He's All Done

Well, I’m happy to report that we’ve been assigned a room and finally, at 4:45 this afternoon, they wheeled Matthew into us. It’s SO good to see him. He looks like he feels wretched . . . I’m going to include a couple of photos of him at the end of this post, but be warned that he has just come out of surgery so he’s not looking his best (imagine that!).

We are grateful that he’s all done. It sounds like the repair was more complicated than our surgeon initially thought it would be—something about Matthew’s mouth tissue being fairly thin and his mouth already being pretty tight and there being a bunch of hard corners to repair. Anyhow, they had to spend some extra time with him in the operating room, but in the end, the repair is a success. Now we just need to be vigilant about keeping his fingers and other objects out of his mouth so it can heal.

I’m kind of bummed because the hospital is really full tonight so we’re sharing a room—and we are stuck in the bed that’s closest to the door, with no window view. We’re right outside of the nurse’s station, so it’s also very loud. I have no idea what kind of sleep Aaron and I are going to get tonight, but I for one will try and do some sleeping. I’m totally exhausted.

Aaron had a full line up of clients today, and soon he’ll join us at the hospital. My mom will go home sometime this evening. Maya and Sam have been with my dad all day, and they will be glad for Marmie to come home so they can hear all about how Matthew is doing.

It’s been a long day for all of us.

We are expecting some visitors tomorrow, which will be nice—Being in the hospital with a child is kind of a surreal experience. I’ve already eaten enough food from the hospital cafeteria to last me a lifetime!! But I expect to be here until at least Thursday.

So the next few days are filled with trying to keep Matthew as comfortable as possible while also encouraging him to eat. He needs to be drinking and peeing well before we can go home. Right now he’s mostly resting, although he wakes up and whimpers once in a while. My mom was singing to him a few minutes ago and he gave her a couple of good smiles. We’re both wondering if perhaps he’s hearing our voices more than he used to. It will be fun to see how his newfound hearing plays itself out.

Anyhow, just want to say again how much I have appreciated all the texts and messages and emails today. I have carried that strength with me all day long. If you are a praying kind of person, please pray for Matthew’s healing and that we can do a good job managing his pain. I’m SO grateful for the deepened level of attachment we have with him now in November as compared to when he had his lip repair in August. I feel confident that I can comfort him with my words and snuggles.

And as ever, I remain both SO sorry that he has to go through all of this (one of those unfair things about life) and also so grateful for the care we receive here at Seattle Children’s. It’s an amazing place, both for kids and for parents. I don’t know how we’d do this without such child-centered care.

I realize he looks rather wretched in this photo. I suppose he FEELS wretched too.

Here he is getting some sleep. Those mitts will have to stay on his hands for a week or two . . . no fun!