The rockin smore shake
"not smiling"
Hunter is still recovering from his surgery he had a few weeks ago. I am always in awe by this spirit and his strength. He is just amazing both physically and spiritually. When I walk into recovery after he has a surgery I always cry. He looks at me the same way he looked at me when he was 3 months old. The moment in the recovery room, after his initial repair, when Hunter was 3 months old, was the moment I bonded with him. It was the moment I looked at him and realized that everything really was going to be okay. I feel lucky I get to relive that moment between he and I. This surgery was similar to the one we did at pcmc a few years ago and unfortunately failed. It was a bone graft of the cleft maxilla. Bone marrow was grafted from his hip and transplanted into the clefts on both sides of the premaxilla. The point of this procedure is to provide support for unerupted teeth and teeth next to the cleft, to support for the lip and nose and to improve symmetry, to form a continuous upper gum, creating a more natural appearance, and to improve the stability of premaxilla. Dr. Russ also decided to reposition (or break and reset) the premaxilla for a more contoured look. We have been preparing for this surgery with orthodontics for about 16 months. So we were ready. While in pre-op we had to fill out all new paperwork. This is the first time we had done a surgery locally so we had to redo paperwork. It was actually quite interesting. Bruce and I filled out his history and we were not able to completely fill out the section titled "previous surgeries". One, because there was not enough room. But that really was not the reason. We could not (and still can't) remember how many he has had. Our answer was 9ish. Nine times in 10 years he has been put to sleep to have surgeries, almost always more than one procedure at a time. What an amazing kid. The surgery went well. It was about three and a half hours of time and then recovery. Dr. G was able to accomplish all he set out to. The recovery for the surgery this time has been a total bugger though. Dr. Griffiths is a lot more strict than Primary Children's is on the restrictions (which is fine, we want it to work this time.) His requests were liquids (anything in a blender that can slide out of a cup) no spoons, straws, ect. Low sugar, since we can not brush the upper teeth - Mouthwash - for 3 weeks. When Bruce, Dr. G, and I were talking after the surgery he talked about the repositioning of the premaxilla. Because this area of his mouth has been operated on so many times, he was not able to stabilize the area the way he had plan on for fear low blood flow to the area. So the premaxilla was stabilized with a small pin. So one more restriction. We need to keep sweet, funny, smiley Hunter from smiling for 3 weeks so that the pressure does not move the premaxilla. It may sound like a nuisance or even funny, however it makes total sense to me and better yet Hunter understands the reasoning behind it. Only one more week. Then I think we graduate to soft foods and maybe some giggling :). Hunter - you are awesome and you teach me more than I ever thought I would learn.
