Palate Repair and Bilateral Myringotomy with Tubes

Happy boy in his hospital gown!  

Childlife had all kinds of toys and such for us to play as we waited to go back

Yesterday was a very big day for Team Robinson!  We woke Parker up at 5am to come to the hospital for surgery.  He was happy as can be as we got him ready, clapped and giggled on the ride to the hospital, and laughed and played and flirted with the nurses in the prep area.  It was really sweet but I felt guilty knowing what was coming.

Making laps- he kept his hands at 10 and 2- loved the car!

Our favorite CRNA, Beth, came and made us feel so comfortable.  We knew Parker would be well-cared for.  Dr. Garner (ENT) came to see us, and he placed his hands on all 3 of us and said a touching prayer before surgery.  Dr. Chen came to check on us.  We felt much more prepared this time around, and definitely more at ease.

Dr. Garner had his tubes in place in less than 10 minutes.  Then Dr. Chen operated for a little over 2 hours.  When he came to update us, he said everything went really well.  Again, my summary is very oversimplified, but he explained that he had to reconstruct the muscles of the soft palate to run laterally instead of anterior/posterior.  Then on the hard palate, it is made of layers of bone, muscle, and mucosa.  He said the nasal side (I assume the superior aspect) "came together beautifully." This is really important to keep from having fistulas or open passages from occurring.  The oral (or inferior) lining went well too but is very raw for now.

In PACU- Parker finally took a mini nap on me.  He was an unhappy little boy

In our room- he finally wore down and took a nap- the blue thing is one of his "no-nos" that he has to wear on both arms to protect himself from putting his hands in his mouth.  He really doesn't seem to mind them.

As soon as I got to PACU, he was very fussy, whiny and whimpering.  It lasted like this until about 7pm.  Long day needless to say.  It is beyond heartbreaking to watch your baby in agony.  But by evening, all of a sudden he was awake, comfortable, and ready to play!  We kept prn pain meds on board round the clock and I think it really helped.

We actually slept pretty well last night.  I have to say, there are times in life where you know the arms of the Lord are wrapped around you and you can sense prayer lifted on your behalf.
Yesterday was one of those days!  We can't thank all of you enough for your love and prayer.
More to come!

A little swollen, and as you can see, we had a lot of bloody drainage from his nose and mouth.