Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Surgery Day

owen finally has his pharyngeal flap. we left home yesterday afternoon and stopped at the bass pro shops in prattville where owen had a wonderful time at the fish tank--a fun store even if you don't hunt, fish, or camp. part of the thrill for owen was having his bontrager grandparents along and his little sister at home. he was so excited he couldn't sleep till eleven last night. grandpa b left for indiana this morning and grandma stayed behind to help with jack. we arrived at the hospital by 10:30 this morning but since owen's was the last surgery on the schedule he didn't begin his procedure until 3:00 this afternoon. for a little boy with nothing to eat or drink he did fantastic. i remember him asking for milk two or three times all day. about thirty minutes after owen went into the o.r. i received a call from the surgeon wanting permission to remove his tonsils. it seems they were "enormous" and he couldn't do the pharyngeal flap procedure with the tonsils in place so out they came. dr. wiatrak said the surgery went very well but there is really no way to predict how much it will improve his speech. success will be giving him the physical tools to speak properly and the ability to unlearn all of his bad compensation mechanisms. we won't know if the surgery accomplished this until the swelling goes down and he spends a lot of time with a speech therapist.

now we are in the "special care unit" which is a step down from intensive care. owen is sleeping off the anesthesia and morphine. joyce, jack, and ruby are out getting supper and i am hanging out with owen. i will get the night shift and the scu rules prohibit eating, drinking, or sleeping at the bedside. excellent. he should only have to spend one night in the unit and move to a private room tomorrow.

***

While Jason was out finding supper and I was out feeding Jack, Mom stayed in the room with Owen. When I came back, Mom looked at me with a funny smile and said that 20 minutes beforehand, Owen had pulled out the tubes in his nose and handed them to her while she was standing at his bedside. (The tubes were there to maintain an airway.) The nurse made a call to the doctor and found out that if the tubes need to be replaced, Owen will probably have to undergo anesthesia again, which if needed, won't happen until morning. We are hopeful that won't be necessary, as his O2 sat is still looking good at 96% on room air.

10 minutes until we get kicked out of here. We'll keep updating...

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Joyce and Jason, I'm so glad to see an update about Owen's surgery. We are praying for a quick recovery and thinking of all of you. Glad Owen was able to get rid of his tonisils. :) Better now than later. Love to all of you.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the update. Just as a reminder that God is concerned about all of you (not just Owen) -- we were praying for Owen last night at bedtime, and my sweet 2-year-old Ava wouldn't let us say "Amen" until we also prayed for Helen and Ms. Joyce. Hmmm. . . How does she know that Helen was sick, too, and that Ms. Joyce is undoubtedly stressed? (sorry Jason -- we're sure God knows about you, too.) :)

Anyway, I'm sure it's a great feeling to be on this side of it all -- ready to start getting better, instead of dreading the surgery. Thanks for keeping us informed!

Anonymous said...

Hi guys, I'm sorry I didn't realize that Owen's big day was this week. Glad that his surgery went well. Will pray for Owen's recovery and speech issues as well as everyone's continued adjustments to this season in life.

Rosanna

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the update. . I was thinking about you guys at work yesterday. We are praying for a speedy recovery. . oh, and good 02 sats so those airways can stay out :). I was talking to mom this morning and heard Helen just happily chattering away. . so thankfully she seems to be feeling much better!!! I'm so glad that Ruby is up there with ya'll, and Jason. . .try and get a nap today :) Jan

Wynette said...

Thinking of you...

Anonymous said...

You are so calm and cool, with all you have done in the last few weeks (like give birth!)...Best of luck with it all and I will keep Rachel informed as I read your blog...Thinkin' of you all...Joanne

sherri said...

Glad the surgery is over for Owen. Wish we could be closer to help you out.

Love all of you!