am not good with operating rooms at all (my own experiences being entirely too recent, thank-you very much). I will be in like Flynn for the recovery room, but do not want to be in the room where the sharp instruments are! Owen will be in the hospital for 2 nights and we will be taking shifts staying with him around the clock. Expect some sleep deprivation for sure. However, we are very excited for Owen and can't wait to see his new look!

"before" surgical pics

Here are Owen's "before" pics. Can't wait to see what magic the surgeons perform. We think he's already pretty cute so more cute will be just fine!

6 weeks later

Well its hard to believe we've been home 6 weeks already. Truthfully, it feels like Owen has always been here, isn't that weird. It took us at least 2 weeks to be truly right with the jet lag. Everything up to Dec 19 was a blur for me personally, as I had to jump right back into my human resources studying, projects, and then write three finals. My marks are ok (knock on wood, still waiting on the results of the finals) which amazes me as I did most of it in a fog. And often covered in baby goober! Oh yes, there was that little thing called Christmas. We were soooo unprepared. Next year will be better, I promise! Who knows what Owen must be thinking about all of it, or as my friend puts it, "I love this Canada, I just get here and everyone has parties and presents all of the time, woo hoo!" Owen took it all in stride and had a great time, he's very social thats for sure. Big sister Rae-Lynn is working on her jealousy but I suspect that one will take awhile. She enjoys Owen's company MOST of the time. Things are much more stable now. Owen sleeps through the night now, and we have a pretty established schedule. Now that I am finished with school, I am able to focus my attention on the kids, which is a relief. They do keep us busy!

On the medical front, we jumped right into the line at Chedoke and Owen's surgeries are getting under way. He has already seen a surgeon, developmental specialist and an ENT doctor is soon to come. His lip closure surgery is scheduled for Jan 11. Owen's palate surgery will follow approximately March once his lip is fully healed. Then speech therapy begins. We can't wait to hear what he has to say, as it seems like it will be alot! Owen manages to communicate in his own way. We taught him basic baby sign language and he has his own sort of language that is pretty clear (example, hopping up and down when he wants his bottle, pretty clear eh?).

Reactions to Owen's appearance have been mostly positive. I admit I was a little bit nervous bringing Owen out socially for Christmas and around town but everyone has received him very well (thank-you!). We have had the odd uncomfortable "walmart moments", usually with other kids, but they are the exception. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that many of our friends have been researching cleft and are very curious about it. So, we are going to track Owen's surgical procedures on this blog for those who are interested. I'll start today by posting some before pics in a separate posting. The thing that has us most nervous about Owen's surgery is not the procedure itself but the recovery. He has to be in arm restraints (that keep his elbows from flexing) for 2 weeks, and likely will be miserable. o boy. So here we go! stay tuned!