A Big Surgery

This past week, my sweet Lily had major surgery.  She had jaw distraction, which is done to lengthen the lower jaw bone.  Then, Lily’s tongue will come out of her airway, and (choir music playing) her trach will come out soon afterwards!!!  No more trachs!! (chant it with me), No more trachs!!!!!  That, my friends, is the goal for this crazy surgery.  Jaw distraction link here--don’t worry, you are already sitting down, right?  So, when your own jaw hits the floor when you see this, the rest of you won’t have far to fall.......oh, get a grip!!!!! It is okay, nothing graphic.....promise.  If my two year old can handle having major hardware screwed into her jaw bone on each side....I bet you can handle seeing what the surgery is all about.....

I will post pictures later in the week, when they take the dressing off around the pin sites, trust me.  She’ll look more presentable.

Can I just praise God for a moment?  All of my prayers were answered for this surgery.  First, she made it through the surgery without giving the anesthesiologist a fit, no stopping breathing, no turning blue.  Making it through surgery--check.

Next, while the pain was intense the first eight hours, and I was nearing a code blue myself, just watching her be in pain.....it did eventually get under control, thanks be to God.
Pain control--check.

Also, no one had any crazy reactions while we ate away from home for more than 36 hours.
No ER visits with epi for non surgery kids--check.

Finally, we traveled safely and all non surgery kids were in good spirits and rallied around their little sister just fine.
Good spirits, safe travel--check.

I felt giddy ( or was that comatose?) as we drove home from the hospital, knowing that all was behind us....and now we just have to contend with the dreaded “turning of the pins”.

Tomorrow, we will return to the clinic and be educated on how to turn Lily’s pins that are implanted into her bone.....and each day, twice a day, for a few weeks, we will turn those babies, and watch before us, Lily get her brand new, bionic jaw.  This is my next prayer request.  From our experience with P, and his jaw distraction, turning those pins are NOT fun.  The doctors all say, “Oh, it really doesn’t hurt, it just scares them more than anything”.  Uh?  Is that what you tell yourself in the mirror, Mr. Doctor, do you practice saying this with a straight face??  Is SNL next for you?

Anyway.....we all know it hurts, right?  SO, please pray my precious girl doesn’t suffer greatly during this crucial part.

When we walked through the halls of the hospital, with Lily in a wagon, people’s eyes would bug out a little.....but you could tell which moms had walked those halls like me...they would smile at me, and say, “Oh, she has beautiful eyes!”  They didn’t flinch.  They smiled at me and my girl.  Thank you, dear Sisters, I needed that, as we all passed several times in the halls of fatigue, pacing with our babies.

AND--thanks to all of YOU for praying, we have been sustained by them.....and I know it is why now, we are saying, “Lily, SLOW DOWN!!  You might break one of your pins if you fall!!!”  Nothing is slowing her down, not even distractors in her jaw!!  Deo Gratias!