This is the surgery we have been waiting for for years. He was supposed to have this surgery in 2015 but at the last minute they decided he needed to get an expander to push out his back teeth. So we did that, he’s had an expander for at least a year now and he got braces to move his teeth into a more correct placement. This is the surgery where they were taking bone from his hip to his palate.

Once the orthodontist did all his stuff, his surgeon cleared us for surgery. We were going to wait until the beginning of the year (2019) because we wanted to fill our deductible at the beginning of the year and not the end. Mostly because there was a possibility of a second surgery. If there was we wanted to have our deductible taken care of. Well all of that didn’t quite work out. My company was bought and we were changing insurance. If we now waited until the new year when my insurance changed the cost would go up significantly. If we moved to Greg’s insurance we would have to pay everything out of pocket because our surgeon is out of network and they cover 0 out of network costs. It is so frustrating to have to go through all this insurance stuff and make decisions on our sons well being based on all this but it is what it is right now. In the end it all worked out though. We did it on Dec. 12th it was only a week and a half before Christmas break so Jayse would only be missing that much of school.

At our pre-op appointment we also found out that he wouldn’t need a second surgery like our surgeon originally thought. In fact Jayse only has a clef on one side of his palate and our surgeon said it made everything much easier. This was great news.

Our surgeon and others told us that the worst part of this surgery would actually be his hip, the donor site. It would be hard to walk.

On the day of surgery both Greg and I took the day off. We didn’t have to be to the hospital until 10. They ended up calling us that morning though and saying a surgery had been canceled and they wanted us there ASAP. So we dropped Jaelee off at school at 9 and headed straight over there.

This was the smoothest we’ve ever had before surgery. There have been times when we wait just to check in for hours. This time we were checked right in and sent to surgery waiting. Again we have had to sit here for hours before we even go into a room. This time we checked in and we didn’t even have a chance to find a seat before we were called back to a room. Once in the room Jayse got his gown on. We had people in and out of the room going over everything and doing all of Jayse’s vitals. We found out that his weight is big enough now that they wanted to do an IV to put him to sleep. Usually they do a mask that has yummy smells and stickers on it. Guess he’s getting too big. They had a nice nurse come in and demonstrate what would happen on a doll. He seemed ok with it and they were able to do the IV. He was a bit dehydrated since he couldn’t eat or drink anything that morning so they had to try a few times but they got it and did a really nice job.

Once he got his IV we had to wait a bit, Jayse played the play station for a while and then they gave him something in his IV to make him sleepy and relaxed. This was the stage where he seemed a little drunk. He was laughing a lot of being pretty goofy. Not long after that they wheeled him away for surgery. I asked him after what he remembered because every other time he doesn’t remember leaving the room but this time he remembered everything. He said when he got to to the OR he had to change beds and then they told him they were going to give him medicine to fall asleep. He said he thought it would be slow but as soon as he got that medicine he said he was out.

Once they wheeled him off to the OR Greg and I went to get some lunch. We went to the hospital cafeteria but nothing looked super appetizing. We decided to leave and go down a block to the Chic Fil A. His surgery was scheduled for 3 hours so we knew we had a bunch of time.

After lunch we went straight back to the hospital. We were only back for about 45 minutes when they told us the Dr. was done and ready to talk to us. I was freaking out a bit. It had only been about 1 1/2 and I thought he was done so fast was either a good thing or a bad thing. Good, everything went better than they expected or bad and they couldn’t do something. We were put in a room to wait for the surgeon and I was freaking out a bit. Luckily it was good news, everything went better than expected! He was done. We just had to wait for him to come out of the OR. So we went back to surgery waiting until they called us back to his room. He looked really good. In years past when they were doing something with his lip it’s all bloody and swollen. This time they didn’t do anything with his lip, you could just see some swelling in his upper lip from his palate behind it but he looked good overall.

He woke up pretty quick. Wanted something to drink and did really well. We were able to check out in record time.

He was wheeled to the pick up zone while Greg got the car I tried to get some pictures of him in the wheel chair but he kept putting his hands up. He’s in a stage where he doesn’t want me to take his pictures anymore. So sad…I snagged some anyway.

On our way home he started to bleed from his nose pretty good and we had another questions so I called his surgeon on his cell phone and he said the bleeding was normal unless it because excessive and answered my other question.

When we got home we all kinda just hung out in Jayse’s bed with him. He was pretty hungry and ate a smoothie right away.

The first couple of days were pretty rough. His nose was pretty swollen and bloody as was his mouth. He had a hard time talking so he used his own sign language to tell me what he needed. He slept sitting up so he could breath better. I slept with him the first few nights so I could wake up to give him pain medicine. The Dr. was right about the pain in his hip. He had a hard time walking. Couldn’t even stand up straight. He managed alright though getting to the bathroom.

I stayed home with him the rest of that week and Greg stayed home with him the entire next week. He was doing really well by Sunday though. He could talk and walk now. He still couldn’t fully stand up straight and couldn’t walk for long distances but was doing much better.

He had to be on a blended diet for 3 weeks! I tell you after week 2 it became really hard. We started to slack a little and let him eat soft foods that he could chew with his back teeth. He now can eat a bit more but still has 2 weeks where his Dr. doesn’t want him biting anything with his front teeth. Other than that he is basically back to normal.

We are really hopeful besides maybe some oral surgery that his is his last surgery.

Jayse took this selfie with his phone. He said he wanted to see what he looked like and he couldn’t walk to the bathroom to look in a mirror. He said he looked like a character from Whoville. He was kinda right with his swollen nose and mouth.