Day 3 post surgery and recovery reflection

We are doing well! Ty is now only on Tylenol for pain control. We went all night without pain meds, and we only did tylenol this am. He is mad because I have to feed him and he can't feed himself. He also wants his regular cereal, so that has him ticked off. Last night he had pureed peas and carrots and apple sauce. This morning he had oatmeal (very very soft!) and pureed fruit. He is preferring to drink water from a cup more than anything, but I might try some apple juice later. It is actually difficult to keep Tyson calm! He keeps running and being his normal crazy self. But I know this will not last all day.

If your child is going to have palate surgery, make sure you have a good blender! I bought a new one right before surgery, and it's wonderful. I bought it at Wal Mart for around $50. It will pay for itself over and over for the next month.

I got really sad yesterday because some yogurt came out of his nose. I thought those days were behind us. I know it's the hole between his lip and nose that China didn't not repair when they repaired his lip. But I haven't seen anymore since, so I think it was only because he may have been having trouble swallowing. The dr. said it shouldn't impact speech.

By far, the hardest part by far is the arm restraints. Our surgeon told us it was OK for Ty to not wear them as long as we were watching him, but he needs them at night. We agreed for sure. But...he is a Houdini! He gets out of them! I've tightened them, tightened the back strap, etc... Last night he screamed and cried because he wanted them off. It's so sad!

His nose is still draining some blood, but it's less than yesterday. He hates the ear drops. He gets agitated. He has a lot of dried blood still in his ears.

Now call me crazy, but I think I'm already hearing new sounds. I got him to say the 'b'sound a few times, and in his babble I hear new sounds. I know he's not making them purposely, but it's so fun to hear him make different sounds. I know speech is going to be a long road, as he already has bad, lazy habits we have to break. We spent some time on starfall.com this morning, and he really enjoyed it (thanks Violet and Kevin!). We've done it before, but he was much more engaged this time. Maybe he's hearing it better?

So we're not out of the woods yet, but it's not even 3 days post surgery, and he's running around like normal for now. It's so unbelievable. Our post-surgery appointment is Dec. 21st. After that we'll know what we're doing next. Thanks for all of your prayers! We appreciate it so much.